An electric container freight train on the West Coast Main Line, United Kingdom. The West Coast Main Line (WCML is a busy mixed-traffic railway route in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located

Freight wagons filled with limestone await unloading, at sidings in Rugby, Warwickshire, England

Freight train or goods train is a series of freight cars hauled by a locomotive on a railway, ultimately transporting cargo between two points as part of the logistics chain. Limestone is a Sedimentary rock composed largely of the Mineral Calcite ( Calcium carbonate: CaCO3 Rugby is a Market town in Warwickshire, in the West Midlands of England, on the River Avon. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland A railroad car or railway carriage is a Vehicle on a rail transport system (railroad or railway that is used for the carrying of Cargo or A locomotive is a railway Vehicle that provides the motive power for a Train. "Railroad" and "Railway" both redirect here For other uses see Railroad (disambiguation. Cargo (or freight) refers to goods or produce transported generally for Commercial gain by ship, aircraft, train, Logistics is the management of the flow of Goods, Information and other resources including Energy and people between the point of origin and the point Trains may haul bulk, containers or specialized cars. Bulk material handling is an Engineering field that is centred around the design of equipment used for the transportation of materials such as Ores and Cereals Containerization (or containerisation) is a system of Intermodal freight transport Cargo Transport using standard ISO containers

Under the right circumstances, freight transport by rail is more economic and energy efficient than by road, especially when carried in bulk or over long distances. Road transport ( British English) or road transportation ( American English) is Transport on Roads of passengers or goods Rail freight is often subject to transshipment costs since it must be transfered from one mode to another in the chain; these costs may dominate and practices such as containerization aim at minimizing these. Transshipment or Transhipment is the Shipment of goods to an intermediate destination and then from there to yet another destination Containerization (or containerisation) is a system of Intermodal freight transport Cargo Transport using standard ISO containers Bulk is less susceptible, with distances down to thirty kilometers (twenty miles) sufficient to cover transshipment costs. Freight trains are less flexible than road transport, and much freight has been transfered from rail to road or sea.

Overview

Freight team entering Custer in 1876

Freight teams of wagons pulled by horse, mule, oxen and/or cattle were common in earlier times, and are still used in less developed areas.

The main disadvantage of rail freight is its lack of flexibility. For this reason, rail has lost much of the freight business to road transport. Road transport ( British English) or road transportation ( American English) is Transport on Roads of passengers or goods Many governments are now trying to encourage more freight onto trains, because of the environmental benefits that it would bring; rail transport is very energy efficient.

Many rail systems have turned to computerized scheduling for trains which has helped add more train traffic to the rails. Overall, most businesses ship their products by rail if they are shipping long distance because it is cheaper to ship in large quantities by rail than by truck; however shipping remains a viable competitor where water tramsport is available. Economics of scale are achieved because less labour and energy is required to haul the same amount of cargo.

A Southern Pacific Railroad freight train west of Chicago in 1992. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States.

Traditional transport of manufactured goods was with boxcars, where the goods was manually loaded and unloaded of the wagon. A boxcar (the American term the British call this kind of car a " goods van " while in Australia they are usually referred to as " During the 1960s containerization has made this extra level of labour-intense work unnecessary; while the containers must be moved onto or off the wagons with cranes, the content in the container remains constant from sender to receiver. A crane is a lifting machine equipped with a Winder, Wire ropes or Chains and sheaves that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to Containers allow easy change of mode from road and sea and rail.

Boxcars at an industry in Dillwyn, United States. A boxcar (the American term the British call this kind of car a " goods van " while in Australia they are usually referred to as " Dillwyn is an Incorporated town in Buckingham County, Virginia, in the United States. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the

In some countries "piggy back" trains are used; trucks can drive straight onto the train and drive off again when the end destination is reached. This article is about the semi-truck For the North American use of the word see Pickup truck. A system like this is used on the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France. The Channel Tunnel (Le tunnel sous la Manche also known as the Chunnel, is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in England with This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Piggy back trains are the fastest growing type of freight trains in the United States, where they are also known as 'trailer on flat car' or TOFC trains. There are also some intermodal vehicles, which have two sets of wheels, for use in a train, or as the trailer of a road vehicle. Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in a container or Vehicle, using multiple modes of Transportation (

There are also many other types of wagon, such as "low loader" wagons for transporting road vehicles; there are refrigerator wagons for transporting food, simple types of open-topped wagons for transporting minerals and bulk material such as coal, and tankers for transporting liquids and gases. A wagon (in British English, sometimes waggon) or dray is a heavy four-wheeled Vehicle. A refrigerator (often called a " fridge " for short is a cooling appliance comprising a thermally insulated compartment and a Heat pump - A mineral is a naturally occurring substance formed through geological processes that has a characteristic chemical composition a highly ordered atomic structure and specific Most coal and aggregates are moved in hopper wagons that can be filled and discharged rapidly, to enable efficient handling of the materials.

Freight trains are sometimes illegally boarded by passengers who do not wish, or do not have the money, to travel by ordinary means. This is referred to as "hopping" and is considered by some communities to be a viable form of transport. Freighthopping or train hopping is the act of surreptitiously hitching a ride on a Railroad freight car. Most hoppers sneak into train yards and stow away in boxcars. Bolder hoppers will catch a train "on the fly", that is, as it is moving, leading to occasional fatalities, some of which go unrecorded.

Containerization

Main article: Containerization

Containerization' is a system of intermodal freight transport cargo transport using standard ISO containers (known as shipping containers or isotainers) that can be loaded and sealed intact onto container ships, railroad cars, planes, and trucks. Containerization (or containerisation) is a system of Intermodal freight transport Cargo Transport using standard ISO containers Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in a container or Vehicle, using multiple modes of Transportation ( Cargo (or freight) refers to goods or produce transported generally for Commercial gain by ship, aircraft, train, Transport or transportation is the movement of people and goods from one place to another Container ships are Cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size containers in a technique called Containerization. A railroad car or railway carriage is a Vehicle on a rail transport system (railroad or railway that is used for the carrying of Cargo or Overview Fixed-wing aircraft range from small training and recreational aircraft to Wide-body aircraft and military cargo aircraft. This article is about the semi-truck For the North American use of the word see Pickup truck. Containerization has revolutionized cargo shipping. Today, approximately 90% of non-bulk cargo worldwide moves by containers stacked on transport ships; 26% of all containers originate from China. Bulk cargo is Commodity Cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National As of 2005, some 18 million total containers make over 200 million trips per year. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

Use of the same basic sizes of containers across the globe has lessened the problems caused by incompatible rail gauge sizes in different countries. Rail gauge is the distance between the inner sides of the two parallel rails that make up a railway track. The majority of the rail networks in the world operate on a 1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) gauge track known as standard gauge but many countries (such as Russia, Finland, and Spain) use broader gauges while many other countries in Africa and South America use narrower gauges on their networks. The standard gauge (also named the Stephenson gauge after George Stephenson, or Normal gauge) is a widely-used Rail gauge. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Broad gauge Railways use a Rail gauge (distance between the rails greater than the Standard gauge of. South America is a Continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a A narrow gauge railway (or narrow gauge railroad) is a Railway that has a Track gauge narrower than the of Standard gauge railways The use of container trains in all these countries makes trans-shipment between different gauge trains easier.

Double-stack containerization

Part of a United States double-stack container train loaded with 16. 2 meter (53 ft) containers.

Main article: Double-stack car

Most flatcars cannot carry more than one standard 40 foot container, but if the rail line has been built with sufficient vertical clearance, a double-stack car can accept a container and still leave enough clearance for another container on top. A double-stack car, also called a stack car for short or a well car due to its shape is a type of Railroad car specially designed to carry intermodal A flatcar (also flat car) is a piece of Railroad rolling stock that consists of an open flat deck on four or six wheels or a pair of trucks (US or A double-stack car, also called a stack car for short or a well car due to its shape is a type of Railroad car specially designed to carry intermodal This usually precludes operation of double-stacked wagons on lines with overhead electric wiring. However, the Betuweroute, which was planned with overhead wiring from the start, has been built with tunnels that do accommodate double-stacked wagons so as to keep the option to economically rebuild the route for double stacking in the future. The Betuweroute is a Double track Freight Railway from Rotterdam to Germany. The overhead wiring would then have to be changed to allow double stacking. ^[1] Lower than standard size containers are run double stacked under overhead wire in China. ^[2]

In the United States, Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) with Malcom McLean came up with the idea of the first double-stack intermodal car in 1977. Malcom Purcell McLean (born “Malcolm” but late in life he changed his given name to its historic traditional Scottish spelling ( November 14 1913 – May ^[3][4] SP then designed the first car with ACF Industries that same year. American Car and Foundry (often abbreviated as ACF) is a manufacturer of Railroad rolling stock and Locomotives. ^[5][6] At first it was slow to become an industry standard, then in 1984 American President Lines started working with the SP and that same year, the first all "double stack" train left Los Angeles, California for South Kearny, New Jersey, under the name of "Stacktrain" rail service. American President Lines Ltd (now simply referred to as APL) is the world's seventh-largest container transportation and Shipping company providing Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West Kearny (ˈkɑɹni is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Along the way the train transfered from the SP to Conrail. Consolidated Rail Corporation, also known as Conrail, began operations on April 1, 1976 as a federally funded takeover of the major railroad It saved shippers money and now accounts for almost 70 percent of intermodal freight transport shipments in the United States, in part due to the generous vertical clearances used by U. Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in a container or Vehicle, using multiple modes of Transportation ( S. railroads. These line are diesel operated with no overhead wiring. Overhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit Electrical energy to Trams Trolleybuses or Trains at a distance from the

Double stacking is also used in Australia between Adelaide, Parkes, Perth and Darwin. Transport in Australia is a highly significant part of the infrastructure of the Australian economy since the distances are large and the country has a relatively low population Adelaide is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of South Australia, and is the fifth largest city in Australia with a Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. These are diesel only lines with no overhead wiring. Overhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit Electrical energy to Trams Trolleybuses or Trains at a distance from the Double stacking is proposed in India for selected freight-only lines. These would be electrified lines with specially high overhead wiring. Overhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit Electrical energy to Trams Trolleybuses or Trains at a distance from the

Bulk

Coal bulk train near to Old Cambus, United Kingdom

Main article: Bulk cargo

Bulk cargo is commodity cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities. Bulk cargo is Commodity Cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities A commodity is anything for which there is demand but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a market Cargo (or freight) refers to goods or produce transported generally for Commercial gain by ship, aircraft, train, Packaging is the science art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution storage sale and use These cargos are usually dropped or poured, with a spout or shovel bucket, as a liquid or solid, into a bulk carrier's hold, railroad car, or tanker truck/trailer/semi-trailer body. Definition There are various ways to define the term bulk carrier A railroad car or railway carriage is a Vehicle on a rail transport system (railroad or railway that is used for the carrying of Cargo or A tank truck ( United States usage or tanker lorry ( United Kingdom usage is a Motor vehicle designed to carry liquefied loads, A Trailer is generally an unpowered vehicle pulled by a powered vehicle In American English a semi-trailer is a trailer without a front axle Bulk cargos are classified as liquid or dry, but only the latter are normally transported as bulk on rail, the former being freighted in tank cars. Liquid is one of the principal States of matter. A liquid is a Fluid that has the particles loose and can freely form a distinct surface at the boundaries of A solid' object is in the States of matter characterized by resistance to Deformation and changes of Volume. For Jay Leno's bespoke Tank -engined car see the Blastolene Special. ^[7]

Hopper cars are freight cars used to transport loose bulk commodities such as coal, ore, grain, track ballast, and the like. A hopper car is a type of Railroad freight car used to transport loose bulk commodities such as Coal, Ore, grain, Track ballast An ore is a volume of rock containing components or Minerals in a mode of occurrence that renders it valuable for mining Track ballast forms the trackbed upon which Railroad ties (US or railway sleepers (UK are laid This type of car is distinguished from a gondola car in that it has opening doors on the underside or on the sides to discharge its cargo. In Railroad terminology, a gondola is an open-top type of Rolling stock that is used for carrying loose bulk materials The development of the hopper car went along with the development of automated handling of such commodities, with automated loading and unloading facilities. There are two main types of hopper car: open and covered; Covered hopper cars are used for cargo that must be protected from the elements (chiefly rain) such as grain, sugar, and fertilizer. A covered hopper is a Railroad Freight car. Structurally it is very similar to an open-top Hopper car in that the carbody consists of a large hopper Open cars are used for commodities such as coal, which can get wet and dry out with less harmful effect. Hopper cars have been used by railways worldwide whenever automated cargo handling has been desired. Rotary car dumper which simply inverts the car to unload it, and has become the preferred unloading technology, especially in North America; permitting the use of simpler, tougher, more compact (because sloping ends are not required) gondola cars instead of hoppers. A rotary car dumper or wagon tippler (UK is a mechanism used for unloading certain Railroad cars such as Hopper cars gondolas or lorries

Heavy duty ore traffic

Main article: Heaviest trains

The heaviest trains in the world carry bulk traffic such as iron ore and coal. The heaviest train s in the world are freight trains hauling bulk commodities such as coal and iron ore Iron ores are rocks and Minerals from which Metallic Iron can be economically extracted Loads can be 130 tonnes per wagon and tens of thousands of tonnes per train. Daqin Railway transports more than 1 million tonnes of coal to the east sea shore of China every day. Daqing Railway, operated by Daqin Railway Company Limited, is a 653km coal-transport railway in north China built during 1985 to 1992. Such economies of scale drive down operating costs.

Special cargo

Several types of cargo are not suited for containerization or bulk; these are transported in special cars custom designed for the cargo. Automobiles are stacked in open or closed autoracks, the vehicles being driven on or off the carriers. An autorack, also known as an auto carrier, is a specialized piece of Railroad Rolling stock used to transport unladen Automobiles (unladen in Steel plates are transported in modified gondolas called coil cars. Coil cars (also referred to as "steel coil cars" or "coil steel cars" are a specialized type of Rolling stock designed for the transport of coils (i Goods that require certain temperatures during transportation can be transported in refrigerator cars (or reefers), but refrigerated containers are becoming more dominant. A refrigerator car (or "reefer") is a refrigerated Boxcar, a piece of Railroad Rolling stock designed to carry perishable Liquids, such as petroleum, chemicals and gases, are often transported in tank cars. For Jay Leno's bespoke Tank -engined car see the Blastolene Special.

Named freight trains

Unlike passenger trains, freight trains are rarely named.

• Super C

References