Ambulance train

An ambulance train , abbreviated KrTrspZg , was a military train of the Bundeswehr . During the Cold War, such trains were provided in the rear area of the corps to evacuate patients from the main dressing stations and hospitals to the reserve hospitals in the rear combat zone (including the Netherlands and Belgium ).

The ambulance trains of the ambulance companies (rail) resulted from the original concept of a federal military hospital train, which was not implemented as originally planned for reasons of cost.

history

Adoption of a hospital train on October 27, 1914

Until the end of the Second World War , express train cars of the type C4i-36 and C4i-43 were used for such trains (or train parts) - still in the Reichsbahn - , which were easily recognizable by a red cross on a white background (as a protective symbol ) .

Later, in the event of mobilization of the German Federal Railroad, budget funds from the defense budget were allocated for the provision of convertible passenger coaches . For these wagons, also known as hospital wagons (or " hospital wagons"), the n -cars used in local traffic were predominantly intended. If necessary, they should be delivered to the troops disheveled and set up by the "ambulance companies (rail)" with kits stored in depots. The army itself had only a prototype - train with five cars, of the project "hospital train" in the late 1960s was procured and later used mainly for training purposes. He was stationed on the grounds of the Defense District Food Office IV in Lahnstein .

In contrast to the Wehrmacht hospital trains, patient care in the Bundeswehr's ambulance transport concept was essentially limited to the care of soldiers who had already been treated and stabilized. In addition to the ambulance trains that were to be used in the rear, diesel multiple units of the 798 and 628 series were also provided for transport from the frontmost combat zone . They should also be converted and used by soldiers from the ambulance company (rail).

Prototype train

The total of five cars of the prototype train procured by the Bundeswehr itself were never used in the planing service of the German Federal Railroad and had protective symbols . They were used exclusively for study and practice purposes:

Treatment trolley Dmz ⁹⁰³

Treatment trolley: The treatment trolley was built by Wegmann & Co. in Kassel from 1965 to 1967 with the serial number 8786. First it ran with the road number 910 001 P as D4ümz-65, later with the number 51 80 09-53001-6 P as Dmz ⁹⁰³ . It has a closed, gas-tight car body and is equipped with air conditioning. Two treatment rooms had a complete operating theater . The laboratory and rooms for doctors and nursing staff are located next to the consulting room with pharmacy. It differs from the commercial vehicle mainly in the six evenly spaced portholes on one side of the vehicle.

Dmz ^{904 service car}

Economy car: The service car was built from 1965 to 1967 in the Talbot wagon factory in Aachen with the serial number 118 071. At first it ran with the company number 910 101 P as D4ümz-65a, later with the number 51 80 09-53101-4 P as Dmz ⁹⁰⁴ . It also had a pressure-tight car body and served as a dining car with a kitchen and provisions. The car also had a water treatment system. The kitchen was designed for the supply of up to 400 soldiers.

Bed trolley Bn ⁷²⁴

Bed trolley

The wagons were used by the Deutsche Bundesbahn as private railway wagons , recognizable by the letter "P" after them in the wagon number. The treatment and farm wagons were each unique. They were based on the UIC-X platform , were painted olive green and had portholes instead of regular windows. The portholes were not arranged symmetrically. The two special cars carried the iron cross in the lower area of the middle car body .

In the 1980s, the train was stationed with the ambulance company (rail) 856 in the Swabian town of Gumpenweiler on the Staudenbahn . Because of a blue asbestos contamination found in August 1990 , the olive green bed trolley had to be removed. At the beginning of the 1990s, the remaining wagons were brought to the Lent barracks in Rotenburg (Wümme) . Along with the transfer of responsibility from the medical command I to the Medical Office of the Bundeswehr , the cars were in the 29 October 2007 Gäubodenkaserne laid in Feldkirchen-Mitterhart Hausen. The authority providing evidence was the medical training regiment there . After the sale by the federal recycling company (VEBEG), the four cars became the property of the Osnabrück Steam Locomotive Friends (ODF) in 2008.

Serial trains

Widened through doors in an n-car that was intended for use in ambulance trains

Since the acquisition of several hospital trains and their provision was eliminated in depots for economic reasons, decided Bundeswehr and German Federal Railways for this purpose selected regular passenger train - passenger cars reproach. These were 180 local transport cars with a pitched roof of the type Bnrz ⁷²⁴ (built in 1969/70) and 18 converted local transport cars with a round roof of the type Bnrz ^724.1 (converted from Bnrz ^{725 in} 1989/90 ). With these trolleys, the handlebars can be folded away in the entry areas. They are equipped with 230 volt sockets in the final large rooms for operating dry shavers and at the non-handbrake end for cooking appliances (220 V, 16 2/3 Hz). Roll-up curtains were also prepared on the side windows so that the interior of the car could be darkened, even when the beds were installed. This would not have been possible with the usual curtains. The most striking feature of these cars are the double doors between the main and entry areas. These are necessary in order to be able to bring a stretcher with the wounded into the large rooms. Most of these cars were modernized and painted traffic red in the late 1990s . These modernized cars have the type designation Bnrz ^450.3 and will continue to be used as planned.

In the event of an emergency, the cars would have been handed over to the Bundeswehr without most of the seats. Only at the end of the handbrake would the two bench seats have been preserved. At the opposite end, the Bundeswehr would have installed cabinets for medical material at this point. The large rooms would then have been provided with 2 m long and 75 cm wide loungers parallel to the outer wall. Vertical brackets would also have been installed for this purpose. This leaves a central aisle of approx. 1 m so that the stretchers can be moved between the beds. A total of 296 recumbent or 180 seated and 176 recumbent patients could be transported in an ambulance train. A KrTrspKp (rail) had 76 or 75 soldiers, including two medical officers (doctor), to provide care .

Train formation

The ambulance trains were structured as follows:

A.	1 locomotive	Class 218 , which also served to power the cars.
B.	1 kitchen trolley	Bnrz ⁷²⁴ seating cars (with a bicycle compartment) were planned, into which the troops scaffolded the field kitchen . These seating cars were supplied with seats by the Deutsche Bundesbahn.
C.	1 baggage cart	Seated carriages with a bicycle compartment of the Bduu ⁴⁹⁷ series were last planned here, these are former half-luggage wagons of the BDms series .
D.	1 permanent staff car	Were planned couchette from type Bcm ²⁴¹ .
E.	1 guide carriage	A 1st class express train passenger car of the type Avmz ^{111 was} planned for the movable KpGefStd .
F.	3 couchette cars	The type Bcm ²⁴¹ couchette car could accommodate either 120 recumbent or 180 seated patients.
G	5 bed trolleys	The specially prepared Bnrz ⁷²⁴ open-plan coaches , which were brought to the troops without seating, served as bed coaches . The troops equipped them with 32 beds each for the lying wounded.
H	1 treatment trolley	Specially prepared Bnrz ^724s also served as treatment trolleys , which, in addition to 16 beds in the middle section, could accommodate the treatment room with first aid station equipment for emergency care. This car was also planned for the care of intensive care and isolation patients.
A.	1 locomotive	Class 218, which also served to power the cars.

Ambulance companies (rail)

Tactical sign of the KrTrspKp 856 (Territorial Army)

Ambulance companies (rail) were equipment units, i.e. reserve units , whose material was stored in depots . They were subordinate to the medical commands of the Territorial Army. The reserve hospital organization was retained even after the end of the East-West conflict. In 2002, after the transformation of the Bundeswehr and the establishment of the Bundeswehr Central Medical Service , these units were, in addition to the meanwhile established means of air transport and sea-based naval rescue centers, as a further pillar for the strategic transport of the wounded / sick from the places of basic clinical care over long distances to the rearward facilities full clinical care. Along with the dissolution of the reserve hospital organization in 2007, the ambulance companies (rail) were also dissolved.

Overview of the ambulance companies (rail) that existed at the end of the 1980s:

Storage area	Companies	Location	Strength in the V case
Medical Command 600 ( Territorial Command Schleswig-Holstein / German authorized representative in the AFNORTH area )	KrTrspKp (rail) 601 KrTrspKp (rail) 602 KrTrspKp (rail) 603 KrTrspKp (rail) 604 KrTrspKp (rail) 605 KrTrspKp (rail) 606	Hohenwestedt Hohenwestedt Hohenwestedt Hohenwestedt Heide Heath	75 76 76 76 75 76
Medical Command 800 ( Territorial Command North )	KrTrspKp (rail) 801 KrTrspKp (rail) 802 KrTrspKp (rail) 803 KrTrspKp (rail) 804 KrTrspKp (rail) 805 KrTrspKp (rail) 806 KrTrspKp (rail) 807 KrTrspKp (rail) 808 KrTrspKp (rail) 809 KrTrspKp (rail) 810	Burgsteinfurt Burgsteinfurt Burgsteinfurt Burgsteinfurt Sendenhorst-Berl Sendenhorst-Berl Sendenhorst-Berl Meppen Meppen Meppen	75 76 76 76 75 76 76 75 76 76
Medical Command 850 ( Territorial Command South )	KrTrspKp (rail) 851 KrTrspKp (rail) 852 KrTrspKp (rail) 853 KrTrspKp (rail) 854 KrTrspKp (rail) 855 KrTrspKp (rail) 856 KrTrspKp (rail) 857 KrTrspKp (rail) 858 KrTrspKp (rail) 859 KrTrspKp (rail) 860 KrTrspKp (rail) 861 KrTrspKp (rail) 862 KrTrspKp (rail) 863 KrTrspKp (rail) 864	St. Ingbert St. Ingbert St. Ingbert St. Ingbert St. Ingbert Gumpenweiler (Walkertshofen) Gumpenweiler (Walkertshofen) Aalen Aalen Aalen Aalen Aalen Gumpenweiler (Walkertshofen) Gumpenweiler (Walkertshofen)	75 76 76 76 76 76 76 75 76 76 76 76 76 76