Road-rail excavator

HiRail wheel (retracted) on a Dodge Dakota. The Dakota is a Mid-size Pickup truck from the Chrysler LLC 's Dodge brand

Buckingham Branch Railroad's HiRail Chevy Suburban. Buckingham Branch Railroad is a Class III short-line Railroad operating over 200 miles (322 km of historic and strategic trackage in Central Virginia The Chevrolet Suburban is a large Sport utility vehicle from Chevrolet.

A Road-rail vehicle is a self-propelled vehicle that can be legally used on both roads and rails. Self-propelled travel is a way of travelling using only Human powered transport. Vehicles, derived from the Latin word vehiculum, are non-living Means of transport. A road is an identifiable route, way or path between two or more places. They are sometimes referred to as a Hy-rail or HiRail^[1]. They are normally converted rubber-tired road vehicles that have additional steel wheels for running on rails. This article is about tires used on road Vehicles including pneumatic tires and solid tires. Vehicles, derived from the Latin word vehiculum, are non-living Means of transport. Steel is an Alloy consisting mostly of Iron, with a Carbon content between 0 A wheel is a circular device that is capable of rotating on its axis facilitating movement or transportation whilst supporting a load ( Mass) or performing labour in machines Because only one set of wheels would logically be used at a time, a pneumatic, or hydraulic system is employed to lower and raise the rail wheels. Pneumatics, Pressurized gas to affect mechanical motion Pneumatic power is used in Industry, where it is common to have factory units plumbed for Compressed For the mechanical technology see Hydraulic machinery and Hydraulic cylinder Hydraulics is a topic of science and Engineering A wheel is a circular device that is capable of rotating on its axis facilitating movement or transportation whilst supporting a load ( Mass) or performing labour in machines

Overview

Such vehicles are normally used for permanent way maintenance during engineering possessions of the line. The permanent way means the physical elements of the railway line itself generally the pairs of rails typically laid on sleepers embedded in ballast intended to carry the ordinary They can be driven on roads to near the site and then convert to rail vehicle for the final journey to the worksite. This avoids both the complex manoeuvres that would be associated with a rail vehicle, and the problem with a road vehicle of accessing the worksite if the worksite is not near a road. Since they are normally converted road vehicles, they would not fare well in a collision with a heavy rolling stock and therefore can only drive on railways under an engineering possession. 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 An engineer is a person professionally engaged in a field of Engineering. They are generally designed to be insulated, thus they do not activate track (signalling) circuits.

Road Rail buses

Attempts have been made over the years to design buses and coaches that could operate on both roads and railway tracks. These attempts were never particularly successful. Some were carried out in Britain during the 1930s, on the Nicky Line by LMS and The New South Wales Railways tried during the 1970s on New South Wales routes. History The main line from London to Birmingham, opened in 1837 passed near Hemel Hempstead but due to vigorous lobbying by local landowners (including the London Midland for the new (2007 railway company The London Midland and Scottish Railway ( LMS) was a British Railway company

The Deutsche Bundesbahn operated a number of buses, called the Schi-Stra-Bus, that could be fitted with separate bogies in the Koblenz area from the 1950s to 1970s. The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB (German Federal Railway was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany (FRG on September A bogie (ˈboʊgi (BŌ-gē is a Wheeled wagon or trolley In mechanics terms a bogie is a Chassis or framework carrying wheels attached to a vehicle Koblenz (also Coblenz in pre-1926 German Spellings French Coblence) is a city situated on both banks of the Rhine [1]

Road Transferable Locomotive

The RTL is a truck prime mover with railway wheels that can be lowered when operating on the railway tracks. It was pioneered by in the early 1990s by Australian National and later refined in Victoria. The Australian National Railways Commission (ANRC was a government owned railway operator in Australia. The idea was to have a locomotive that could transfer from one branch line carrying mainly wheat to another parallel branch line, where the rail connection is very roundabout. The RTL suffered a number of disadvantages. Loads were severely limited when the track was steeply graded. The rubber traction wheels slipped on the steel rails when wet. The life of the rubber tyres was rather short.

The Canadian company Brandt has also converted large truck tractor units for use as locomotives that can move by road to where they are needed. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page This article is about the semi-truck For the North American use of the word see Pickup truck. A tractor unit, traction unit, road tractor or prime mover ( Australian English) is a Heavy-duty Vehicle, usually with A locomotive is a railway Vehicle that provides the motive power for a Train. Still mostly used for permanent way maintenance, they can also be employed as thunderbird (rescue) locomotives or even used in normal service, where they are suitable for smaller operator

Maintenance and shunting

A German excavator

Self propelled maintenance vehicles for maintenance of the track and for shunting wagons are much more convenient to use if they can transfer to the road to reposition or otherwise get out of the way. The permanent way means the physical elements of the railway line itself generally the pairs of rails typically laid on sleepers embedded in ballast intended to carry the ordinary Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Because relatively light loads are involved, the problems plaguing the Road Transferable Locomotive are avoided.

An example would be a forklift truck fitted with railway wheels and a coupling with which to shunt a wagon or two. A coupling (or a coupler) is a mechanism for connecting Rolling stock in a train

Safety issues

Heavy technical assistance shunting vehicle truck with a crane and drawbar for streetcars

Road rail vehicles, particularly those used for inspection purposes, have been involved in a number of serious incidents, including deaths. A tram, tramcar, trolley, trolley car, or streetcar is a railborne vehicle, of lighter weight and construction than a Train There has been ongoing discussion regarding maintenance and inspection standards, including load and load distribution, to minimise the risk of failures.

Factors leading to derailment include failed locking equipment, wheel failure, damaged rail wheel support systems, inappropriate tyres, and uneven or over-loading issues.

See also

• Rail car mover - some of which resemble HiRail trucks. A rail car mover is a vehicle capable of travelling on both roads and Rail tracks and fitted with couplers for moving small numbers of Railroad cars around
• Railcar
• Maintenance of way
• Unimog
• Roadrailer - a kind of freight wagon
• Trackmobile
• Dual mode transit
• Speeder

Notes

External links

• The Road Rail Bus, an experimental bus for road and rail in the 1970s
• Aries Engineering, Australia
• Diversified Metal Fabricators, USA
• Harsco Track Technologies, USA
• SRS Sjölanders Sweden