Bidirectional vehicle
As a bidirectional vehicle are vehicles called that - unlike facility vehicles can drive each of its two ends first -. You can find them almost exclusively in rail transport . A bidirectional vehicle has either a driver's cab at both ends or a raised central driver's cab in the middle, which have the necessary controls on both sides. The terms “front” and “rear” are therefore only of importance in bidirectional vehicles to differentiate between the two ends of the vehicle (such as “driver's cab 1” and “driver's cab 2”); technically they are equivalent. Often one speaks briefly of the two-judge .
General
The reason for the existence of bidirectional vehicles is, on the one hand, that the platforms are not located on the same side of the vehicle at all access points ( stations , stops ) and, on the other hand, that rail vehicles have to change their direction of travel in terminal stations ( railway ) or at terminal points ( tram ). The nature of a bidirectional vehicle makes some operational peculiarities necessary; for example, the vehicle must always “know” where it is in front for the same vehicle. Usually, the end at which the driver or tram driver has attached and relocated the lever of the direction switch is viewed as the front. A bidirectional vehicle must also be able to display front and rear traction signals / rear lights at both ends of the vehicle; it is best to take technical precautions so that no illogical combinations of end signals can be set. A so - called side - selective door control ( SST ) should also ensure that only the doors on the platform side are released at access points (to avoid passengers accidentally entering the track area of the neighboring track).
Rail transport
Almost all railway vehicles today are bidirectional vehicles, while in the past many steam locomotives, for example, were one-way vehicles that had to be turned with the help of turntables . Railcars and locomotives have driver's cabs at both ends, passenger cars have doors on both sides. Shunting locomotives usually have middle cabs.
In the early days of the tram , bidirectional cars were the rule, initially as horse-drawn trams (although the horses were re- harnessed, but the car itself was not turned), later as individually traveling electric railcars (so-called solo cars). With the advent of non-powered sidecars , however, bidirectional operation became more complicated; the railcar had to move at the end points before the team could continue the journey in the opposite direction. In order to simplify and to reduce the change of direction, which was particularly complex with pole and lyre pantographs, operation with stationary or push-type railcars was introduced in some networks soon afterwards . Later, many companies (if the local conditions allowed it) set up turning loops at the end points in order to avoid the so-called "relocation process". These turning loops were initially used by bidirectional vehicles; it was only much later (when enough turning loops were available) that some companies began to convert their vehicles or to replace them with new one-way vehicles. The advantages of one-way vehicles are that driver's cabs and access doors are less required, and additional seats can be accommodated on the doorless side. Nevertheless, many tram operators still rely on bidirectional operation or use both types of vehicle in combination. Two-way wagons offer the advantage of greater operational flexibility, they can change the direction of travel via track changes as emergency sweeping systems or butt tracks, so the end points do not take up as much space as with reversing loops (or track triangles). Operation can also be better maintained in the event of line interruptions due to construction work or operational disruptions. By using Vielfach- and Wendezugsteuerungen also the tensile and sidecar was possible without displacement operations.
A special advantage of bidirectional trolleys used exclusively for one-way traffic is their ventilation in summer. The doors that are not required are open, but are secured with waist-high bars.
Special forms
Power cars
The best-known special forms in rail traffic are the power cars (which are basically bidirectional vehicles with only one driver's cab) and the control car . Although both forms are one-way vehicles in themselves, they are always used together with another power car (power end + intermediate car + power end, e.g. ICE-V and ICE 1 ) or in push- pull units (power end + intermediate car + control car, e.g. ICE 2 , or locomotive + intermediate car + control car, normal condition in today's Intercity and many regional trains), so that these trains can easily travel in both directions.
False bidirectional wagons
There are spurious bidirectional cars as special cases. These are also known as half bidirectional vehicles or one - and-a- half direction vehicles ; However, two different concepts must be distinguished:
- One-way vehicles with doors on both sides: these vehicles can be found where one-way vehicles also stop at central platforms (e.g. on tunnels); Examples:
- Type GT4 of the Aachen tram , in use on line 12 from 1959 to 1973,
- some GT6 or GT8 in Essen and Mülheim were retrofitted with two or three left-hand doors from 1992,
- The Heidelberg GT6 No. 209 to 213 already had two narrow doors on the left-hand side for the overland route to Schwetzingen, these were removed when the cars were resold,
- Former Duobus in Essen : buses with additional doors on the left ran here.
- Two-way wagons with only one driver's cab: these can only be used in multiple traction (combination with another fake or with a real two-way wagon) in two-way operation. This special form is comparable to railcars like the RBDe 560 of the SBB in rail traffic; Examples:
- B-car of the series 2200 of the Stadtbahn Cologne ,
- Tatra T5C5 of the Budapest tram , in the Budapest network there are platforms on both sides as well as stump terminals,
- MGT-K of the tram hall ,
- Type NF8U of the Rheinbahn Düsseldorf since 2006,
- TW 2500 of the Hanover city railway ,
- Type U5-50 of the Frankfurt subway .
- Type T and T 1 of the Vienna underground line U6
Bi-directional vehicles with doors on one side only
In public transport, two-way vehicles usually have to have doors on both sides of the vehicle. As a result, these vehicles have fewer seats than one-way vehicles. However, there are railways whose bidirectional vehicles only have doors on one side. Such vehicles can only be used if all platforms of a line are on the same side. As a rule, these are operationally isolated small railways , cog railways or tram companies with only one line, during whose construction all stations were arranged on the same side. These companies include:
Rack railways:
- the Gornergratbahn
- the two routes of the Rigi Bahnen, Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn and Arth-Rigi-Bahn have the entrances on the opposite side, the newer vehicles have entrances on both sides so that they can be used on both lines
- the Štrba – Štrbské Pleso rack railway
- the Drachenfelsbahn
- the Rheineck – Walzenhausen mountain railway, which is now part of the Appenzeller Bahnen
- the Pilatusbahn
- the Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway in the United States
Rack railways (formerly):
- the Lausanne – Ouchy rack railway
- the Lausanne-Gare cog railway belonging to the same company , whose carriages had the doors on the opposite side
Railways:
- the Trieste – Opicina railway line in Italy
- the Talyllyn Railway in Wales
- the Corris Railway in Wales
Railways (formerly):
- the former Inselbahn Juist
- the former Klingenthal – Sachsenberg-Georgenthal narrow-gauge railway
- the former Altenaer Eisenbahn (see also KAE VT 1 and 2 railcars )
- the former electric small train Alt-Rahlstedt – Volksdorf – Wohldorf (in the last few years of remaining operation between Ohlstedt and Wohldorf )
Trams:
- the Kirnitzschtalbahn , Germany
- the Tramvia de Sóller in Spain
- the Molochne tram , Ukraine
- the Evpatoria tram , Ukraine
- the tram Oradea , Romania (only when shuttle on line 1 and only in the light load time )
- Line 6 of the Thuringian Forest Railway in Waltershausen with the Tatra KT4D-Z 316 and 317 that were created through the renovation
Trams (formerly):
- the former tram in Sibiu , Romania (no longer used)
- the Timișoara tram , Romania (no longer used)
- the Szeged tram , Hungary (no longer used)
- the former Ravensburg – Weingarten – Baienfurt tram
- the Gothenburg tram , Sweden (line against Angered ; operating mode no longer used)
- the Gmunden tram , Austria
Cableways:
Road traffic
Bi -directional road vehicles are almost completely unknown, rare examples include:
- the special vehicles that run in the maintenance tunnel of the Eurotunnel . Because they are too long to turn in the narrow tube, they have a driver's seat at both ends.
- the bidirectional service vehicles for the track bus in Adelaide , where it is also not possible to turn on the special route with side tracking elements made of concrete.
- the shuttle buses of the type Contrac DES (Double End Steering) for the carriage of passengers from the mainland to reach only a narrow causeway island Mont Saint-Michel .
- certain apron buses , for example at Vienna , Malta , Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi airports .
- certain trolleybuses , including
- the test vehicle of the Society for Trackless Railways Max Schiemann & Co. , built in 1902 for the Turin trade fair
- the vehicles of the former overland route from Liège to Seraing
- the track-guided prototype Mercedes-Benz O 305 GG from 1981
- Trams on tires of the Translohr system
- the vehicles of the Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit system
- certain fire engines .
- certain forklifts
- certain reconnaissance tanks , e.g. B. the reconnaissance armored lynx
Two-way trolleybus in the Liège Transport Museum
Individual evidence
- ↑ Idyll in the Crimea in: Tram Magazin 3/2019, p. 32 ff.
- ↑ Always going forward on Mont-Saint-Michel. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; Retrieved April 15, 2013 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )
- ↑ Departed: Two Headed Dragon deletes in Shanghai. Spiegel Online , March 3, 2010. Retrieved October 15, 2010.