Rail freight transport

As rail freight (SGV), also railway transport called, are transport services by railway companies in the freight transport referred.

definition

Rail freight traffic in the Seelze marshalling yard

The core area of ​​rail freight transport comprises the commercial transport services of freight trains . In addition to the actual transport, there are preparatory and follow-up procedures and processes, such as loading the goods onto the rail transport mode. Regrouping processes ( shunting , transshipment ) are also part of rail freight transport during transport.

One of the special features of rail freight transport is that , due to the system characteristics, infrastructure companies are heavily involved in the production process and production quality in addition to the traditional actors in freight transport, the freight sender, the forwarder and the goods recipient . Often several railway infrastructure companies are involved in this process. a. Operate rail lines, freight yards, sidings, transshipment stations, marshalling yards, etc.

Freight transport does not include the transport of luggage or bicycles in passenger trains or automobiles in motorail trains , as the main purpose here is to transport the passenger and he himself takes care of the arrival and departure.

However, goods transport includes the rolling road and pure car transport. In the case of escorted rolling country roads , truck drivers travel in escort cars on the train, but this transport is classified as subordinate to the main commercial purpose.

Post and parcel deliveries that are transported in passenger trains by courier services represent another mixed form . This transport can be classified as a freight transport according to its purpose, although the transport volume is now low after the independent rail mail cars have been discontinued in passenger trains. This transport method is implemented , among others, by time: matters with the ic: kurier .

history

→ Main article : History of the railroad

Beginning until the end of the First World War

Coal wagon from 1829 of the English coal mine in South Hetton, oldest surviving railway vehicle outside of Great Britain in the Nuremberg Transport Museum

Mine railway in Transylvania on wooden plank rails, 16th century.

The beginnings of rail freight transport go back to the ancient Egyptian empire and the ruts roads used there. Since the late Middle Ages , track-guided wagons have been used in mining in particular . This transport method achieved a significant increase in capacity with the invention of Watt 's steam engine in 1769 and the further development of the rails . Initially, steam engines were used as stationary tractors. At the beginning of the 19th century, the first steam locomotives were developed in English mines in Cornwall and around the north-east English coalfield around Newcastle upon Tyne . a. by Timothy Hackworth from 1808, John Blenkinsop in 1812, William Hedley in 1813 and George Stephenson in 1814. The first rail line for freight transport was opened in 1830 with the Liverpool and Manchester Railway . As a locomotive for this route which was Rocket of Robert Stephenson used. In Liverpool, a stationary steam locomotive was installed on this line due to the steep gradient and the weak locomotives. Around 1850, in addition to the classic open freight wagons, the first special wagons developed , such as tank wagons and refrigerated wagons , which were rented out to individual companies by car rental companies. In the period that followed, the use of freight wagons increased steadily, so that standardization became necessary. In Germany, the Association of German Railway Administrations established regulations in 1850 for the standardization of dimensions and facilities. In 1881 these efforts were encouraged by the establishment of the Prussian State Car Association. In 1909 the German State Railroad Car Association was founded with uniform wagon types and wagon identifications , the generic symbols . By the end of 1911, the association's fleet comprised around 560,000 freight wagons.

After the First World War until after the Second World War

After the First World War , the Association of Private Goods Wagons (VPI) was founded in 1921, which still bundles the interests of the private transport industry, especially wagon rental companies, freight wagon construction and maintenance companies and owners of private sidings. In the following year, the agreement on the mutual use of freight wagons in international traffic ( RIV ) was concluded, which regulates the exchange of freight wagons in Europe and the Middle East.

With cars of this type of people were in the during the Holocaust extermination camps transported. Memorial in memory of the deportees , Yad Vashem Shoah Memorial , May 2004.

Memorial plaque to the deportation transports of Jewish people from Frankfurt between 1941 and 1945

The logistics of the Reichsbahn were important for the implementation of the wars of aggression, the preparation for the invasion of the Soviet Union is said to have been the largest railway deployment in history. The logistics of the Reichsbahn were also an important component in the extermination of the Jews . The Jewish people were brought to the concentration and extermination camps by the Deutsche Reichsbahn like cattle in trains consisting of closed freight cars . These transports with cattle wagons, for example from the freight yard of the Frankfurt wholesale market hall , therefore played an important role in the genocide within the extermination machine of the Holocaust . A memorial plaque has been there since 1997 .

After the Second World War until today

From 1953, international freight wagon fleets were created in Western Europe with the Europ Association and from 1964 in Eastern Europe with the Joint Freight Car Park (OPW) . International harmonization in freight traffic was achieved in the second half of the 20th century by the International Union of Railways (UIC) , among other things through the development of UIC standard freight cars . All freight wagons that take part in international traffic within the UIC member companies must be equipped in accordance with UIC regulations and uniformly marked with a UIC generic symbol and a UIC wagon number .

In 1961, the UIC railways agreed on the so-called Euro pallet , commonly known as Euro pallet , the use of which drastically reduced loading times for freight wagons. With 500 million pieces, it is the most widely used load carrier even before the container . Since the late 1960s, the importance of the container in rail freight transport has steadily increased. Today, as an intermodal swap body, it dominates combined ship-train and truck-train transport. Cross-border rail freight transport in the EU is to be further strengthened and simplified, to which the Technical Specifications for Interoperability from 2006 make a contribution to conventional rail transport through more extensive standardization.

meaning

As a general rule

Rail freight transport in Central Europe is subject to a strong process of change with continued high growth rates in container and bulk freight transport with the growing importance of intermodal freight transport , while general cargo , express and express cargo transport is of little importance. The latter transports were gradually abandoned in Germany at the end of the 1960s - together with the transport of luggage . In other countries, such as in Belgium by the SNCB , general cargo and / or baggage transports are still carried out and there are profitability studies on the reintroduction of classic express cargo transport on an international level, especially between airports . A borderline case between such general cargo and conventional freight transport is the transport of air freight containers with express freight trains, as was originally planned for the route between the DHL air freight hub at Leipzig / Halle Airport and Frankfurt am Main .

High-speed freight trains are always a topic of discussion. Studies around 1990 to introduce ICE freight traffic as ICE-G , similar to TGV postal , were not put into practice.

Germany

Transport performance of commercial goods traffic (excluding company traffic, in million ton kilometers) in Germany by type of traffic: road (red), rail (green), inland waterway (blue).

With a 20.5% share and 107.3 billion tonne kilometers (tkm), rail freight transport in Germany provides the second highest transport performance of the four transport systems road / rail / inland waterway / pipeline (status 2010). ^[obsolete] The share has grown steadily since 2002, briefly interrupted by the financial crisis in 2009.

In 2010, a total of 602 million tons of goods were transported in rail freight traffic in Germany. Of this, 366 million tons were moved in public rail freight transport and 235 million tons in non-public transport . Almost 70% of the publicly transported goods can be assigned to inland traffic.

In 2010, iron and non-ferrous metals accounted for the largest share of the types of goods in rail freight transport with 60 million tons. Solid mineral fuels ( brown and hard coal ) follow with 46 million tons, just ahead of stones and earth with 43 million tons. Mineral oil products with 39 million tons and ores or metal waste with 32 million tons follow in fourth and fifth place. 5.6 million  TEU containers were transported.

This transport service was provided with 104,910 wagons (including 7440 in non-public transport) and 3,558 locomotives (including 347 in non-public transport). Between 2002 and 2004, DB Cargo carried out the large-scale restructuring program “ Market-Oriented Offer Cargo (MORA C)” with a strong focus on block train traffic. The number of sidings fell from over 11,000 in 1994 to around 4,000 in 2004, and several marshalling yards were closed. As a result, the Bundestag introduced a siding funding directive in 2004, as a result of which the decrease in siding slowed down. In 2010 there were still 3,700 sidings in Germany. The transport performance of rail freight transport in Germany has been increasing again since 2003 , and the share of total freight transport is also growing. The rail network in Germany is increasingly reaching its capacity limits .

Freight train volume in the main corridors in Germany

Freight trains	per day	calculated from this
		per hour	Distance in minutes
Cologne - Koblenz - Mannheim	300	12.5	04.8
Karlsruhe - Basel	200	08.3	07.2
Hamburg - Hanover	200	08.3	07.2
Bremen - Hanover	150	06.3	09.6
Hanover - Fulda / Giessen	250	10.4	05.8
Gemünden - Nuremberg - Regensburg - Passau	215	09.0	06.7
Minden - Hanover - Braunschweig - Magdeburg	160	06.7	09.0
Würzburg / Nuremberg - Munich - Rosenheim - Kufstein - Brenner or Salzburg	140	05.8	10.3
Source: Rail network 2025/2030: expansion concept for efficient rail freight transport in Germany (2010) Daily volume there. Converted to 24 hours per day and intervals in minutes. In addition, passenger trains, train schedules even more dense

Rail freight transport offers advantages for long-distance and transit transports through the energy-efficient transport of large quantities. Main transport routes are to be identified as so-called corridors . A disproportionate increase is expected for the future. The daily recorded freight train journeys in these main corridors illustrate the current importance and capacity load (see table).

Half of the transport performance in rail freight transport is currently provided by cross-border transports and transit traffic (52 of 107 billion tkm in 2010).

Accordingly, these transports lead to transit traffic in other countries, especially in Switzerland and Austria, whereby the transport volumes of the transit traffic generated by Germany and running through Germany are roughly the same. The transport scientists therefore recommend to refrain from a separate consideration of the transit traffic and to promote the joint, transnational infrastructure expansion together with the reduction of bottlenecks at nodes, especially since Germany will continue to benefit from this exchange of goods.

Austria

In 2009, a total of 19.8 billion tkm of freight transport was achieved in Austria. Of this only 5.8 billion tkm or 29% in domestic traffic . This year, 107.7 million tons of goods were transported, of which 37.4 million tons or 34.7% were transported inland. The Rail Cargo Austria as the largest rail freight company transported this recommendation in 2009. 88 million tons in 2010, 97.5 million tons.

Until 1980, rail lines formed the backbone for mail and parcel transport by the Post . By 2000/2010 this was largely converted to truck traffic. The Bahnexpress -Stückgutservice (BEX) of the ÖBB , now Rail Cargo Austria (RCA) has not been traveling by train since April 2011, but by truck. In 2015, a blog complained that the standard-gauge local railway GKB had significantly lost freight traffic.

Occasionally, companies bring their goods by rail - for example, cars produced in Graz in newly developed closed wagons. In Werndorf south of Graz was the 2003 Cargo Center Graz opened Recommended, by train from the Croatian Mediterranean in particular container port Koper come will load at trucks. As of 2017, 200,000 containers are being handled here annually , and a second terminal is planned to be expanded by 2024.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, the share of rail freight transport in total freight transport ( modal split ) has been falling for years. In 1980 the railroad carried more than road freight; In 2009 it was 36% to 64%. In 2010, a total of 60.4 million tons were transported with a volume of 10.75 billion tkm.

North-south transit traffic is of particular importance for goods traffic in Switzerland. For this purpose, the two axes over the Lötschberg and the Gotthard were expanded with the project New Railway Alpine Transversal . The central project, the Gotthard Base Tunnel , has been used by freight trains since September 2016.

International

The main routes of the RŽD in Russia

Route network of the Class 1 railroad companies in the USA

In 2010, a total of 9281 billion tonne-kilometers of freight transport were performed by rail worldwide. This means an increase of 3.4% compared to the previous year. The largest share of this was achieved in Asia and Oceania with 3462 billion tkm. Of this, China had the lion's share of transport performance with 70%. North America follows on the ranking list with 2791 billion tkm (+ 4% compared to 2009) and Russia with 2011 billion tkm (+ 8% compared to 2009). In Europe (excluding the CIS countries ), a total of 327 billion tkm (+ 7% compared to 2009) were transported. South America with 285 billion tonne kilometers and Africa with 139.2 billion ton kilometers were at the bottom of the continental ranking. Broken down by country, the largest transport services in 2009 were in the PR China with 2.5 trillion. tkm, the USA with 2.4 trillion. tkm, Russia (1.8 trillion tkm), India (521 billion tkm) and Canada (322 billion tkm).

In the large countries of China, the USA, Russia and Australia , rail freight transport is one of the most important modes of transport. While the share of rail freight transport in the EU-27 in 2009 was 15.8% of total freight transport, it was 32.5% in China (as of 2008), in Australia 38.5% (2008), in the USA 41.7% (2007) and in Russia 42.9% (2009) of total freight traffic.

Railroad tracks in the Australian Pilbara region

In Australia, the railroad overtook road haulage between 2000 and 2005 and is now ahead of road haulage at 39.4%, ahead of road haulage at 35.1%. An important factor was the opening of the Central Australian Railway in 2004 , which connects Darwin with the Trans- Australian Railway and thus with the major cities in the south of the continent. The rail freight traffic in northwest Australia in the Pilbara region is of particular importance . Mining companies Fortescue Metals Group , Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton operate some of the largest iron ore mines in the world. The raw materials obtained there are transported via the company's own railway networks to ports in Port Hedland , Dampier and Cape Lambert . With a weight of 40,000 tons and a length of more than three kilometers, the trains used are among the largest and the railway lines, which are designed for an axle load of up to 40 tons, are among the most load-bearing in the world.

In the USA, the market share of rail freight transport, measured in tonne-kilometers, increased from 29.5% to 40% between 1990 and 2006. This puts it well ahead of trucks with 28% and pipelines with 19.8%.

In 2007, the market share of rail freight transport in Russia was 43.1%, which is just behind pipelines with 50.9%. Trucks only have a subordinate market share of 4.3%.

Companies

→ Main article : Railway companies

Traffic Company

→ Main article : Railway companies

Europe

In European rail freight current or former dominate State Railways as a rail freight company . The Russian RŽD leads the ranking by a clear margin . DB Cargo is the market leader in the EU / EFTA area . The table contains RŽD and the 20 largest freight transport companies in the EU / EFTA area.

The following parts table seem since 2018 is out of date to be : transport performance update
Please help with to the missing information research and insert .

Companies	Track -wide [mm]	Headquarters	Corporate form	Transport performance [ billion tkm ]	Sales [million €]	em- -workers	Locomotives	comment
RŽD	1520	Russia	State company	2011 (2010)				also passenger traffic
DB Cargo	1435	Germany	State company	104 (2013)	4767 (2016)	30300	2900
SNCF Fret	1435	France	State company	32 (2013)	1060 (2015)	5900	1000
PKP Cargo	1435	Poland	Corporation	30 (2013)	836 (2015)	20000	1300	majority owned by the state
Rail Cargo Group (RCG)	1435	Austria	State company	26 (2013)	2100 (2016)	8400	625
Trenitalia Cargo	1435	Italy	State company	17 (2013)
Latvijas dzelzceļš (LDZ)	1520	Latvia	State company	15 (2013)				also passenger traffic
Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (LG)	1520	Lithuania	State company	13 (2013)				also passenger traffic
Green Cargo	1435	Sweden	State company	13 (2013)	540 (2012)	2900	470
SBB Cargo	1435	Switzerland	State company	12 (2013)	780 (2013)	3060	469
ČD Cargo	1435	Czech Republic	State company	12 (2013)	490 (2015)	7200
VR-Yhtymä	1524	Finland	State company	9 (2013)				also passenger traffic
Freightliner	1435	United Kingdom	private Limited	8 (2012)	700 (2014)	2500	155
RENFE	1668	Spain	State company	7 (2013)				also passenger traffic
ZSSK Cargo	1435	Slovakia	State company	7 (2013)		7700	800
CFR Marfa	1435	Romania	State company	5 (2013)
Lineas	1435	Belgium	private AG	5 (2013)	452 (2014)		200	until April 27, 2017 B-Logistics as a state-owned company
Eesti Raudtee (EVR)	1520	Estonia	State company	4 (2013)				also passenger traffic
Lotus Kolej	1435	Poland	private AG	4 (2013)				until June 2, 2003 Rafineria Gdańska
Slovenske železnice (SŽ)	1435	Slovenia	State company	4 (2013)				also passenger traffic
BLS Cargo	1435	Switzerland	Corporation	3 (2013)	150 (2015)	120	64	Parent company BLS majority owned by the Canton of Bern

WLC freight train

1. ↑ including subsidiaries

Germany

The largest freight transport company in Germany is DB Cargo AG , a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG. In 2010 this company accounted for 74.9% of the transport performance in 2010 - measured as tonne-kilometers. Since 2005 there have been more takeovers . In particular, (former) state railways have expanded their portfolio . A private railway only bought a competitor in six out of 18 takeovers . According to the 2017/18 Competitor Report of the European Railways Network (NEE) from the end of 2017, the shares of freight transport services in Germany (measured in tkm) in 2016 were as follows:

• DB Cargo Germany: 59.05%
• Captrain Germany : 9.73%
• Metrans : 6.16%
• SBB Cargo : 5.85%
• TX logistics : 4.73%
• RheinCargo : 3.56%
• boxXpress.de GmbH: 2.93%
• RTB Cargo : 1.31%
• Havelländische Eisenbahn AG: 1.12%
• CFL Cargo Germany: 0.98%
• other: 4.58%

North America

There are currently seven Class 1 freight companies in the United States, each with an annual turnover of more than $ 250 million. These are the CSX Transportation , the Norfolk Southern Railway , the BNSF Railway , the Union Pacific Railroad , the Kansas City Southern , the Grand Trunk Corporation ( subsidiary of the Canadian National Railway ) and the Soo Line Railroad (subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway ). The latter two parent companies are the only two Canadian Class 1 rail companies.

Infrastructure company

→ Main article : Railway infrastructure company

Wustermark marshalling yard

In Germany, rail freight traffic is mostly handled on DB Netz facilities , as it has the majority of the railway network with 33,500 km. These lines are also used by freight traffic, with a few exceptions such as some high-speed lines and branch lines. Deutsche Bahn AG and its subsidiaries currently operate nine marshalling yards and various freight and transshipment stations for freight transport.

In Germany, only around 4000 km of public lines are operated as private rail infrastructure and 1940 km of rail lines in non-public freight traffic , primarily in the area of ​​factory railways, such as the so-called Montan railways , which are used to connect lignite opencast mines with the affiliated power plants of energy supply companies .

A coal train on the RWE - north-south railway near Frechen - Habbelrath, electrified with 6.6 kV at 50 Hz

Some of these railways are operated with the nationwide power frequency of 50 Hz, so that no separate substations are required for the standard electrification of 15 kV and 16.7 Hz that is common in the railway network. For these works traffic there are further exemption regulations that go beyond the Railway Building and Operating Regulations (EBO), as these railways are subject to the operating regulations for connecting railways . Due to the processes coordinated with production, very large masses are moved on these factory tracks. In 2010 this was almost 40% of the mass transported by rail freight in Germany. However, due to the significantly shorter distances (on average 13 km compared to 268 km in public transport), the transport performance on these railway lines is only 3% of the total transport performance.

Various private companies are also active in the freight yard infrastructure. In 2008, Rail & Logistik Center Wustermark , a subsidiary of Havelländische Eisenbahn (hvle) , took over the Wustermark marshalling yard from DB Netz AG and has been operating it as a freight yard ever since. The same procedure was followed with the marshalling yard in Falkenberg / Elster . This was sold by DB Netz to the BLG Logistics Group and has been used by its subsidiary BLG Railtec since October 2011 as a freight station for automobile traffic to Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

As in Germany, most of the infrastructure in other European countries is operated by former state-owned companies or state-controlled companies. The Betuweroute in the Netherlands and the Eurotunnel between France and Great Britain represent two important exceptions . The Dutch freight train route is operated by the private Green Tulip Railway Company. The tunnel under the English Channel is operated by the listed Groupe Eurotunnel.

Freight trains

→ Main article : Freight train

Train types

→ Main article : "Freight transport" in the article type of train

Freight trains are divided into different train types:

• Full- or block trains : transport of a shipment from one to the other customers in between departure station and destination station unchanged along lasting throughout the train , with most cars of the same type are summarized. For both the consignor and the consignor, this favors standardized loading and unloading processes and facilities that are specially tailored to the wagon type. In Germany, these trains are assigned to the types IK (intercom train), CS (planned block train) and CT (block train with third-party service (trucking train)).
• Mixed freight trains of wagonload traffic or wagonload freight : from individual cars for different customers composite coatings that in marshalling yards dismantled and reassembled ( ranked ) have to be. These trains mostly operate in Germany under the types FR (freight regional train), FS (freight special train) and FZ (freight feeder train).
• Mixed block trains : This relatively new designation is mainly used by Deutsche Bahn for trains that consist of several block train-like blocks that transport different goods and / or have different routes. It is hoped that this will combine the flexibility of wagonload traffic with the efficiency of block train traffic. Single wagons and mixed block trains relate to each other like through wagons and wing trains .
• Mixed trains : There are mixed forms between freight trains and passenger trains. Depending on the predominant purpose of the journey , they are called freight trains with passenger transport (Gmp) or passenger trains with goods transport (Pmg). These areconsidered passenger trainsby the railways in Germany in accordance with the Railway Construction and Operating Regulations (EBO). In Germany, these types of trains are rarely found.
• Works traffic : Freight traffic that takes place on non-public route network in internal works traffic.

vehicles

Traction vehicles

→ Main article : "Differentiation according to purpose" in the article Locomotive

IORE double locomotive in Narvik

Locomotives of freight trains require a high starting tractive effort at a lower top speed. The two main types of traction here are diesel locomotives and electric locomotives . Steam locomotives are only used in exceptional cases . Electric locomotives have a performance advantage over diesel locomotives, but the latter can be used more universally.

Up to the 1980s, electric locomotives were equipped with direct current or alternating current motors that were specially adapted to their operational characteristics . The required higher starting tractive effort than with passenger locomotives was achieved by a higher number of driven axles. In the 1980s, powerful three-phase motors with controllable motor characteristics were developed, which have since been used as universal locomotives , where necessary in double traction , such as on the Geislinger Steige .

Special requirements are placed on locomotives in cross-border traffic in order to be able to run under different power systems and different train control systems. For this purpose, two-system vehicles have been used in large numbers since the 1960s , which have been increasingly replaced by multi-system vehicles since the turn of the millennium .

In exceptional cases, special freight locomotives are still being built today, such as the IORE - double locomotive for transporting 8,600 t ore trains in Sweden.

Ore train with central buffer coupling, class 151 in double traction

Diesel locomotives have the advantage that they can be used independently of an overhead contact line and can therefore travel on non-electrified connecting railways or line sections without changing locomotives. Changing the traction current system, for example at national borders, is not an obstacle here either. These advantages are, however, paid for by a relatively lower output. If you compare the diesel and electric versions of the current locomotive families, for example from Bombardier ( TRAXX ) or Siemens ( Vectron ), the hourly outputs of the diesel versions are in the range of 2 to 3  MW , while the electric versions are in the range of 5 to 6 MW.

A combination of these advantages and disadvantages is offered by two-power drives. For example, the Swiss cargo shuttle train uses the electric locomotive on the long-distance route. The control car's combustion engine is used on the non-electrified connection route. With the TRAXX F140 AC3 (series 187), Bombardier introduced a two-power multi-system locomotive in 2011. This has an electrical hourly output of 5600 kW and an auxiliary diesel engine with 180 kW.

Double heading in Katherine on the Central Australian Railway

In freight train traffic, multiple units are used in different forms when the transport weights are high . The necessary performance can be achieved by pre-tensioning additional locomotives or “ booster ” without a driver's cab . However, the maximum tensile strength of the couplings must be observed. These pulling forces can be alleviated by a push- pull locomotive. Conversely, however, pressure forces occur here, which can lead to the car climbing up . In order to distribute the tensile and compressive forces more evenly, locomotives are lined up in the middle of the train. This means that the length and mass of the freight trains can be increased further. This technology is called Distributed Power Unit . In contrast to passenger cars, there is no continuous control line via the cars to the individual locomotives, instead they are remote-controlled by radio.

Push locomotives are also used on steep inclines. Since additional power is usually only required for a short section of the route, these locomotives only stay on the train for a short time and return to their starting point , sometimes as a locomotive train .

In the case of very long freight trains that are used internationally with a length of over 1000 m, it can happen that the pressure in the brakes does not build up quickly enough. In order to ensure the braking performance , further possibilities for pressure escape are created beyond the driver's brake valve . In the USA, for example, there is a technical end-of-train signal FRED ("Flashing rear-end device"), which empties the brake line at the end of the train and is controlled from the locomotive via a radio device called "Wilma". If this facility is not available or if this is not sufficient, a multiple traction is used, in which the necessary braking power is achieved significantly faster by the locomotives in line. Especially in very remote areas, such as the Australian outback , Siberia , northern Canada or northern Scandinavia , double traction is also used for safety reasons, so that the train can be continued with the second locomotive in the event of technical problems with one locomotive and lengthy downtimes by bringing in Avoid emergency trains over hundreds of kilometers.

Hanomag steam storage locomotive with freight cars in Heinsberg - Oberbruch

Electric shunting locomotive of the series 1063 of the ÖBB

In addition to the mainline locomotives , smaller shunting locomotives are required in freight transport to move the trains, groups of wagons and wagons within a station or connection. The bandwidth of these traction vehicles ranges from small shunting devices with an output of less than 100 kW to road- rail vehicles and small locomotives to locomotives with an output of up to 1000 kW. These vehicles are mostly equipped with diesel engines so that they can operate independently of the contact wire . However, there are also electric shunting locomotives , battery- powered and hybrid shunting locomotives. In environments with a risk of explosion, such as in chemical plants or in mining , locomotives without ignition sources, so-called steam storage locomotives , are used. These are usually charged with the steam generated on site and work in these plants much more safely than diesel or electric locomotives.

Since traffic in the freight train sector is sometimes gained and lost again at very short notice, only large railway companies can keep a locomotive pool in order to react to these fluctuations. That is why people often resort to renting traction equipment from rental companies such as Alpha Trains , Mitsui Rail Capital (MRCE) or HSBC Rail .

Freight wagons

→ Main article : Freight wagons

Freight train traffic is characterized by a wide variety of wagon types that have developed from the different requirements of the goods to be transported. Flat wagons , with which, among other things, containers are transported, are the most widespread with around 40% of the freight wagon population in Germany . The many variants and the longer downtimes due to the production processes lead to a large number of freight wagons. In 2003, 164,138 freight wagons were balanced in Germany, compared to only 12,269 passenger wagons. ^[outdated]

The International Union of Railways (UIC) divides goods wagon according to structural features in 13 UIC genera according to the main characteristics Open freight cars , boxcars , refrigerator cars , flat cars , open flat / utility carts , cart with opening roof , special cars and tank cars a. This UIC type designation system for freight wagons was introduced in 1964 in the UIC area and from 1968 in the Eastern European and Asian area of ​​the Organization for Cooperation of the Railways (OSJD). In addition to the categories, this identification includes the maximum permissible speed, equipment and loading mass, which are expressed as letter coding together with a holder identification and information about the possible uses in the twelve-digit UIC wagon number . Together with the load limit grid , this information must be written on the two long sides of the freight wagons.

Particularly in so-called combined transport, i.e. rail freight transport with a pre- and post-carriage , there is a large number of vehicle developments that are intended to accelerate the load exchange. In the last few years, systems have been developed to use swap bodies to increase the operating times and flexibility of freight wagons. This technology has been widespread in the truck sector since the 1950s and is based on flat wagons from container traffic. With the help of the twistlocks used there , various superstructures are attached so that the car is independent of the respective load.

The classic screw coupling , as it is standard in Central Europe, reaches its limits on freight trains over 4000 t . In Germany this particularly affected the ore freight trains called Langer Heinrich . These were limited to this 4000 t mass by the screw coupling used. In order to transport larger loads here, the stronger central buffer couplings are necessary, as are standard in North America and the CIS countries . In Western Europe, however, their use is limited to a few heavy freight trains on which the UIC central buffer coupling developed in the 1960s is used. Since the mixed coupling for connecting vehicles with UIC central buffer and screw couplings was only permitted in shunting service until the end of the 1970s, only a few locomotives in Germany were equipped with it. This restriction led to the development of the Unilink coupling head and the C-AKv coupling , which can be coupled with the UIC central buffer couplings Intermat and Unicupler as well as with the Eastern European SA-3 , with an integrated coupling chain also with vehicles with screw coupling. In addition to increasing the train mass, close couplings can help to increase the usable length of the train. As far as possible a solution to the problem, Jakobs bogies are used in which two cars are connected via a common bogie.

A reduction in the necessary traction performance can be achieved by a more balanced composition of the individual freight wagons, as the aerodynamic resistance is significantly reduced, as can be easily seen from the example of a half-loaded container train: If all containers are lined up directly behind the locomotive and the remaining wagons remain empty, so the aerodynamic resistance is lowest. If containers and empty wagons are loaded alternately, there is a very high aerodynamic resistance.

The maintenance of the freight wagons is a major problem for the safety of train operations . The freight wagons and their condition can hardly be completely monitored due to the frequent, international exchange of wagons and the many companies involved. Therefore, the wagons are often only taken to a depot for repairs when they are damaged . Damaged and damaged, they stay on the train much longer than on passenger trains. In the case of passenger cars, monitoring is much easier thanks to a regulated circulation and regular breaks in operations in a depot.

A frequently occurring danger from this freight wagon operation is the so-called hot runner , in which a damaged axle box bearing heats up considerably, then overheats and ultimately fails. To detect this danger, hot box detection systems were installed on railway lines in order to be able to release and repair the cars detected in this way. Electronic monitoring solutions are usually not possible on freight wagons because of the high physical stress and the lack of power supply . Therefore, simple mechanical measuring devices are used, such as the axle odometer , which records the revolutions of the wheelset and converts them into distance. This allows the mileage to be monitored and a precautionary examination to be scheduled.

In the mid-19th century, car rental companies were set up to supply various railway companies from their large pool of wagons for the cost-effective use of freight cars. Nowadays, this business is held by private companies such as VTG AG , Groupe Ermewa , Wascosa or formerly Eisenbahn-Verkehr AG .

Freight railcars

The cargo shuttle train

The CargoTram Dresden

In addition to classic locomotive wagon trains, there are special developments such as freight railcars . The most common forms are postal multiple units such as the TGV postal or the British Rail Class 325 . Deutsche Bahn also tested this type of freight train for container traffic with the CargoSprinter between 1996 and 2004. However, it was decided against any further use and the seven vehicles were sold. Two of them were used as a cargo shuttle train after a renovation . The manufacturer Windhoff further developed this vehicle into the multi-purpose vehicle MPV .

Freight railcars are also used on tram tracks. Such freight transports are currently being carried out in Dresden and Zurich . The CarGoTram Dresden connects the Friedrichsstadt goods distribution center with the Transparent Factory . The Cargotram Zurich is used by ERZ Zurich to transport bulky waste . In addition to these current examples, postal trams ran in various cities, for example between 1901 and 1951 in Frankfurt .

The company Euro Carex ( Cargo Rail Express ), which was founded in 2007 and in which various railway companies, airport operators and courier companies are involved, plans to offer freight transport with express multiple units on the European high-speed network from 2017. For this purpose, a test drive was carried out in 2012 with a TGV Postale from Lyon to London St. Pancras with a load of 120 t.

automation

Different approaches to realize automatic freight traffic on rails were only successful in closed areas and thus only to a limited extent.

The automatic Post-U-Bahn Munich connected the main post office in Munich with the main train station until 1988. More recently, a similar concept has been attempted with the CargoCap for container transport .
The RailCab system developed at the University of Paderborn is to be used at the Hamburg container terminal (CTH) to transport containers. This is equipped with a linear motor and should have actively steering wheels, so that only passive points have to be used. The third concept to be mentioned is FlexCargoRail, which arose from a collaboration between RWTH Aachen University , TU Berlin and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The maneuvering processes are to be carried out automatically by freight wagons, which are equipped with their own drive motors so that a locomotive is only required for the connection between the start and the destination of the transport.

In addition to automatically moving vehicles, there are approaches to automation in some areas. Radio-controlled shunting locomotives have been widespread since the 1980s. For the screw coupling common in Europe, the so-called shunting coupling is used, which replaces the manual coupling between the locomotive and the first car. This type of coupling can account for up to 80% of the operations in the shunting area. The semi-automatic couplings common in Eastern Europe and America were only able to establish themselves in niche areas in Western Europe. A test with fully automatic couplings has been carried out by SBB with the 5L demonstrator train since 2017. There are also approaches to automation in the unloading area, so that self-unloading cars can be unloaded by the train driver by radio. The brake tests required after the formation of a new train can also be carried out without a locomotive using a semi-automatic brake test system. The adjustment of the various movable track elements takes a lot of time in the goods shunting operation without an interlocking , whereby this effort can be reduced by electrical switches operated locally .

Size of freight trains

Freight train (car transport) on Elbe bridge in Torgau

Freight car trains on the Deutsche Bahn network are usually limited to 250 axles and 700 m due to boundary conditions such as axle counters and the length of the sidings. Including the locomotive, this results in a length of 750 m and 256 axles. It is therefore possible to move this limit upwards by expanding the infrastructure. Since 2012, trains with the maximum length permitted in Denmark of 835 m have been running on the Maschen marshalling corridor - Denmark ; In 2016 the transport relation was extended to the Port of Hamburg (Hohe Schaar) . In the long term, a doubling of the train lengths to 1500 m is planned so that two current trains could be replaced by one train, which increases efficiency and saves routes. In its “Freight Transport and Logistics Action Plan”, the German Federal Ministry of Transport defined the routes (Denmark -) Flensburg - Maschen, (Netherlands -) Emmerich - Duisburg and Karlsruhe - Basel (- Switzerland) as international model corridors.

In France, too, freight trains up to a maximum of 750 m in length and weighing up to 1,800 t usually run. Since the end of 2011, trains with a length of up to 850 m and a mass of up to 2,400 t have only been operating in isolated cases.

The maximum length of 750 m, which is typical for freight trains in Central Europe, corresponds to the UIC standard length for a simple freight train. In the CIS area , trains that are twice as long and significantly heavier are the standard dimensions. But these trains are also in the lower range of what is technically feasible. In Australia, North America, Russia and China, for example, trains several kilometers in length and weights over 10,000 tons are more common. The current record train in 2001 was almost 7.5 km long and had a total mass of almost 100,000 tons.

However, such orders of magnitude require an adaptation of many boundary conditions. For example, the route class , the braking ability , the performance of the locomotive and the couplings must be taken into account (for details, see the sections on infrastructure and vehicles ).

Speeds and traffic times

TGV postal

Freight trains usually travel at a maximum speed of between 90 and 120 km / h. As a result, their speed harmonizes well with the regional passenger trains , which have similar average speeds due to the numerous stops . However, conflicts can arise on mixed routes with the fast regional express and long-distance passenger services . Usually these are solved by overhauling the freight train with the faster train. Only in rare cases is the speed of the faster train adapted to the speed of the freight train.

Since the braking distances this rapid goods trains longer than the usual preliminary signal is distance, they must with display led train control , such as automatic train (LZB) and ETCS Level 2 or 3 to be fitted. With these, the pre-signaling can be given in the braking distance and a stop in front of the main signal is possible. On routes with conventional signaling, however, only a maximum speed of 120 km / h is permitted.

In 1984 the German Federal Railroad introduced the InterCargo to speed up some freight trains . This linked eleven economic centers in Germany in a night jump over a distance of 200 km. This system was expanded in 1991 to include the InterCargoExpress , which used the two high-speed routes Hanover – Würzburg and Mannheim – Stuttgart with a top speed of 160 km / h and connected Hamburg with Munich and Bremen with Stuttgart at night. Post InterCity , which connected the freight mail centers of Deutsche Post from the first half of the 1990s to 1997, was just as fast . In 1999 they were replaced by Parcel InterCity , who use the InterCargoExpress cars. Foreign express freight trains such as the TGV postal reach speeds of up to 300 km / h.

Most freight trains are driven at night, as more free paths are available due to the reduced passenger traffic and, in some cases, operational regulations give freight trains priority over passenger trains. For example, freight trains are given priority at night on the high-speed route Hanover – Würzburg . Due to the ban on entering tunnels there with passenger trains, this means practically exclusive use by freight trains at night. During this time, passenger trains have to travel the slower north-south route . There will also be a similar priority rule on the high-speed line Nuremberg – Erfurt . In conjunction with the local train control system ETCS Level 2, the ban on entering tunnels should be able to be safely monitored using signals, so that such a thorough operational separation between the types of train is not required in this case. Only mixed trains of passenger and freight cars, such as car trains, rolling country roads and military trains with escort cars, are not allowed on this route.

Timetables

Like passenger trains, freight trains are driven according to a timetable , provided they are not shunting trips or shunting trips (as they are called in Austria).

These timetables are usually created by the infrastructure company based on a specific route request . This usually takes place much more quickly than in passenger transport, the timetable for which is usually drawn up for an entire year. In this way, it is possible to react to fluctuations in supply and demand.

Infrastructure companies only offer catalog routes in a few cases, such as on the Betuwe route. These are already preconstructed routes that have been calculated with certain sample trains. The freight train operator can book these free catalog paths, provided that its trains can at least achieve the driving dynamics of the sample trains and thus meet the travel times.

In order daytime freight trains in the dense Swiss clock schedule to offer that led SBB Cargo in spring 2012 test, a line -Shuttlezug between Dietikon and Renens one. This runs twice a day according to a fixed timetable and can be booked at short notice by freight customers.

If necessary, additional freight trains are used as special trains , so-called “ad hoc trains”, for which a demand timetable is created that uses free train paths. Since these are sometimes not available with very short lead times due to a lack of capacity , there can be significant detours here. This can also be the case due to the special train characteristics, such as exceeding the loading gauge or high train masses.

Infrastructure

→ Main article : Railway infrastructure

Maschen marshalling yard 1977

Gemmenich tunnel with two railway tracks and a special central track for extra-wide large-scale transport

RhB freight train with an SBB standard-gauge freight car

Like rail passenger transport, rail freight transport requires a special rail and surrounding infrastructure .

loading

→ Main article : Loading

Special facilities must be provided for loading and unloading freight wagons, such as loading ramps , freight yards or container terminals . A high level of automation was achieved in the loading process, particularly in container traffic . But there are also approaches to automation in general cargo transport. For example, the bodyshell components of the Porsche Cayenne are delivered by freight train from Bratislava to the Porsche factory in Leipzig , where they are automatically unloaded and put into production.

In addition to pre-carriage and post-carriage loading, there has also been loading during transport in container train traffic for some years. Here, container shuttle trains are transported from the seaports to the hinterland in a hub-and-spoke system. There they are transferred to other trains or trucks in a container hub for local distribution. The shuttle train is loaded with containers to the seaports and returns there. HHLA subsidiaries operate such a system between the ports of Hamburg and Bremerhaven and the Polish Posen ( Polzug ) and the Czech Prague and Česká Třebová ( Metrans ). Another example of this system is the National Intermodal Network Austria ( NINA ) operated by Rail Cargo Austria . Here Wels marshalling yard is the hub for an Austria-wide network. This handling technique is also often used at system boundaries. For example, container trains are reloaded between the European standard gauge network and the broad gauge network of the CIS to save time and are not relocated.

Siding

→ Main article : Rail connection

Freight customers are connected to the public rail network via sidings. In recent years, these have become less attractive due to road freight traffic and have become more expensive or abandoned due to economic considerations of DB Netz ( MORA C ).

Shunting yard / shunting yard

→ Main article : marshalling yard

Schematic representation of a runoff mountain (A: mountain tracks, B: runoff mountain, X: break point, C: switch zone, D: valley tracks)

Shunting yards are required, especially in single-wagon traffic, where trains are rebuilt according to their destinations. The trains are divided accordingly and usually pushed over a drainage mountain , from where the cars roll into individual direction tracks and are put together to form new trains. After the significant decline in single wagon traffic, train formation in Germany is concentrated in a few large marshalling yards, including Maschen marshalling yard near Hamburg, the largest in Europe. In some European countries, marshalling yards are no longer used at all. The required train composition takes place there in junction stations. There are no longer any marshalling yards in Ireland , Great Britain (since 1984), Norway (since 2003), Denmark (since 2002), Spain (since 2006) and Portugal. In France, the last two marshalling yards were replaced by a system called Multi Lots Multi Clients in 2015.

This is based on four freight stations that serve as hubs for nationwide single wagon traffic. In Germany, DB Netz plans to use the nine marshalling yards Maschen (near Hamburg ), Seelze (near Hanover ), Seddin (near Berlin ), Halle (Saale) , Hagen-Vorhalle ( Ruhr area ), Gremberg (near Cologne ), Mannheim , Nuremberg and Focus on Munich North . In Austria there are three large ones in addition to the smaller Verschubbanhöfe. These include Hall in Tirol , Villach and Austria's largest shunting yard, the Wien-Kledering central shunting yard .

Transshipment station

→ Main article : Transshipment station

There are transshipment stations for transshipment by road or ship and rail. Here, containers are mostly loaded between the modes of transport by crane or forklift trucks. Containers are also reloaded here between different trains so that the wagons do not have to change trains as in the marshalling yard.

In Germany there are a total of 22 terminals operated by the Deutsche Umschlaggesellschaft Straße-Schiene (DUSS), a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn. These include eleven large hubs that can handle at least four block trains with a train length of more than 600 m at the same time. The largest of these stations is in Cologne-Eifeltor with a loading capacity of 330,000  TEU (after the renovation 380,000 TEU) per year. The second largest train station is in Hamburg-Billwerder with a capacity of 300,000 TEU. This is to be expanded to 400,000 TEU. Another transshipment station is to be added with the Hannover-Lehrte megahub .

Route class

→ Main article : Route class

ÖBB carrying beak car with transformer in Koblenz-Ehrenbreitstein train station

The railway network is a limiting factor for rail freight traffic, especially due to the length of the sidings and the technology of the axle counters , which limit the length of the train. In addition, the route class regulates the permissible axle load and the permissible meter load of the trains. In Europe, most of the main routes are class "D4". This means that they can be driven with a maximum axle load of 22.5 tons and a meter load of 8.0 tons. The highest route class E in Europe allows 25 tons of axle load and a meter load of 8.8 tons, but it is currently only used in Sweden. In order to comply with these limits, freight wagons have a corresponding number of axles or are designed to be very long. As an extreme example of this, there are lifting trolleys for the transport of transformers with up to 32 axles, a length of over 60 meters and a load capacity of up to 454 tons.

Vehicle gauge

Coupling of a RIC and a long distance car in Moscow Belorusskaya

Eurotunnel shuttle. The difference between the French locomotive and the Eurotunnel wagon clearance profile can be clearly seen

→ Main article : Vehicle gauge

Another limiting factor is the vehicle boundary line, which defines the space that can be used by the vehicles. In Switzerland, for example, the too small clearance profile of the tunnels prevented combined traffic on individual routes crossing the Alps. Load that protrudes beyond the vehicle gauge leads to the loading gauge being exceeded and thus to operational restrictions on the neighboring tracks. Track loops were occasionally set up on double-track tunnels so that freight trains with excess loading gauge can run in the middle of the tunnel in order to make optimum use of the clearance profile.

The individual vehicle gauge lines can differ significantly in Europe. In the Russian broad-gauge network, the maximum width is 3.25 m and the maximum height is 6.15 m. The narrow English clearance gauge W10, on the other hand, only allows a width of 2.5 m and a height of 2.9 m. Special features are the Eurotunnel and the Betuwe route. For the Eurotunnel-Shuttle, the tunnel has a profile with a height of 5.6 m and a width of 4.1 m. The new freight train line in the Netherlands was designed for the same width and a height of 6.15 m. It would therefore be possible to use double-deck container wagons there.

Slope

→ Main article : Gradient

The inclination of railway lines limits the mass of trains to a great extent. For example, the Gotthard Railway, with a maximum incline of 28 ‰, limits the maximum train mass to 2000 tons. With the new Gotthard Base Tunnel as part of the NEAT project with a maximum gradient of 6.8 ‰, train weights of up to 4,000 tons are possible.

Train protection

→ Main article : Securing train journeys

The safety equipment of a route is of great importance for the capacity of possible timetable routes for freight trains. Lines with branch line blocks can only be used by one train, so that here - mostly secondary lines - freight traffic can only take place at night or during breaks in local rail passenger transport . On routes with a classic route block , the length of the block sections determines the capacity. The shorter the individual block sections, the more routes are available. If train control devices such as LZB or ETCS are used in a linear fashion, compression can also only take place with these, which reduces the effort on the route somewhat. However, if possible, all of the locomotives operating on this route must be equipped with the appropriate vehicle equipment. A shortening of the block sections far below the required braking distance does not make sense, however, since there is no corresponding benefit to counteract the increasing effort. The actually required braking distance must always remain free between two trips in addition to the route formation and resolution time. However, high-performance line block systems are usually only used on high-speed and heavily loaded S-Bahn lines, so they are of secondary importance for rail freight transport.

In international traffic, complications arise from the multitude of different train control systems. For cross-border freight trains, either a locomotive has to be equipped with on-board equipment for all train control systems that occur or locomotives have to be changed at the borders. The ERTMS concept of uniform European railway operations management, the most important component of which is the European Train Control System (ETCS), which has been in development since the early 1990s, is intended to remedy this . Its first versions have been in use since 2006. A long-term stable execution should be achieved with version 3.0.0 by 2012.

electrification

→ Main article : electrification

Electrified railway lines offer advantages for freight traffic, as electric locomotives with significantly higher outputs can be used than diesel locomotives . Non-electrified sections and sidings cause the changeover to diesel traction. As a solution, electric locomotives with auxiliary diesel engines were created for the last few miles , such as the Bombardier TRAXX series 187 .

Gauge

→ Main article : gauge (rail)

Maintaining the track width is of particular importance for through freight traffic, since every change in this dimension causes a large operational expense. Within Western Europe, this change usually occurs to narrow-gauge railways . In international traffic, the change from Central European standard gauge to broad gauge on the Iberian Peninsula and in the Eastern European countries is significant.

Various techniques have been developed to overcome these gauge limits, either by reloading the load into wagons of the other gauge, by swapping bogies or wheel sets, or by rolling complete railway wagons onto flat wagons of the other gauge using a roller block system . The fastest, but technically also the most complex method is re- gauging with gauge changing wheel sets . In freight transport, this method is rarely used because of its high costs and effort.

On the infrastructure side, multi- rail tracks enable trains with different gauges to run on one route. Regular-gauge freight trains to the Ems-Chemie run between Chur and Ems Werk on the three- rail track of the Chur – Domat (Ems) line of the meter-gauge Rhaetian Railway .

Freight traffic on narrow-gauge railways in Germany has decreased significantly in recent years due to the limited transport sizes. Today, goods traffic is only operated on the three narrow-gauge railways of the Wangerooger Inselbahn , the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen and the Brohltalbahn .

The importance of the gauge differences between the Iberian island and Western Europe diminished with the construction of a standard gauge high - speed network in Spain. This new network was connected to the European standard gauge network by the Perpignan - Figueres line and the subsequent line to Barcelona . Since the end of 2010, the so-called Barcelyon container express from the SNCF subsidiary Naviland Cargo has been connecting the port of Barcelona with the French freight train hub Lyon-Vénissieux . Previously, the container train introduced in February 2009 had to be reloaded in Port Bou. Eleven months later, Deutsche Bahn also introduced a connection to Barcelona from Völklingen .

On the international container train connection China - Western Europe, the containers are moved from China to Russian broad gauge and from Russian broad gauge to European standard gauge at the lane changing stations.

A special loading method is used for car transport in Malaszewicze, Poland . For this purpose, standard and broad gauge wagons are driven together on a mixed-gauge track and the vehicles are driven from one train of cars to the other.

goods

In principle, all goods that adhere to a route-dependent limitation of length, width and mass can be used for rail freight transport . If the transported goods are too long, there may be problems with cornering, if they are too wide, they protrude from the clearance and if they are too heavy, the track's superstructure cannot withstand this. Within these limits, goods for rail transport that have to be transported over long distances or in large quantities, such as metals, coal, stone and earth and products of mechanical engineering, are particularly suitable . Goods that can be loaded quickly and automated, such as bulk goods , container goods , cranable swap bodies and liquid goods, are particularly suitable for rail transport . The high level of safety of rail traffic compared to road traffic offers advantages for dangerous goods , especially for bulk goods in the chemical industry . The goods in question place a wide variety of requirements on the transport, from goods to be stored cool, to hot metal to be kept hot, to steel slabs to be cooled for temperature- critical goods. These requirements are met by special freight wagons, suitable reloading processes and adapted timetables. High longitudinal forces can occur during maneuvering. For this reason, the packaging of sensitive goods must be adapted to this circumstance.

Standardizations are made by the International Union of Railways. An internationally uniform definition of the specifications of the goods is achieved with the harmonized list of goods (NHM), which assigns an internationally uniform NHM number to each transported goods .

Integration in logistics chains

Rail freight transport is increasingly being integrated into overall logistical concepts, which increases the demands placed on rail transport companies . The freight traffic is coordinated and tailored to the production process in order to reduce costly warehousing . The transfer of these capacities to the transport requires high punctuality , high reliability and information management in just-in-time production . a. The tracking allows. The supply chain management supports the acceleration, time flexibility and adaptation to the requirements of production . The demands on freight carriers are increasing because they have to coordinate and optimize the material and transport flows and adapt the infrastructure accordingly. Computer-aided optimization algorithms , scheduling software and telecommunication devices are increasingly being used, making it easier for those involved in the transport to coordinate. The freight forwarders are expected to process the customs formalities and coordinate the various modes of transport and carriers. Future developments in this area can be expected in combined transport with swap bodies , in automation technology and in telematics solutions for vehicle use.

Combined traffic

→ Main article : Combined transport

Reach stacker with raised semi-trailer

Modalohr wagon

The combination of truck transport and rail transport, the so-called combined transport (CT), poses a particular logistical challenge. There are various difficulties here that make intermodal transport worse than monomodal transport. Loading, unloading and reloading means increased effort, as does the carrying of so-called dead mass such as container mass , semi-trailers or trucks.

The most common case of combined transport is container handling on flat wagons , in which the containers are reloaded from ships or semi-trailers onto the train. For this traffic, various transshipment stations have been set up at ports and in the hinterland for rapid loading.

Mobile truck being loaded onto an eight-axle wagon

ACTS loading

The rolling road has been developed for the rail transport of entire trucks , in which the vans, like the classic car train, drive onto the train with the driver. The tedious serial loading and unloading is disadvantageous, so that this type of transport can only be found in niches.

A simplification and acceleration of loading and unloading can be achieved by reach stackers with a tong handler , which only lift the trailer onto the pocket wagons . However, there are requirements for the strength of the semi-trailer. This can be circumvented by specially equipped handlers, such as the ISU (innovative semi-trailer handling) system from Rail Cargo Austria . The kingpins and the rear wheels of the semi-trailer are used as points of application of the crane gear .

A further improvement are special pocket wagons in which the pockets can be pivoted. With the CargoBeamer , for example, the bag can be moved horizontally outwards, and the semi-trailers can be loaded and unloaded directly, in parallel and without any additional aids. Modalohr represents a similar system . Here the bag of the trolley is pivoted to the side and not horizontally for loading. As a prerequisite for these systems, the terminal must be designed so that level access to the car pockets is possible. By lowering the wagon pocket to floor level, the maintenance of a track that is lowered from street level can be avoided. This is implemented in the MegaSwing system, for example . Alternatively, as with the Flexiwaggon system, the difference in level between the wagon pocket and the road can also be overcome via the loading ramp .

Various developments are also being advanced in classic container loading, such as the KV scooter (formerly Mobiler ), in which, similar to the CargoBeamer, the truck is parallel to the train and pushes the container onto the train using special devices. This means that a container crane is unnecessary. The system remains compatible with this crane technology. The roll-off container transport system (ACTS) has established itself as a further possibility , in which a container can be loaded and unloaded on the railroad car via a laterally pivoting rolling device.

Long distance traffic

A Bombardier TRAXX of the SBB with a tank car train on the Halle (Saale) - Cottbus route near Doberlug-Kirchhain

The advantage of the system of transporting large units (well over 1000 tonnes) in an energy-efficient way is what rail freight transport really brings to bear over long distances. Inner German is the point-to-point -Containerverkehr between the handling stations of importance under its sustainable growth and government support to the fact that this container terminals are being expanded (most recently in Frankfurt am Main , recently in Ludwigshafen and Rostock ). Rail freight traffic is gaining in importance in the hinterland traffic of the large seaports (see also intermodal traffic = the handling of a transport process using at least two different modes of transport).

Other growth areas in German rail freight traffic are cross-border services and transit traffic . The interoperability in rail transport required for this was hindered by the protectionism of most European (ex) state railways , which is still deeply rooted today . The EU tries to remove these hurdles through the technical specifications for interoperability . Technical problems are now manageable through modular multi-system locomotives and lane change bogies, but they are associated with higher costs and increased administrative effort. Locomotives require approvals in all the countries they pass through, which requires lengthy and complex procedures. Here, too, the EU tries to remove obstacles so that, for example, individual proofs only have to be provided once and are mutually recognized.

One of the first international express freight trains was the Trans-Europ-Express-Marchandises . This was introduced in 1961 by a total of 18 railway companies. The maximum speed of these trains was set at 100 km / h. In order to ensure that operations can be carried out quickly, the maximum train weight was limited to 1000 tons and 100 axles. This offer was widely used and grew from 31 trains in 1961 to 110 in 1970.

Class 92 locomotive in Dollands Moor during a test on the High Speed ​​One

The European freight train network was expanded with the opening of the Eurotunnel in 1994. Freight trains can reach Great Britain through this. However, the trains were limited by the small English clearance gauge and the high fire protection regulations in the tunnel. Only with the opening of the new High Speed ​​One line at the end of 2007 will it be possible for trains with the larger European clearance profile with a corner height of 3 m to travel to London . This option was used for the first time in July 2011 and has meanwhile been expanded to a regular service between Poland and London. In order to extend these trains beyond London into the industrial centers of Central England, the Midland Main Line will also be upgraded for this clearance profile. The specially equipped locomotives of the British class 92 are used on this route for fire protection and safety reasons . In 2015, a total of 2,421 freight trains ran through the tunnel and transported 1.42 million tons of cargo. In addition, over 1.48 million trucks were transported with the Eurotunnel shuttle.

Another major expansion of long-distance freight transport in Western Europe was realized in 1998 with the Great Belt railway tunnel . Since this was opened, it has been possible to get from Denmark to Sweden and from there on to Norway without any detours. Due to the gradient in this tunnel (up to 15.6 ‰), special locomotives of the DSB EG series were purchased here. With 700 kN starting tractive effort, these 6-axle electric locomotives are among the strongest in Europe and can move up to 2000-tonne trains on this route. A further expansion of this traffic is to be expected with the fixed link across the Fehmarnbelt . This shortens the way from Germany to Sweden by approx. 160 km.

In recent years there have been repeated attempts towards international long-distance freight trains. A direct freight train from Istanbul to Cologne has been operated since 2004 with the so-called Asia-Europe Express. It covers the 3000 km route in 79 hours without changing locomotives. In 2008, the Trans-Eurasia-Express was the first freight train connection from China to Germany. There are now several connections with over 300 trains in 2011 and 2012. These trains cover the 10,000 km route in 15 to 17 days. This makes them significantly faster than container ships , which need around 26 days for this route. The trains are operated in cooperation between DB Cargo , the Russian state railway RZD and China Railways . The Hupac participates in the traffic between Europe and Asia with a train from Chongqing to Antwerp. This is offered together with Russkaya Troyka and Eurasia Good Transport . A problem with this traffic is the need to re-track twice. China and Western Europe have a standard gauge rail network , the CIS countries a broad gauge network . This is not only characterized by a wider track width, but also by longer and heavier trains, central buffer couplings and a larger clearance profile. This system interface has so far been accomplished by reloading two regular trains to one broad-gauge train. This process, including customs clearance at the Brest interface in Belarus, takes between one and two days. As a possible improvement, the Russian State Railways suggested that the Košice – Vienna broad-gauge line be built by 2016, a rail link according to Russian standards to Vienna.

Rail heavy transport

Iron ore train on the Fortescue Metals Group's heavy-duty railway in Australia

A heavy rail transport path or heavy-duty rail is often with the English word Heavy Haul Railway designated. These railways are designed for operation with particularly long, heavy or many trains for the removal of large masses, which means that the routes are operated with up to 45 tons of axle load and, on an experimental basis, a train with 10 locomotives and 7.4 km in length and almost 100,000 t mass was driven.

Heavy-duty railways include systems built for the removal of mining products such as the ore railroad in northern Sweden and Norway, the railways of the mining companies BHP Billiton , Rio Tinto Group and Vale, and freight trains from Transnet Freight Rail in South Africa. The freight rail networks in the USA, Russia and China also have the characteristics of heavy-duty railways.

The International Heavy Haul Association was founded in 1975/76 at the suggestion of the Australian mining group BHP to further develop the technology of heavy haul railways . Ten railway companies and railway research companies belong to this group.

Competition with road traffic

The increased traffic on short routes exacerbates the situation on the motorways , as the volume of traffic and thus also the risk of congestion and environmental pollution have increased. Since January 1, 2005, this is to be countered in Germany with the truck toll . In other areas, such as bulk goods transport, container and large freight, which are mostly driven by block trains, the importance of rail transport has increased over long distances, as trucks are no longer competitive for this type of transport and inland waterways are only competitive to a limited extent.

So the question is to what extent road traffic and railways actually compete in freight transport: Almost half of German rail freight transport (2004: 47.7%) is accounted for by mining and mining (solid fuels and metals) and mineral oil transport; these services cannot be meaningfully transported over comparable distances on the road. On the other hand, “just-in-time” deliveries are usually transported on the road, since the railways, although the transport costs only a fraction of the road transport, can only make this delivery on schedule with great effort. Trucks are also more practical when delivering to the retail trade directly from the factory, as there is no reloading for fine distribution.

Environmental impact

As for other transport systems, the environmental impacts of rail freight transport are usually assessed under the following criteria:

• Resource and energy consumption (landscape, raw materials, energy)
• Exposure to pollutants and particles
• Noise pollution

In addition, economic effects are included as external costs from damage to people and property. If rail freight transport is compared with other transport systems, it comes off particularly favorably in terms of resource and energy consumption compared to road transport. The landscape consumption - and thus also its "cutting up" - is significantly lower in rail transport.

Rail traffic noise

In the case of rail freight transport, the increased rail traffic noise compared to passenger trains due to running and braking noises of the heavy and long trains is under discussion, in particular due to the primarily night-time traffic times and the proximity of the railway lines to residential areas .

Various measures are being taken to alleviate this problem as well. One major source of noise is the widespread gray cast iron block brake on freight wagons. On the one hand, this produces noise when braking, on the other hand, it leads to the so-called polygon formation of the wheel tires . The resulting non-circular tread of the wheel leads to significantly higher driving noise. In its extreme form, flat spot , it can be heard as a rhythmic tapping. New brake blocks made of composite materials (so-called whisper brakes) should bring about an improvement. These brake more quietly and do not lead to any roughening of the cycling surface.

Another measure on the vehicle side are improved bogies with internal bearings and disc brakes. A bogie with cast iron brake blocks causes 92  dB , a bogie equipped with K brake blocks 83 dB and an internally mounted bogie with disc brakes 74 dB noise at 80 km / h and 7.5 meters away. A ban on freight wagons with gray cast iron block brakes in Switzerland starting in 2020 is likely to have a major impact on the conversion rates. Since a large part of the European freight wagons can be used here due to the heavy transalpine transit traffic in Switzerland, a significant boost in retrofitting can be expected here.

In addition, other anti-noise measures as trackside noise barriers , enclosures or tunnels , such as the organizational particularly monitored track , administrative measures such as noise-related infrastructure charging system and other measures carried out in order to contribute to the reduction of negative effects.

On 10% of the German rail network, there is a nighttime noise level of over 70 dB (A). In Germany, 24% of the population feel annoyed by rail traffic noise, including 12% extremely and 4% severely annoyed. On the other hand, three times as many feel annoyed by street noise, 10% of them strong and 50% medium to weak.

Resource consumption

Further positive arguments for rail freight transport are the resource consumption , which is significantly lower in rail freight transport than in road freight transport and slightly below that of shipping. This also results in that the specific CO ₂ -, NO ₂ - and particulate emissions are lower than for the other two freight carriers. In absolute terms, road freight traffic clearly outweighs the traffic-generated emissions due to the very different transport services . Another argument is that a double-track route takes up 1.2 hectares of space per kilometer , while a motorway with 3.6 hectares takes up three times as much space per kilometer. In addition, the lower external costs of rail freight transport should be mentioned, which also include higher traffic safety .

As a result, several studies see rail freight transport as a socially significantly more favorable freight transport system than road and inland waterway freight transport. A study initiated by the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), comparing road and rail freight transport, comes to the conclusion that neither of the two modes of transport is fundamentally the ecologically better solution. The results differed depending on the transport task. The railways have a fundamental advantage over trucks when it comes to transporting heavy bulk goods. When it comes to transporting heavy piece goods, however, the truck can also tend to be better if short trains are required for logistical reasons. The ecological effects are therefore dependent on the individual case under consideration and its framework conditions - such as the proportion of empty journeys, pre- and post-carriage proportion, emission standard class of the truck, traction current mix and fuel mix as well as type of traction .

Records

An ore train on its way to Port Hedland, Australia

The longest and heaviest freight train of all time ran on June 21, 2001 during a test run in Australia . The mining company BHP Billiton sent a train made up of its eight diesel-electric locomotives from the GE AC6000CW series and 682 ore cars to test its multiple controls. All eight locomotives were radio controlled by a single driver over a large part of the route. This 99,734-ton and 7.353-kilometer train covered the 426-kilometer-long company-owned railway line from the Yandi and Newman mines to Port Hedland in ten hours. A total of 82,000 tons of iron ore were transported with it.

• Heaviest freight trains:

99,734 tons of towing mass during a test run on June 21, 2001 by BHP Billiton

69,400 tons of towing mass during a test run from Sishen to the port of Saldanha in South Africa on 26./27. August 1989 with 16 locomotives

44,500 tonnes of train mass on regular BHP Billiton trains

43,400 tons of towing mass on February 20, 1986 during a test run between Ekibastus and the Urals

32,320 tons of towing mass at the Australian Fortescue Metals Group

29,500 tons of towing mass at the Australian Rio Tinto Group

• Longest freight trains:

7.4 kilometers in a test run by the BHP Billiton on June 21, 2001

7.3 kilometers in a test run from Sishen to the port of Saldanha in South Africa on 26/27. August 1989 with 16 locomotives and 660 cars

6.5 kilometers with 439 cars on February 20, 1986 during a test run between Ekibastus and the Urals

5.5 kilometers with 239 cars on a double-decker container train from Texas to Los Angeles from January 8 to 10, 2010

3.2 kilometers on the Chinese Daqin Railway

over 3 kilometers on regular trains of the Australian BHP Billiton

• Highest axle load:

40 t at the Fortescue Metals Group in Western Australia

• Fastest freight train:

TGV postal 270 km / h

See also

• Uniform distance indicator for international freight traffic

Web links

Commons : Rail Freight Transport  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• International Union of Railways UIC - Freight Transport
• Association of German Transport Companies VDV - Freight Transport

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Memorial plaque on the wholesale market hall ( memento of the original from September 24, 2015 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. , documented at the Institute for Urban History, Carmelite Monastery , Frankfurt am Main. 
2. ↑ On the German rail network to Auschwitz: 11,000 children ( Memento of the original from May 25, 2015 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. , Link broken on November 10, 2018. 
3. ↑ DB Schenker railway 2/2011, p. 27: "For 50 years on the wrong track"
4. ↑ ^{a b} Federal Statistical Office: Transport - Transport at a Glance 2010 . Technical series 8, series 1.2, Wiesbaden Nov. 2011.
5. ↑ Pro-Rail Alliance: The importance of rail freight transport for Germany as a business location . ( Memento from May 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
6. ↑ ^{a b c d} VDV : Data and facts on traffic: Freight traffic and infrastructure
7. ↑ innovations-portal.de: “Eisenbahngüterverkehr 2010: previous year's losses partially offset” , February 28, 2011, as well as here (article on presseportal.de), accessed on November 17, 2018.
8. ↑ "If the connection is cut"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Competitor Report Railway 2010/11, p. 114, link broken on November 10, 2018.  
9. ↑ imp-mc.com: Kampf ums Streckennetz (pdf; 105 kB; 7 pages) , comprehensive article in the FAS by Klemens Polatschek, October 2008, short summary (html) , accessed on November 17, 2018.
10. ↑ ^{a b} Umweltbundesamt (Ed.): Rail network 2025/2030: Development concept for efficient rail freight transport in Germany (PDF, 43.9 MB), p. 50.
11. ↑ Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development (Ed.): Optimizing long-distance traffic . ( Memento of the original from December 2, 2013 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. (PDF; 1.2 MB) Final report, short version, Berlin 2010, link broken on November 10, 2018. 
12. ↑ Statistics Austria - rail freight traffic of all railway companies on the Austrian rail network in the period 2006–2010  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Link broken on November 10, 2018.  
13. ↑ ÖBB Annual Report 2010, p. 17/18 ( Memento of the original dated June 10, 2012 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. (PDF; 1.9 MB), link broken on November 11, 2018. 
14. ^ Rail cargo renovation thwarted climate protection derstandard.at, April 1, 2011, accessed December 26, 2017.
15. ↑ Freight traffic on the GKB styria-mobile.at, amoser, article from April 29, 2015, accessed December 26, 2017.
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17. ↑ Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Mobility and Transport - Modal Split in Freight Transport ( Memento of the original dated December 11, 2010 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. 
18. ↑ Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Mobility and Transport - Public Transport (incl. Rail Freight Transport) - Quarterly Railway Data ( Memento of the original dated November 16, 2011 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. 
19. ↑ Gottfried Ilgman: Loud freight train meets smart trucks. In: faz.net. December 17, 2016, accessed June 28, 2020 . 
20. ↑ UIC PRESS RELEASE N ° 18/2011: "world rail statistics" (PDF; 135 kB)
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23. ↑ Allianz Pro Schiene: "Rail transport worldwide on the move"
24. ↑ ^{a b} Ralf Berger, Jutta Blesse-Venitz: Growth perspectives of the European rail freight traffic. In: Swiss Railway Review . No. 6/2015. Minirex, ISSN  1022-7113 , pp. 276-281.
25. ↑ RZD: Results and Reporting 2009 - 2019 . RZD.ru, accessed on June 28, 2020
26. ↑ DB Cargo AG in brief , accessed on March 10, 2018
27. ↑ Network Private Railways Competitors Report 2010/11, p. 94ff "Market areas open"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
28. ↑ Eckhard-Herbert Arndt: The strength of private railways also helps ports · NEE presents competition report on rail freight transport in Germany · HHLA subsidiary Metrans in the top field . In: Daily port report of November 3, 2017, p. 14
29. ↑ DB Netz AG - Annual Report 2010 (PDF; 1.8 MB)
30. ↑ Sächsische Zeitung: "Shunting yard for car transport opened"
31. ↑ Eurailpress: "France / Great Britain: TGV Post as demo train for EuroCarex to London"  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. March 26, 2012.  
32. ↑ Ingenieurspiegel 2/2011: "ContainerRailCab - The alternative to truck transport in the Port of Hamburg" (PDF; 1.3 MB)
33. ↑ Martin Baier, Manfred Enning: FlexCargoRail: a vehicle system for efficient single wagon traffic . In: Logistics Management . tape 8 , no. 3 . Aspecta Verl.-Ges., 2006, p. 28-42 .
34. ↑ The first automatic coupling is installed , SBB Cargo Blog, April 13, 2017, accessed on April 22, 2017.
35. ↑ DB AG: Guideline 408 "Trains run and shunting", module 0711 "Strength or length of trains".
36. ↑ Padborg - Meshes. In: forschungsinformationssystem.de. Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI), August 28, 2014, accessed on June 28, 2020 : "State of knowledge: 12.12.2019" 
37. ↑ Freight train times two . In: DB Schenker Rail - railways . 2/2011, p. 20.
38. ↑ BMVBS : Freight Transport and Logistics Action Plan - Logistics Initiative for Germany . Status: November 2010 ( Memento from December 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 3.8 MB)
39. ↑ Eurailpress.de: France: SNCF Geodis drives the first "long train" with 850 m . January 10, 2012, accessed April 17, 2013.
40. ↑ Eurailpress.de: France: Extra-long freight trains now on schedule . January 26, 2012, accessed April 17, 2013.
41. ↑ ^{a b c} BHP breaks its own 'heaviest train' record . Railway Gazette, August 1, 2001
42. ↑ SBB Cargo: We are there where punctuality pays off.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 340 kB)  
43. ↑ Cargo-blog: “One year of shuttle trains in combined domestic traffic” , February 27, 2013.
44. ↑ Poland is getting closer to German seaports September 27, 2011.
45. ↑ HHLA: "The HHLA subsidiary METRANS and its container terminal in Prague" (PDF; 1.5 MB)
46. ↑ Frank Binder: HHLA surprises with a plus in TEU handling, costs weigh on earnings dynamics . In: Daily port report from May 15, 2013, pp. 1 + 3.
47. ↑ Keith Barrow: Freight operators hail Iberia's new gateway to Europe ( Memento from July 8, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) International Railway Journal, December 2010 (English)
48. ↑ BarceLyon express: new container rail service
49. ↑ Rainer König , R. Jugelt: New ways of integrating rail freight transport into the logistics value chain . (PDF; 1.9 MB) In: Scientific journal of the Technical University of Dresden . 58 (2009,) p. 115 ff.
50. ↑ Rail Cargo Austria: "ISU - Innovative Semi-trailer Handling"
51. ↑ Future mobility: "MegaSwing - your own intermodal terminal"
52. ↑ Future mobility: "Flexiwaggon - flexible without terminals"
53. ↑ Trafico traffic planning: " Handling systems for combined traffic" (PDF; 2.9 MB)
54. ↑ Verkehrsrundschau: "First freight train with EU height rolls to London"
55. ↑ Verkehrsrundschau: "Schenker: New service between Poland and Great Britain"
56. ↑ Eurotunnel Group: Eurotunnel Group: Revenue increase in 2015 , January 21, 2016.
57. ↑ Shortnews.de: "Asia-Europe Express: Cologne-Istanbul in 79 hours"
58. ↑ Eckhard-Herbert Arndt: Setting the course for the China trade . In: Daily port report from August 5, 2013, p. 3.
59. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt: "Deutsche Bahn starts container train between China and Germany"
60. ↑ Cargonews Asia: "Chongqing-Antwerp service on track"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
61. ^ Keith Barrow: Pilbara's heavyweight champion flexes its muscles. In: IRJ. November 3, 2015, accessed December 25, 2015 . 
62. ↑ ^{a b} IHHA: Members , accessed on April 16, 2013.
63. ↑ IHHA: History , accessed April 16, 2013.
64. ↑ Challenger rail freight operator . In: the passenger . 4/2011, p. 12 f.
65. ↑ Deutsche Verkehrs-Zeitung, November 1, 2011: “Switzerland forbids gray cast iron brakes ” , dvz.de, online access necessary, accessed on November 10, 2018.
66. ↑ Allianz pro Schiene: "Lecture 'Freight Transport' 10: Environmental Impacts of Freight Transport" p. 12. (PDF; 548 kB)
67. ↑ Pro-Rail Alliance: "Environmentally friendly mobility. Rail, car, plane, ship in an environmental comparison", p. 13
68. ↑ Pro-Rail Alliance: "Environmentally friendly mobility. Rail, car, plane, ship in an environmental comparison", p. 7
69. ↑ Pro-Rail Alliance: “Environmentally friendly mobility : rail , car, plane, ship in an environmental comparison”, p. 9
70. ↑ Federal Environment Agency: "CO ₂ emissions reduction in traffic in Germany", p. 12  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 699 kB)  
71. ↑ Pro-Rail Alliance: “Environmentally friendly mobility. Rail, car, plane, ship in an environmental comparison”, p. 11
72. ↑ Prof. Dr. Barbara Lenz: "Lecture 'Freight Transport" 10: Environmental Impacts of Freight Transport ", p. 5 (PDF; 548 kB)
73. ↑ Prof. Dr. Barbara Lenz: "Lecture 'Freight Transport' 10: Environmental Impacts of Freight Transport", p. 4 (PDF; 548 kB)
74. ↑ Pro-Rail Alliance: "Environmentally friendly mobility. Rail, car, plane, ship in an environmental comparison", p. 15
75. ↑ Prof. Dr. Barbara Lenz: "Lecture 'Freight Transport" 10: Environmental Impacts of Freight Transport ", p. 6 (PDF; 548 kB)
76. ↑ Pro-Rail Alliance: “Environmentally friendly mobility : rail , car, plane, ship in an environmental comparison”, p. 17
77. ↑ Michael Spielmann, Michaelaltenbacher, Diana Eichhorn, Alexander Stoffregen: Comparison of energy requirements and emissions of trucks, trains and ships in long-distance freight transport - 2011 update. (PDF; 0.8 MB) Client: Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA). PE INTERNATIONAL AG, September 2011, p. 11 , accessed on December 6, 2012 . 
78. ↑ Michael Spielmann, Michaelaltenbacher, Diana Eichhorn, Alexander Stoffregen: Comparison of energy requirements and emissions of trucks, trains and ships in long-distance freight transport - 2011 update. (PDF; 0.8 MB) Client: Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA). PE INTERNATIONAL AG, September 2011, pp. 21-26 , accessed on December 6, 2012 . 
79. ^ Train Records: The Fastest, Longest & Heaviest . RailServe.com