Goods wagon
Freight cars or goods wagons are colloquially railroad car used to transport goods.
History of development
At the beginning of the railway era, first came almost exclusively two-axle freight wagons simple design used. Almost exclusively covered freight carts were (then also called covered ), open carriage with side boards and flat cars (with and without stanchions ) are used. Over time, specialized cars were then increasingly developed.
Special cars for a limited use, special type of goods or with special properties have been set in 1850 as so-called privately owned wagons. These include, inter alia, almost all tank cars and many refrigerated trucks. So-called Wagenleihanstalten put a lot of these cars and rent them to the -using businesses.
Right early on there was first agreements for the mutual use of wagons between the private and state railways; the Association of German Railway Administrations put on about 1850 rules for the Unification of dimensions and facilities. The foundation of the Prussian state coach association (1881 ) favored the emergence of built according to uniform standard parts car types. Similar developments took place in other countries, decades before the international standardization. A milestone in the German freight transport in 1909 was the formation of the German state coach association with common car types and wagon addresses. With the participation of all German State Railways there a common car park was created, which included approximately 560,000 freight wagons end of 1911.
Since the establishment of the Union of Private Wagons interested parties ( CPI) in 1921, the interests of the private transport sector, especially of car rental, Güterwagenbau and maintenance companies, holders will be represented bundled of private sidings. The club now has about 100 members who own 50,000 freight cars and transported in 2007, 361 million tons of goods.
The Agreement on the reciprocal use of wagons in international traffic ( RIV ) controls since 1922 the exchange of wagons in Europe and the Middle East. From 1953, were created with the Europ Association and from 1964 in Eastern Europe with the OPW international freight fleet in Western Europe. An international harmonization in freight transport was achieved in the second half of the 20th century by the UIC, including through the development of UIC Standard wagons. All freight cars that participate in international traffic within the UIC railway companies shall be marked in accordance with the UIC regulations, among other things uniform with a UIC generic characters and a UIC car number.
Goods freight trains in the early days even at a speed of about 30 km / h road, only made possible by the introduction of controlled main air line continuous brake from the 1920s, a higher speed of 65 km / h Modern freight cars are approved for speeds of up to 120 km / h equipped with more powerful (disc ) brakes, and are increasingly being equipped with GPS receivers and transponders for position monitoring in case of need. At Deutsche Bahn (DB), there are also copies for high-speed up to 160 km / h However, since the braking distance of this fast freight trains is longer than the usual Vorsignalabstand, they may only on routes with early cab signaling system drive ( LZB, Funkzugbeeinflussung ( FZB ) and ETCS).
The specific development history of the German freight cars can be found in the articles:
- Freight cars, the association type
- Freight cars, the interchange design
- Freight cars welded construction
- Freight cars, the war type
- Freight cars of the Deutsche Reichsbahn
- Freight cars of the Deutsche Reichsbahn of the GDR
- Freight cars, the German Federal Railroad
Types of freight wagons
The freight cars are from the International Union of Railways ( UIC) for their constructive main features divided as follows:
- Open freight cars without roof of standard design ( UIC section E ) and special design ( UIC class: F)
- Covered freight car with a fixed roof of standard design ( UIC genus G ) and special design ( UIC genus H)
- Refrigerated trucks (I- car), so all boxcar with insulation,
- Flat cars without or with not more than 60 cm high sides - there are cars with single axles to UIC class K ( standard design ) or L (special design), bogie wagons for UIC genus R ( standard design ) or S (special design)
- Open Flach-/Mehrzweckwagen ( UIC genus O) with folding shelves and therefore as flat cars or gondolas used
- Movable-roof wagons ( UIC Class T )
- Special wagons ( freight cars of the genus U) - a very heterogeneous group, among others, with Powder products wagons and Tiefladewagen
- Tank car ( UIC genus Z) for the transport of liquid or gaseous goods
The requirements of the UIC were interpreted sometimes different for the railroads, so it could happen that almost same car different genera have been assigned. Also occasionally had to be reclassified by minor remodeling car. For example, an e- car is by welding shut a door to an F- car.
Freight cars for special purposes - unique to you, however, none of the above types - are:
- Trolley (train company car ) for the internal railway use only. In Germany, for often resulting from open freight wagon or bogie Wagons to 1968 the genus character X. This open wagons were used as slag cars or trucks for transportation of work material.
- Fährwagen smaller gauge for traffic to the UK, which are identified by the letters f.
Railway mail car does not belong to the wagon, but the passenger trains or they formed their own mail trains.
Historical classification of goods wagons
German freight wagons were divided from 1922 to 1968 in the following groups:
* In 1951, " group character"
Swiss freight cars to 1968 were divided into the following classes:
Stock of goods wagons of the railway in Germany
The number of freight cars surpassed and surpasses that of passenger cars many times. The declining number of pieces does not always automatically connect to a lower transport capacity, as the average load volume and the permissible loading weights have steadily increased.
1DB AG
2010 are set in Germany a total of nearly 154,000 freight cars.