Roadrailer

A Road Railer is a semi-trailer, which can be placed directly between two special bogies and connected to a Trailerzug. The Road Railer used for combined transport.

Compared to the rolling road and the like piggyback saves the flatcar, but requires special semi-trailer. The trailers will have to train and impact forces in rail traffic be especially reinforced because of the hearing and also carry the necessary equipment for rail transport as well as additional load on the road.

The advantages of the Road Railer lie in the higher number of transport units that can be loaded at a given train length and the high payload of 68 % of the total weight compared to 51% in container on freight cars and 45% for the rolling road. Through the narrow spaces between the Roadrailereinheiten offers this as a closed train one against the rolling road and container trains very low air resistance.

The are the disadvantages of the slightly higher purchase price of the trailer and its increased to about 360 kg net weight, which reduces the possible payload, opposite. Furthermore, the concept of interchangeable open and the widely used ISO containers has a strong competition. The latter can be lifted out of the train due to the separate from the transport container flat wagons by means of appropriate loading facilities just a transport vessel. When Road Railer that would require the train separated, the trailer including bogie taken from the track and the train finally be reunited.

History

The first Road Railer came up in the 1950s in the U.S. and had a permanently mounted rail truck, which was lowered in rail transport. Later it was removed in order to carry on the road more payload can, and functioned as a support point for the next trailer. In the U.S., one uses special bogies today.

In the early 1960s they were also used in the UK and in the 1980s and 1990s in Australia by the Australian National Railways Commission.

Opened in 1999, the Bavarian Trailerzug mbH ( BTZ) a Road Railer shuttle from Soltau- Harber to Italy. However, after two years BTZ shared the fate of many other start-ups and went bankrupt. The German Road Railer had two-axle rail bogies, the United States was sufficient due to the uniaxial dortig permissible axle loads.

In the U.S. they are mostly used in trains, the premier supplier of Roadrailers is the Norfolk Southern subsidiary " Triple Crown Services". By Amtrak temporarily been used here as a post- Expressgutwagen and at the end of passenger trains. Some Road Railer consist of individual cars with standard coupling for the beginning and end of the trailer and can be set with individual trailers in a train, whereas in other designs the end of the front and the top of the rear trailer lying on a trolley. These are used with an adapter in separate or at the end of regular trains.