It is, at the present stage of development, impossible to assess the energy saving potential of active controlled running gear.

The "Mechatronic technologies for trains of the future" project (mentioned in "state of development") is guided by the objectives (among others):

• train mass per unit payload reduced by 40 % (by eliminating bogies)
• energy consumption reduced by 30 % (consequence of mass reduction)

This seems very ambitious, but not altogether unrealistic in a very long-term perspective.

The additional power need caused by control equipment for active steering is low and of the order of tens of Watts per axle (Ellis, Le et al. 1999). So this does not put in danger the net reduction effect.

Reduced noise emission

The "Mechatronic technologies for trains of the future" project (cf. "state of development") is guided by the objective (among others):

• noise emission at medium/high frequencies reduced by 10 dB(A) (due to fewer axles, lower axle load, better curving)