The Bochum-Gelsenkirchener Streetcar Corporation (BOGESTRA) has minimized the wear of wheel flanges by the use of a lubricant with a high solid content. This is proved by following impressive recommendation letter:

... since a number of years, we have equipped our streetcar type B80D with REBS wheel flange lubrication systems.
In the first instance these systems were operating with oil.
However, the results had not been satisfactory in regards to wear of wheel/rail.

Then we changed to a lubricant with a high solid content (...), which has now been in use for approximately three years.
The wear on the wheel flange is of such minimal kind that it is no longer measurable. Only the running tread of the wheels is machined by 1 mm annually and simultaneously the wheel flange, altough it doesn't show any wear.

We estimate that new treats will only be required for the wheels after approximately 1.4 million km.

To date, the REBS lubrication systems are working to our full satisfaction....

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