Train type

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The train type together with the train number enables the exact determination of each train. Train destination sign of the Eurocity EC 91.

Train types , called train (s) category in Switzerland , are categories of different railway trains . The trains are categorized with regard to their use, their importance for traffic and the way they are handled . Each train is identified by the type of train and a train number .

The names for the train types vary; In addition to the colloquial terms, there are also technical terms, namely traffic-scientific terms, terms that emerged from the time of the state railways through regulations and brand names of the railway companies .

history

Passenger train with goods transport in western Switzerland between Bière and Morges in the 1970s / 80s

The railway in Germany began on the Nuremberg - Fürth route with a train that carried people and, as the first cargo, two barrels of Lederer-Bräu on the tender . Until the cessation of general cargo transport at Deutsche Bahn , passenger trains remained trains with general cargo transport. However, very quickly after the establishment of the first long-distance railways, the transportation of larger quantities of goods in their own wagons , the freight wagons, developed . The first goods were building materials for the railroad and operating materials for the railroad itself. The emerging industry needed coal as an energy carrier. Separate trains were used to transport goods. This was the first differentiation between passenger and freight trains . Trains for the railway itself were given the designation service train .

In particular on the subordinate routes, the passenger trains (mostly at the end of the train, the "end") carried individual freight wagons, which were taken down and picked up at intermediate stations . This is how the passenger train with freight transport , abbreviated “PmG”, came about . In individual cases, however, freight trains also took a passenger car with them. These trains were assigned to the type of freight train with passenger transport (abbreviated GmP). The last known train of this type was the daily traffic on the Werne – Bockum-Höveler Railway .

purpose

The brand name Alex referred to a type of train that connected the Allgäu with Munich.

Train types used to be primarily used by travelers as an overview of which ticket they had to buy for a train. In the early days of the railroad, trains stopped at all stations. Individual stations with a low volume of freight and travelers have been downgraded to demand holding. Nowadays train types serve on the one hand the purpose of the traveler recognizing which ticket he needs for this train, on the other hand to recognize whether he is getting to his destination quickly or less quickly with this train. Another purpose of the train types is to ensure the quality of train journeys on the railway network. Railway companies that are willing to pay higher fees for using the route for their train journey are assigned a type of train with a higher quality. In the event of a conflict, these moves are given priority over other trains.

A train type can be a brand name; there are brand terms that are used as train types (for example City Night Line , Cisalpino , VogtlandExpress).

Passenger trains

Display screen in Zurich HB with the train types (red) of the arriving express trains

In the case of passenger trains, the classification of train types was based on speed and comfort . If the trains initially stopped at all stations , the further increase in traffic led to the desire to cover longer distances more quickly. The trains that left out individual stations were now referred to as express trains or express trains . This is how the concept of passenger trains developed as a generic term for these passenger trains. The classic express train in Germany was the D-Zug , which ran for the first time on May 1, 1892. The name describes a comfort feature: The train was designed as a through train, i.e. H. one could walk through the inside of the train.

Another important distinction that still exists today is that between a plane train and a special train . The passenger train runs according to a published timetable , the special train according to a timetable on request, which is only made known to the customer. The court trains were among the first special trains . They were inserted by order of the nobility. The long-distance express and luxury trains were a combination of speed and comfort . After the Second World War, they were replaced in Western Europe by the Trans-Europ-Express (TEE) train type. With the discontinuation of the last TEE trains in 1987, the scheduled offer of purely first-class trains in most European countries ended.

With the rail reform and the liberalization of the European rail market , the traditional types of train lost their importance for passengers and were partly replaced by brand names of the various railway companies and partly by standardized train names of the transport associations . However, they are still of internal importance for railway infrastructure companies .

Freight trains

Post trains still run in Switzerland. SBB mail train on the
south foot line of the Jura

Freight trains are initially divided into mixed trains (freight wagons of different types from different senders to different recipients) and block trains (freight cars of one type, usually also from one sender to one recipient). A further distinction is made, if necessary, according to the type of cargo, especially if it requires special treatment (cattle trains, trains with goods exceeding the loading gauge , particularly heavy trains). Otherwise there is a classification according to the type of traffic (collecting and distributing, overcoming long distances, international traffic).

With the increase in the volume of goods, it was only possible to transport general cargo by means of passenger trains. In addition, the piece goods were divided according to the urgency of the transport into piece goods / freight (slow), express goods ( fast) and express goods (very fast). Separate types of trains have been created to transport goods over long distances. Post was one of the special express goods . For many decades, special express freight and mail trains ran, sometimes with groups of wagons of both types. These freight trains ran on high-speed cars and were treated like passenger trains. Within the mail trains, a distinction was made between those without treatment and those with treatment. On the trains with treatment, there were postal staff who sorted the letters and parcels and repacked them in bags according to their destinations .

Service trains

BLS locomotive train in Spiez station in the Bernese Oberland

In Switzerland, service trains that serve business purposes form a separate type of train. They are used for transferring locomotives ( Lokzug ), Construction and empty cars ( Leermaterialzug ) and for the construction and maintenance of railway facilities (gravel trains and other work trains ). In addition to normal freight wagons, special railway service vehicles are also used in construction trains . Track and contact line measuring vehicles are used for route inspections, and auxiliary vehicles in auxiliary trains . Fire-fighting and rescue trains are used for fighting fires, fighting oil and evacuating travelers in the event of a malfunction. With experimental features various measurements are carried out, with acceptance runs that occurs acceptance of new vehicles.

In Germany, the service trains were divided into service trains (Dstg), work trains (Az), auxiliary trains (Hilfz) and service passenger trains (Dstp). Service trains were used to transport goods that were intended for internal purposes, such as gravel or service coal , and to transfer damaged cars (Schad) and locomotive trains (Lzg). Work trains are used to transport building materials, equipment and workers to construction sites on the open road. Driving business they are called special train (Sdz) or blocking drive handled (Sperrf).

See also

Individual evidence

  1. Erhard Born, Alfred Herold, Walter Trüb, (Ed.): Hobby Lexicon Railway. Rowohlt Taschenbuch, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1980, ISBN 3-499-16262-8 (keyword type of train )
  2. a b Swiss Driving Regulations (FDV) A2016 Federal Office of Transport (FOT), July 1, 2016 (PDF; 3 MB). R 300.R 300.1, Section 4.2  Train  types
  3. Breusing: type of train. In: Encyclopedia of Railways. edited by Victor von Röll , Volume 10. Berlin and Vienna 1923, pp. 506–507. (Zeno.org)
  4. a b c Lexicon of the Railway. 5th edition. Transpress VEB Verlag, Berlin 1978, pp. 847–848 (keyword type of train )
  5. ^ Bruno Lämmli: The service trains. On lokifahrer.ch , 2015.
  6. Lexicon of the Railway. 5th edition. Transpress VEB Verlag, Berlin 1978, p. 52 (keyword work train )