As freight traffic becomes heavier, the high speed of existing freight cars is essential, instead of the construction of a new railway. The high speed can be achieved by the modifications of freight bogie design. In this paper, an analytical model of freight bogie is developed to decide the critical speed. The dynamic responses of the analytical model are compared with the experimental data from a running test of freight bogie and showed good agreements between them. The analytical model is used to find the design of freight bogie. The parameter studies show that the reduction of wheelset mass ratio and the increase of the axle distance of freight bogie can increase the critical speed, but the primary lateral stiffness has little effects on the critical speed. And this study also shows that smaller wheel conicity deteriorates the running safety of freight car, which means that the overhauling of the wheel of freight bogie should be done regularly.