Spanish engineer honoured for high-speed train technology

Spanish railway engineer, Jose Luis Lopez Gomez was named the "industrial inventor of the year 2013" by the European Patent Office this Tuesday for his work on high-speed trains. Lopez-Gomez, who is from the city of Burgos, was named as the inventor of the year for his work in creating an active guidance system which allows trains to circulate more safely and at higher speeds. The system is the culmination of 40 years work in the industry and allows the wheels of a train to be guided independently and is based on the manner in which wheels on a train adapt when in contact with the rail. On high speed trains there has been a problem in finding a method to adapt to cornering, given that the outside wheels have to travel for further than those on the inside of a curve. Obviously, this is a problem on a fixed axel at speeds of around 300 kilometers per hour and Lopez-Gomez's work has resolved the conundrum with a system of individually mounted wheels, which allows a train to find its optimum position on a curve, as well as reducing its center of gravity. Meanwhile a computer system monitors and corrects the position of the wheel on the rail, ensuring a ride that is virtually free of bumps and extremely comfortable for the passengers. Meanwhile Lopez-Gomez has said that it would make it possible for trains to travel at speeds of up to 400-450 kilometers an hour. His system already operates on Spain's high-speed railway system, which is one of the best in the work, connecting the city of Madrid with places including Sevilla, Valencia and Barcelona, which can now be reached within two and a half hours. The network is slowly being extended towards the north-west, the Basque region and recently reached the French frontier, although the current economic crisis has seen development slow down due to the need to cut back on spending.