CONTROLLER FOR ESTIMATING INDIVIDUAL AXLE WEIGHTS OF A RAIL VEHICLE, COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED METHOD THEREFOR, COMPUTER PROGRAM AND NON-VOLATILE DATA CARRIER

A rail vehicle (100) has a number of wheel axles (131, 132, 133, 134) and a set of brake units (101, 102, 103, 104) applying respective brake forces to the wheel axles. A power signal (Pm) indicates the power needed to accelerate the rail vehicle (100) between first and second speeds (v1; v2) indicated by a speed signal. Based thereon an overall weight (mtot) of the rail vehicle (100) is estimated. Wheel speed signals indicate respective speeds (ω1, ω2, ω3, ω4) of the wheel axles (131, 132, 133, 134). A brake unit (101) gradually applies an increasing brake force to a specific wheel axle (131). During braking, an absolute difference (| ω1 - ωa |) is determined between the rotational speed of the specific wheel axle (131) and an average rotational speed (ωa) of the other wheel axles and in response to the absolute difference exceeding a threshold value, a friction parameter (µm) is determined reflecting a friction coefficient (µe) between the wheels (121a, 121b) on the specific wheel axle (131) and the rails (181, 182) upon which the rail vehicle (100) travels. The braking procedure is repeated for each of the wheel axles to estimate a respective fraction (m1, m2, mn) of the overall weight (mtot) carried by each of said wheel axles.