Bidirectional vehicle

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As a bidirectional vehicle are vehicles called that - unlike facility vehicles can drive each of its two ends first -. You can find them almost exclusively in rail transport . A bidirectional vehicle has either a driver's cab at both ends or a raised central driver's cab in the middle, which have the necessary controls on both sides. The terms “front” and “rear” are therefore only of importance in bidirectional vehicles to differentiate between the two ends of the vehicle (such as “driver's cab 1” and “driver's cab 2”); technically they are equivalent. Often one speaks briefly of the two-judge .

General

The reason for the existence of bidirectional vehicles is, on the one hand, that the platforms are not located on the same side of the vehicle at all access points ( stations , stops ) and, on the other hand, that rail vehicles have to change their direction of travel in terminal stations ( railway ) or at terminal points ( tram ). The nature of a bidirectional vehicle makes some operational peculiarities necessary; for example, the vehicle must always “know” where it is in front for the same vehicle. Usually, the end at which the driver or tram driver has attached and relocated the lever of the direction switch is viewed as the front. A bidirectional vehicle must also be able to display front and rear traction signals / rear lights at both ends of the vehicle; it is best to take technical precautions so that no illogical combinations of end signals can be set. A so - called side - selective door control ( SST ) should also ensure that only the doors on the platform side are released at access points (to avoid passengers accidentally entering the track area of ​​the neighboring track).

Rail transport

Stadtbahn Stadler Tango in Bochum
This DoT4 was only used as a fitter in July 1979, but the left door is open for ventilation purposes

Almost all railway vehicles today are bidirectional vehicles, while in the past many steam locomotives, for example, were one-way vehicles that had to be turned with the help of turntables . Railcars and locomotives have driver's cabs at both ends, passenger cars have doors on both sides. Shunting locomotives usually have middle cabs.

In the early days of the tram , bidirectional cars were the rule, initially as horse-drawn trams (although the horses were re- harnessed, but the car itself was not turned), later as individually traveling electric railcars (so-called solo cars). With the advent of non-powered sidecars , however, bidirectional operation became more complicated; the railcar had to move at the end points before the team could continue the journey in the opposite direction. In order to simplify and to reduce the change of direction, which was particularly complex with pole and lyre pantographs, operation with stationary or push-type railcars was introduced in some networks soon afterwards . Later, many companies (if the local conditions allowed it) set up turning loops at the end points in order to avoid the so-called "relocation process". These turning loops were initially used by bidirectional vehicles; it was only much later (when enough turning loops were available) that some companies began to convert their vehicles or to replace them with new one-way vehicles. The advantages of one-way vehicles are that driver's cabs and access doors are less required, and additional seats can be accommodated on the doorless side. Nevertheless, many tram operators still rely on bidirectional operation or use both types of vehicle in combination. Two-way wagons offer the advantage of greater operational flexibility, they can change the direction of travel via track changes as emergency sweeping systems or butt tracks, so the end points do not take up as much space as with reversing loops (or track triangles). Operation can also be better maintained in the event of line interruptions due to construction work or operational disruptions. By using Vielfach- and Wendezugsteuerungen also the tensile and sidecar was possible without displacement operations.

A special advantage of bidirectional trolleys used exclusively for one-way traffic is their ventilation in summer. The doors that are not required are open, but are secured with waist-high bars.

Special forms

Power cars

The locomotives of the Italian E.464 series are actually powered end cars

The best-known special forms in rail traffic are the power cars (which are basically bidirectional vehicles with only one driver's cab) and the control car . Although both forms are one-way vehicles in themselves, they are always used together with another power car (power end + intermediate car + power end, e.g. ICE-V and ICE 1 ) or in push- pull units (power end + intermediate car + control car, e.g. ICE 2 , or locomotive + intermediate car + control car, normal condition in today's Intercity and many regional trains), so that these trains can easily travel in both directions.

False bidirectional wagons

There are spurious bidirectional cars as special cases. These are also known as half bidirectional vehicles or one - and-a- half direction vehicles ; However, two different concepts must be distinguished:

  • One-way vehicles with doors on both sides: these vehicles can be found where one-way vehicles also stop at central platforms (e.g. on tunnels); Examples:
    • Type GT4 of the Aachen tram , in use on line 12 from 1959 to 1973,
    • some GT6 or GT8 in Essen and Mülheim were retrofitted with two or three left-hand doors from 1992,
    • The Heidelberg GT6 No. 209 to 213 already had two narrow doors on the left-hand side for the overland route to Schwetzingen, these were removed when the cars were resold,
    • Former Duobus in Essen : buses with additional doors on the left ran here.
  • Two-way wagons with only one driver's cab: these can only be used in multiple traction (combination with another fake or with a real two-way wagon) in two-way operation. This special form is comparable to railcars like the RBDe 560 of the SBB in rail traffic; Examples:

Bi-directional vehicles with doors on one side only

In public transport, two-way vehicles usually have to have doors on both sides of the vehicle. As a result, these vehicles have fewer seats than one-way vehicles. However, there are railways whose bidirectional vehicles only have doors on one side. Such vehicles can only be used if all platforms of a line are on the same side. As a rule, these are operationally isolated small railways , cog railways or tram companies with only one line, during whose construction all stations were arranged on the same side. These companies include:

Rack railways:

Rack railways (formerly):

Railways:

Railways (formerly):

Tram Gmunden : doorless side of railcar 8

Trams:

Trams (formerly):

Cableways:

Road traffic

Bi -directional road vehicles are almost completely unknown, rare examples include:

  • Two-way trolleybus from Schiemann, 1902

  • Two-way trolleybus in the Liège Transport Museum

  • Shuttle bus to the island of Le Mont-Saint-Michel

  • Apron bus in Malta

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Idyll in the Crimea in: Tram Magazin 3/2019, p. 32 ff.
  2. ↑ Always going forward on Mont-Saint-Michel. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; Retrieved April 15, 2013 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.contrac-cobus.de
  3. ↑ Departed: Two Headed Dragon deletes in Shanghai. Spiegel Online , March 3, 2010. Retrieved October 15, 2010.