To meet the EU’s goal of Shift to Rail, there is a need to increase the capacity of existing track by reducing the dynamic forces between the vehicle and the track, particularly for freight vehicles. The aim of this project is to demonstrate that this can be achieved by substituting glass fibre reinforced plastic for steel as the bogie frame material and moulding the frames direct to final shape and dimensions. Fibre optic sensors will be embedded within the bogie frame to monitor strain distributions and integrity when the bogie is in service operation. Vehicle/track and wheel/rail forces will be correlated in order to demonstrate that such bogies can be classified as low track force and an as interoperable constituent under TSI rules. This will enable intelligent and adaptive manufacturing systems to be developed for a new generation of railway bogies.