Wheel axle guiding assembly with longitudinal hydro-mechanical converters and associated running gear

A running gear for a rail vehicle, comprising at least a pair of wheel axle guiding assemblies, each wheel axle guiding assembly comprising:

• an axle box defining a horizontal revolution axis and a longitudinal horizontal direction perpendicular to the revolution axis;
• an axle box carrier;
• and
• a front longitudinal hydro-mechanical converter fixed to a front interface of the axle box and a front interface of the axle box carrier and a rear longitudinal hydro-mechanical converter fixed to a rear interface of the axle box and a rear interface of the axle box carrier to allow a fore-and-aft movement of the axle box relative to the axle box carrier parallel to the longitudinal direction;
• each of the front and rear longitudinal hydro-mechanical converters includes a housing, a plunger and an elastomeric body fixed to the housing and to the plunger so as to allow a fore-and-aft relative movement parallel to the longitudinal direction between the plunger and the housing, a single variable volume hydraulic chamber being formed between the housing, the plunger and the elastomeric body, wherein a motion of the plunger relative to the housing in an increase direction parallel to the longitudinal direction results in a volume increase of the variable volume hydraulic chamber while a motion of the plunger relative to the housing in a decrease direction opposite to the increase direction and parallel to the longitudinal direction results in a volume decrease of the variable volume hydraulic chamber, each of the front and rear longitudinal hydro-mechanical converters further including a hydraulic port for connecting the variable volume hydraulic chamber to an external hydraulic circuit, the running gear for a rail vehicle also comprising a first hydraulic circuit for establishing a hydraulic connection between a first variable volume hydraulic chamber and a second variable volume hydraulic chamber, and a second hydraulic circuit for establishing a hydraulic connection between a third variable volume hydraulic chamber and a fourth variable volume hydraulic chamber, the first, second, third and fourth variable volume hydraulic chambers being all different chambers and each of the first, second, third and fourth variable volume hydraulic chambers being the variable volume hydraulic chamber of one of the front and rear longitudinal hydro-mechanical converters of one of the wheel axle guiding assemblies of the pair of wheel axle guiding assemblies.