Shared freight wagon fleet
The OPW ( Russian Общий парк вагонов (ОПВ) , Obschtschi Park Wagonow), German: Common freight car park was an agreement signed in 1963 between the European railway administrations of the Organization for the Cooperation of Railways (OSJD) on the formation and sharing of the Establishment created for the common freight wagon fleet of the member countries of the Comecon . The OPW existed from July 1, 1964 to August 31, 1990 and was a sub-organization of the Council for Mutual Economic Aid (RGW). He was not part of the OSJD founded in Sofia in 1956.
The Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) was just as much a member of the OPW as the other railway companies of the European Comecon member countries Bulgaria , Hungary , Poland , Romania , USSR and ČSSR . The OPW was used to manage 240,000 goods wagons with a gauge of 1435 mm that were brought into the freight car park in the railroad traffic of the socialist countries. In particular, idle times in international and domestic traffic should be reduced.
The highest body of the OPW was the council of the common freight wagon fleet, the executive body of the council was the operations office of the OPW, based in Prague . About 30 delegated railway workers from all member countries worked there under the direction of a director who always belonged to the Czechoslovak State Railways ČSD. The Council of the Common Freight Car Park was formed by the heads of the state railways of the member countries. There was no official cooperation with the European freight car park of the Western European Railways, which had a similar purpose .
Each member state brought in a certain contingent of freight wagons , e.g. B. the Deutsche Reichsbahn 10,000 covered wagons, these wagons were specially marked. These freight wagons could be exchanged freely within the member states, within the quota of the respective railway. If the quota was exceeded, wagons had to be returned, otherwise there was a risk of high fines, settled in transfer rubles .
The common park consisted of covered and open two- and four-axle freight cars with a track width of 1435 mm . All cars had the framed symbol OPW on the left side above the (from 1968 twelve-digit) UIC car number .
The design of the car had to meet the following technical conditions in accordance with DV 771 edition 1966, §33. The cars were allowed to z. B. not have been built before 1950. They must be made of steel and welded, have roller bearings and have a permissible speed of at least 100 km / h. They must be equipped with elastic buffer devices that can withstand a maximum compressive load of at least 32 t and absorb a work of at least 50%. The wagons must have a screw pulling device with a tensile strength of at least 85 t on the couplings and 100 t on the draw hooks and tie rods. The braking system of the wagons must consist of a pneumatic braking device, a control valve with a system for 3 pressures, a brake slack adjuster and load change. 20% of the wagons in the common park must have a handbrake. The wagons must meet the conditions and requirements set out in Appendix 5 PPW and Section VII RIV. The wagons must be marked with the symbols MC and RIV. The wagon construction must allow the wagons to be lowered from piles of drainage. The open wagons must allow unloading via the front flaps onto tippers. The minimum load capacity and usable volume are specified for the two and four-axle open and covered wagons.
For the transition period up to 1970, wagons could be brought in that did not fully meet the aforementioned conditions.
The railway administrations discontinued the following types of wagons as initial equipment:
- Railway administration - national generic symbol (corresponding DR genus)
- BDZ F (GG), F2 (Gms), I2 (Om)
- MÁV Gzr (Gms), Gze (Gms), Gye (Gmms), Kzm (Om), Ky (Omm)
- DR GGrh 15, Gmh 11, Gmm 14, Ommu 39/43, Ommu 42, Ommu 44
- PKP Kddt (Gm), Kddet (Gms), Kddett (Gms), Wddo (Om), Wddoh (Om)
- CFR GV (Gmms), IT (Omms)
- SZD Gm
- CSD Zsa (GG), Ztr (Gmm), Zt (Gm), Vtr (Omm)
Although these freight wagons met international requirements, they were built according to historical requirements defined within the individual countries.
The wagons remained the property of the railway administration that brought them in. The OPW cars were primarily to be used for international traffic between the socialist countries involved. The property railway carried out the scheduled inspections of the wagons after the stipulated deadlines at its own expense. Maintenance and upkeep were the responsibility of the railway administrations that used the car.
All questions concerning the common fleet of freight wagons were clarified in the OPW regulations (valid from January 1, 1965 and June 1, 1966). At the DR they were introduced as DV 771, from May 1, 1984 as DV 516.
Literature::
- The common freight wagon fleet of the member countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Aid (OPW) - its significance and tasks as well as measures of the DR for its education; Editor: Ministry of Transport, Deputy Minister's Department for International Economic and Scientific and Technical Cooperation; Berlin 1964
- DV 771 Council of the Common Freight Car Park; Regulations on the common use of the common freight car park (OPW regulations), valid from January 1, 1965, 38 pages
- DV 771 Council of the Common Freight Car Park; Regulations on the common use of the common freight car park (OPW regulations), valid from June 1, 1966; 27 pages, 38 annexes
- DV 516 German State Railroad; Regulation on the shared use of the shared freight wagon fleet (OPW regulation), valid from May 1, 1984; Publisher of the Deutsche Reichsbahn; Berlin 1983; 72 pages
- Wolfgang Rehnert; Technical wagon problems of the common freight car park of the socialist countries; Deutsche Eisenbahntechnik 13 (1965) 4, page 156/161
- Peter Drossel; The international standardization of freight wagons; Rail vehicles 18 (1974) 12, page 425/429