Double-deck container wagons

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A BNSF double decker container train passes the Cajon Pass in California.

Double-deck container wagons (English double stack car or stack car ) and general low-bed wagons (English well car (US) or well wagon (UIC)) are a type of pocket wagon that, like flat wagons, is primarily used as container wagon , but for loading with two containers stacked on top of each other are optimized. For this purpose, the loading area is laid low and the lower container is placed in the tub thus formed between the bogies .

history

Transporting containers in double-decker loading goes back to considerations at Southern Pacific Railroad (SP), together with Malcom McLean , in 1977. In the same year, the railway company commissioned ACF Industries to build special freight cars. Initially, these double-deck container wagons were only used to a limited extent, until the American President Lines railway company decided in 1984 to adopt this type of wagon and the first train equipped with low-bed wagons ran the route from Los Angeles (California) to South Kearny (New Jersey) - the so-called “Stacktrain” (stacking train) then regularly operated the route.

description

CPR container train east of Ashcroft in British Columbia , Canada

Double-decker container trains are mainly found in Canada and the United States , where they now handle 70% of intermodal freight traffic (mainly to and from seaports). You benefit from the fact that most of the routes in North America are not electrified, because despite the low-bed flat wagons, loading as a double-decker container train still requires a very high clearance profile .

CSX Transportation names three categories for double-deck trains (measured over the top of the rails )

  • Double deck 1 at 5.54 m (18 ft 2 in)
  • Bi-level 2 at 5.84 m (19 ft 2 in)
  • Double deck 3 at 6.15 m (20 ft 2 in)

In the USA, a number of railway lines are currently being converted (in part with government support) for operation with double-decker container trains. Since extensive electrification is internationally well ahead of the implementation of double-decker container trains, the contact wire hangs too low on most electrified routes - an exception here is above all India, where historically, a very large clearance profile is used and one is able to to electrify some freight lines with a contact wire at a height of 7.45 m. Normally, the broad gauge networks in India, Pakistan, Finland, Russia and Kazakhstan are built with a contact wire of 6.50 m.

The Indian routes in the Mundra Port special economic zone even transport stacked containers on normal flat wagons. This is thanks to the Indian broad gauge , while the low-bed flat wagons are also used on standard gauge to keep the center of gravity low. With flat cars, however, the maximum train length can be better used, so Indian Railways plans the west corridor with a clearance profile of 7.1 m high (and 3.66 m wide).

Outside of North America, the following routes are operated with double-decker container trains:

Double-decker container train on the Panama Canal Railway
  • Australia - Double-decker container trains run between Perth (Western Australia) via Adelaide and Darwin to Parkes (New South Wales) with a 6.5 m high clearance profile.
  • China - double-decker container trains are also operated with 25 kV on standard gauge. According to Chinese figures, 8,000 km of routes were suitable for double-decker container transport in 2010, and by 2020 it should be 16,000 km. After the overhead line has been raised, two ISO containers stacked one on top of the other can be transported with a low-bed carrier, but not two 9'6 " Hi-Cube containers .
  • India - Mundra Port uses diesel trains and flat cars. High-cube containers can also be transported here in double-decker loading. In the west corridor between Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) near Mumbai and Delhi, a double-deck container transport with electric traction is planned. For this purpose, electrification with 25 kV / 50 Hz and a contact wire height of 7.54 m above ground level is planned. The infrastructure is to be designed for train lengths of 1500 m and a gross weight of 13,000 t. The east and west corridors of the Dedicated Freight Corridor route network are scheduled to go into operation in December 2019.
  • Kenya - The connection from the port city of Mombasa to the capital Nairobi is operated by double-decker container trains hauled by diesel locomotives. The 490 km long route was opened in October 2018.
  • Panama - The Panama Canal Railway , which runs roughly parallel to the Panama Canal, uses double-deck container wagons hauled by diesel locomotives on its route, which was converted to standard gauge until 2001.
  • Saudi Arabia - The connection from the port city of Dammam to the capital Riyadh is operated by double-decker container trains hauled by diesel locomotives (usually via line 2 ).

In Europe, the lower clearance profile does not allow such container trains. The nominal height of the contact wire is 5.00–5.75 m with tolerances of up to 6.50 m (EN 50119). The TSI specifies that pantographs have to work in the range 4.8–6.5 m (clearance gauge GC) or 4.5–6.5 m (clearance gauge GA / GB), correspondingly less in the low British clearance gauge. Experience from China and Australia shows that for efficient double-decker transport, the contact wire height should be at least 6.5 m above the top of the rail. Experience in India, in turn, shows that locomotives can be built with a special pantograph that can run under conventional electrification as well as on special freight corridors with the contact wire raised by one meter. The Betuweroute in the Netherlands has been prepared for this case, but not numerous other current routes such as the VDE 8 or the Gotthard Base Tunnel . This will also slow down the development of double-decker container trains in Europe in the long term.

Dwarf Containers

China had started to transport containers with reduced height on normal ISO containers so that this double-decker transport could run on electrified routes. These were originally just a standard ISO 8'6 "and a height-reduced 8'0" container on top of each other. After lifting the overhead line, you can stack two ISO containers, but not two 9'6 ″ Hi-Cube containers .

India has started building dwarf containers for inland transportation that can be used on traditional electrified routes. With a height of 1930 mm (6 '4 ") they are a whole 662 mm lower, but with a 162 mm wider dimension, 67% more capacity can be achieved. The selected width is already known from the American 53'-HC containers .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Cudahy, Brian J .: The Containership Revolution: Malcom McLean's 1956 Innovation Goes Global . TR News. (c / o National Academy of Sciences). Number 246 September-October 2006 (PDF; 1.1 MB)
  2. Chronological History ( Memento of the original dated August 10, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Union Pacific Railroad Company @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.uprr.com
  3. Kaminski, Edward S. (1999): American Car & Foundry Company: A Centennial History, 1899-1999 . Wilton, California: Signature Press. ISBN 0-9633791-0-0
  4. ^ A new fleet shapes up. (High-Tech Railroading) . Railway Age (c / o HighBeam Research). September 1, 1990
  5. CSX System Clearance Map - Doublestack Routes (PDF; 348 kB)
  6. a b c Double-stack under the wires . Indian Railways. May 2009.
  7. ^ Double stacked to Perth. (No longer available online.) Parkes Champion Post, July 28, 2008, archived from the original on July 29, 2008 ; Retrieved July 22, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / parkes.yourguide.com.au
  8. RIS 2.2 - Rail Infrastructure Strategy 2008–2024 (PDF; 6.6 MB) ARTC - Australian Rail Track Corporation (Australian State Railways). June 30, 2008. Retrieved March 2013: "Increasing the height clearance for trains to 6500 mm between Parkes and Crystal Brook will allow a larger range of double-stacked container combinations to be carried"
  9. a b c Mamuni Das: Spotlight on double-stack container movement. The Hindu Business Line, October 15, 2007, accessed February 25, 2009 .
  10. Armin Schwolgin : Combined rail freight in China . In: International Transport . No. 2/2016 , p. 30-33 .
  11. ^ Double-decker container train arrives at Mundra. April 18, 2009, accessed July 22, 2011 .
  12. ^ Ranjan Kumar Jain: Developing a heavy haul network . In: Railway Gazette International . No. 2/2013 . DVV Media UK Ltd, Sutton February 2013, p. 30-32 (English).
  13. Rene Otinga: Twin boost as double-stacked trains SGR are Introduced, bridge over Indian Ocean opened . TUKO. 4th October 2018.
  14. a b Guidance on the Conventional Rail Energy (PDF; 788 kB) Rail Safety and Standards Board (London). March 2012. Retrieved on March 18, 2013.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.rgsonline.co.uk  
  15. New priority section of the trans-European transport network completed: the Betuweroute starts operating between the Netherlands and Germany . European Commission. June 15, 2007 .: "it is designed to satisfy all possible future innovations (by using, for example, the latest generation of the harmonized European train control system, and by designing the infrastructure for double stack containers)."
  16. THE BETUW ROUTE - Commissie Duivesteijn . Uni Münster .: "Only the increases in inflation and the decision to expand the tunnels for double-stack containers have led to a budget adjustment."
  17. Vishwas Kothari: Indian railways introduces first double stack dwarf containers . Times of India. July 10, 2018.