In 1929, the Great Indian Peninsular Railway inaugurated its new electrified railway line between Bombay (today Mumbai) and Poona (Pune). Passenger trains operated at speeds of up to 136 km/h on this route, which was exceptionally high for the period and therefore required specific technical adaptations to ensure safe operation on curving tracks. A key role in meeting these demands was played by the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works (SLM), which supplied the mechanical components for 22 of the electric locomotives in service. SLM had developed a bogie design that enabled high-speed operation even on tight curves, without causing dangerous lateral oscillation. This so-called Java bogie was first tested and deployed by SLM in 1925 in the Dutch East Indies on the island of Java. The experience gained there informed subsequent refinements of the design, which proved so successful that by the late 1920s it was also adopted, in modified form, not only by the Great Indian Peninsular Railway but also by the Swiss Federal Railways for trains operating on the Gotthard line.
This paper places the history of the Java bogie at its centre to analyse two interrelated forms of translation. First, it examines the technical translation associated with the transition from steam to electric traction. Bogies designed for steam locomotives were not suited to the higher speeds made possible by electric traction, making new constructive solutions necessary. Second, the paper analyses the transimperial transfer of knowledge between Europe, India and Southeast Asia. In doing so, it shows that this was not a one-way transfer of technical expertise from metropole to colony, but a process of circulation in which knowledge was adapted, tested and further developed across different infrastructural, climatic and political contexts.