Bogie exchange
Encyclopedia
Bogie
exchange is a system for operating railway wagons
on two or more gauges
to overcome difference in the track gauge. To perform a bogie exchange, a car is converted from one gauge to another by removing the chassis containing the wheels and axles of the car, and installing a new chassis with differently spaced wheels. It is generally limited to wagons and carriages, though engines
can be exchanged if more time is available.
The bogies and wagons also need to have standardized hooks, etc., where they may be efficiently lifted.
Four-wheel wagons are not suitable for gauge change.
for possible gauge conversion, though no engines were ever converted in this manner other than one heritage engine (R766
). Some Garratt locomotives of East Africa were designed for easy conversion to Cape gauge, though again none ever were.
In the southern United States, some steam locomotives built by Baldwin were designed for easy conversion from to .
Since the networks are not all connected to each other, being separated by deserts or lines of other gauges, they are bogie-exchanged or piggybacked on road or rail vehicles when transferred between these networks.
s and replace them back on new bogies. This may require the wagons in a train to be uncoupled, and continuous brakes disconnected. As the bogies are swung out of the way, they sway, which wastes time settling them down.
The centres were:
The busiest facility was that at Dynon, in a typical year (1981–82) 24,110 wagons were bogie exchanged, an average of 66 per day. This was done by one shift of 18 men, compared with the 100 men required if the same amount of freight was transferred wagon to wagon.
Railway.
. Both the Moscow-Beijing
passenger train (Trans-Siberian
) and freight trains get their bogies exchanged. Mongolia has Russian gauge
, China has .
with a short stretch of gauge railway. Freight cars get their bogies exchanged. SeaRail
train ferries go from Germany and Sweden. They carry no passenger trains, and passengers must walk by foot to Turku Harbour railway station opposite the ferry terminals. Finland has broad gauge
.
Jolfa
- c1950, between and (Russian gauge
)
Sarakhs
- c1990, between and (Russian gauge
)
Zahedan
- proposed 2008, between and (Indian gauge
)
, KZ -
Alashankou
, CN between and .
The bogies of the direct sleeping car Moscow - Pyongyang, which runs twice monthly, are exchanged here.
Zabaikalsk (450 km from Chita) with China Grodekovo (116 km from Ussuriisk and 224 km from Vladivostok) with China 
Khasan - North Korea (315 km from Vladivostok). Kholmsk
, Sakhalin Island. The bogie exchange is necessary to enable Russian mainland cars to run on the Sakhalin railways, which use the Japanese gauge of .
ATGCS requires a change over track about 20 m long, with a shed if there is snow compared to a small marshalling yard required by bogie exchange.
Bogie
A bogie is a wheeled wagon or trolley. In mechanics terms, a bogie is a chassis or framework carrying wheels, attached to a vehicle. It can be fixed in place, as on a cargo truck, mounted on a swivel, as on a railway carriage/car or locomotive, or sprung as in the suspension of a caterpillar...
exchange is a system for operating railway wagons
Railroad car
A railroad car or railway vehicle , also known as a bogie in Indian English, is a vehicle on a rail transport system that is used for the carrying of cargo or passengers. Cars can be coupled together into a train and hauled by one or more locomotives...
on two or more gauges
Gauge conversion
In rail transport, gauge conversion is the process of converting a railway from one rail gauge to another, through the alteration of the railway tracks...
to overcome difference in the track gauge. To perform a bogie exchange, a car is converted from one gauge to another by removing the chassis containing the wheels and axles of the car, and installing a new chassis with differently spaced wheels. It is generally limited to wagons and carriages, though engines
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
can be exchanged if more time is available.
Wagons and carriages
Bogie wagons can have their gauge changed by lifting them off one set of bogies and putting them back down again on another set of bogies. The pin that centres the bogies and the hoses and fittings for the brakes must be compatible. There needs to be a generous supply of bogies of each gauge to accommodate the ebb and flow of traffic.The bogies and wagons also need to have standardized hooks, etc., where they may be efficiently lifted.
Four-wheel wagons are not suitable for gauge change.
Steam
Steam engines can be designed for more than one gauge, by having, for example, reversible wheel hubs that suit two alternative gauges. This was done in the 1930s and beyond in VictoriaVictoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
for possible gauge conversion, though no engines were ever converted in this manner other than one heritage engine (R766
Victorian Railways R class
The R class was an express passenger steam locomotive that ran on Australia's Victorian Railways from 1951 to 1974. A long overdue replacement for the 1907-era A2 class 4-6-0, their development and construction was repeatedly delayed due to financial constraints caused by the Great Depression and...
). Some Garratt locomotives of East Africa were designed for easy conversion to Cape gauge, though again none ever were.
In the southern United States, some steam locomotives built by Baldwin were designed for easy conversion from to .
Diesel
Diesel locomotives have bogies like wagons and carriages, only with more cables for the traction motors and take a little longer to convert. In Australia, some classes of diesel locomotives are regularly gauge-converted to suit traffic requirements on the , and networks.Since the networks are not all connected to each other, being separated by deserts or lines of other gauges, they are bogie-exchanged or piggybacked on road or rail vehicles when transferred between these networks.
Raise
The simplest way to carry out bogie exchange is to lift the wagons off the bogieBogie
A bogie is a wheeled wagon or trolley. In mechanics terms, a bogie is a chassis or framework carrying wheels, attached to a vehicle. It can be fixed in place, as on a cargo truck, mounted on a swivel, as on a railway carriage/car or locomotive, or sprung as in the suspension of a caterpillar...
s and replace them back on new bogies. This may require the wagons in a train to be uncoupled, and continuous brakes disconnected. As the bogies are swung out of the way, they sway, which wastes time settling them down.
Lower
A cleverer way of carrying out bogie exchange is to lower the bogies onto a trolley in a pit, after which the trolleys are rolled out of the way and others return. This keeps the train couplings and continuous brakes connected. In addition, the bogies never need leave a solid surface, so that they can be wheeled in and out more quickly. This method was used at Dry Creek railway station, Adelaide.Australia
Between 1961 and 1995, Australia had five bogie exchange centres, which opened and closed as gauge conversion work proceeded. The gauges served were and , though the Queensland did acquire 100 bogie-exchange compatible QLX wagons just in case. All the wagons involved had wagon codes ending in "X", such as VLX.The centres were:
- DynonWest Melbourne, VictoriaWest Melbourne is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km north-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Melbourne...
, MelbourneMelbourneMelbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, VictoriaVictoria (Australia)Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively.... - Wodonga near AlburyAlbury, New South WalesAlbury is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia, located on the Hume Highway on the northern side of the Murray River. It is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of Albury Local Government Area...
on state border. - Port Pirie, South AustraliaSouth AustraliaSouth Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
- PeterboroughPeterborough, South AustraliaPeterborough is a town in the mid north of South Australia, in wheat country, just off the Barrier Highway. At the 2006 census, Peterborough had a population of 1,689....
, South AustraliaSouth AustraliaSouth Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland... - Dry Creek, AdelaideAdelaideAdelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, South AustraliaSouth AustraliaSouth Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
- the youngest and most modern.
The busiest facility was that at Dynon, in a typical year (1981–82) 24,110 wagons were bogie exchanged, an average of 66 per day. This was done by one shift of 18 men, compared with the 100 men required if the same amount of freight was transferred wagon to wagon.
Belarus
- Brest, BelarusBrest, BelarusBrest , formerly also Brest-on-the-Bug and Brest-Litovsk , is a city in Belarus at the border with Poland opposite the city of Terespol, where the Bug River and Mukhavets rivers meet...
– between and at the border to PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Bolivia
Bogie exchange used between and gauge on the Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a BoliviaFerrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia
The Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia is a private railway operating in the northern provinces of Chile. It is notable in that it was one of the earliest railways built to the gauge of , with a route that climbed from sea level to over , while handling goods traffic totaling near 2 million tons...
Railway.
Canada
- Between and the gaugeCape gaugeCape gauge is a track gauge of between the inside of the rail heads and is classified as narrow gauge. It has installations of around .The gauge was first used by Norwegian engineer Carl Abraham Pihl and the first line was opened in 1862.- Nomenclature :...
of the former Newfoundland RailwayNewfoundland RailwayThe Newfoundland Railway was a railway which operated on the island of Newfoundland from 1898 to 1988. With a total track length of , it was the longest narrow gauge railway system in North America.-Early construction:...
(Terra TransportTerra TransportTerra Transport was the name for the Newfoundland Transportation Division, a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian National Railway , created in 1979 as a means to organize the company's operations on the island of Newfoundland.-Background:...
) at Port aux BasquesChannel-Port aux Basques, Newfoundland and LabradorChannel-Port aux Basques is a town at the extreme southwestern tip of the island of Newfoundland fronting on the eastern end of the Cabot Strait. A Marine Atlantic ferry terminal is located in the town which is the primary entry point onto the island of Newfoundland and the western terminus of...
China
A bogie exchange station exists at the Chinese border to MongoliaMongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
. Both the Moscow-Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
passenger train (Trans-Siberian
Trans-Siberian Railway
The Trans-Siberian Railway is a network of railways connecting Moscow with the Russian Far East and the Sea of Japan. It is the longest railway in the world...
) and freight trains get their bogies exchanged. Mongolia has Russian gauge
Russian gauge
In railway terminology, Russian gauge refers to railway track with a gauge between 1,520 mm and . In a narrow sense as defined by Russian Railways it refers to gauge....
, China has .
Finland
A bogie exchange station exists in the Port of TurkuPort of Turku
The Port of Turku is a port located in the south-west of Finland, where the mainland meets the beginning of the Turku archipelago. Sited within Finland's fifth largest city, the port principally handles traffic between Turku and the Swedish capital of Stockholm and the enclaved Åland...
with a short stretch of gauge railway. Freight cars get their bogies exchanged. SeaRail
SeaRail
SeaRail operates a train ferry for railway freight wagons between Turku, Finland, and Stockholm, Sweden. Because the track gauge of the Finnish railways is wider than the standard gauge of much of the rest of Europe , a special fleet of freight wagons with interchangeable bogies is used...
train ferries go from Germany and Sweden. They carry no passenger trains, and passengers must walk by foot to Turku Harbour railway station opposite the ferry terminals. Finland has broad gauge
Broad gauge
Broad-gauge railways use a track gauge greater than the standard gauge of .- List :For list see: List of broad gauges, by gauge and country- History :...
.
Iran
JolfaJolfa
Jolfa is a city in and capital of Jolfa County, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 4,983, in 1,365 families....
- c1950, between and (Russian gauge
Russian gauge
In railway terminology, Russian gauge refers to railway track with a gauge between 1,520 mm and . In a narrow sense as defined by Russian Railways it refers to gauge....
)
SarakhsSarakhs
Sarakhs is a city in and capital of Sarakhs County, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. Sarakhs was once a stopping point along the Silk Road, and in its 11th century heyday had many libraries and a famous school of architects. Much of the original city site is now just across the border at Saraghs...
- c1990, between and (Russian gauge
Russian gauge
In railway terminology, Russian gauge refers to railway track with a gauge between 1,520 mm and . In a narrow sense as defined by Russian Railways it refers to gauge....
)
ZahedanZahedan
Zahedan is a city in and the capital of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 552,706, in 109,488 families.-Geography:...
- proposed 2008, between and (Indian gauge
Indian gauge
Indian gauge is a track gauge commonly used in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Argentina and Chile. It is also the gauge that is used on BART , in northern California.- Scotland :...
)
Kazakhstan
DruzhbaDruzhba
Druzhba may refer to:*1621 Druzhba, an asteroid*Druzhba pipeline, the world's longest oil pipeline stretching from Central Russia to Central Europe...
, KZ -
AlashankouAlashankou
Alashankou or Alataw Pass is a border town in Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. It is a port of entry by both railroad and highway from Kazakhstan as part of the Eurasian Land Bridge. The town is named after the Dzungarian Gate , a pass connecting...
, CN between and .
North Korea
- Tumangan, North Korea – between and (Russian gaugeRussian gaugeIn railway terminology, Russian gauge refers to railway track with a gauge between 1,520 mm and . In a narrow sense as defined by Russian Railways it refers to gauge....
) at the border to RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
The bogies of the direct sleeping car Moscow - Pyongyang, which runs twice monthly, are exchanged here.
Peru
- Between and on the Ferrocarril Central AndinoFerrocarril Central AndinoFerrocarril Central Andino is the consortium which operates the Ferrovías Central railway in Peru linking the Pacific port of Callao and the capital Lima with Huancayo and Cerro de Pasco...
, including locomotiveLocomotiveA locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s
Romania
- Between and at Vadul Siret between Romania and Ukraine
- Between and at HalmeuHalmeuHalmeu is a commune of 7,062 inhabitants situated in Satu Mare County, Romania. It is composed of five villages:Until World War II, the village was home to a Jewish community, which numbered 479 souls in 1877...
between Romania and Ukraine - Between and at Ungheni, Iași between Romania and Moldova
Russia
Zabaikalsk (450 km from Chita) with China Grodekovo (116 km from Ussuriisk and 224 km from Vladivostok) with China Khasan - North Korea (315 km from Vladivostok). KholmskKholmsk
Kholmsk is a town in Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, the administrative center of Kholmsky District. Population: 35,141 .-History:The town was founded in 1870 as a military post. After the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, the town was transferred to Japanese control, along with the rest of southern...
, Sakhalin Island. The bogie exchange is necessary to enable Russian mainland cars to run on the Sakhalin railways, which use the Japanese gauge of .
Spain
- At IrunIrunIrun is a town of the Bidasoa-Txingudi region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain...
, between and (Iberian gaugeIberian gaugeIberian gauge is the name given to the track gauge most extensively used by the railways of Spain and Portugal: namely ....
) - At PortbouPortbouPortbou is a town in the Alt Empordà county, in Girona province, Catalonia, Spain. It has a population of 1,307 people.- Overview :It is located near the French border in the Costa Brava region, and frequently serves as a dropping off point for SNCF trains coming from Cerbère in France.Portbou...
, between and
Tunisia
- Between and (meter gauge), including locomotiveLocomotiveA locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s
Ukraine
- Chop, UkraineChop, UkraineChop is a city located in the Zakarpattia Oblast of western Ukraine, near the borders of Slovakia and Hungary. It is separated from the Hungarian town of Záhony by the river Tisza, and the city itself is designated as a separate raion within the oblast.-Demography:According to the Ukrainian...
– between (Russian gaugeRussian gaugeIn railway terminology, Russian gauge refers to railway track with a gauge between 1,520 mm and . In a narrow sense as defined by Russian Railways it refers to gauge....
) and at the border to HungaryHungaryHungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
and SlovakiaSlovakiaThe Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south... - Jagodin, Ukraine – between (Russian gaugeRussian gaugeIn railway terminology, Russian gauge refers to railway track with a gauge between 1,520 mm and . In a narrow sense as defined by Russian Railways it refers to gauge....
) and at the border to PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Transfer time
Bogie exchange conversion times were:- DynonWest Melbourne, VictoriaWest Melbourne is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km north-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Melbourne...
, AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
- one wagon every 7.3 minutes. - ZabaykalskZabaykalskZabaykalsk is an urban locality and the administrative center of Zabaykalsky District of Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia, located on the Russian-Chinese border just opposite the Chinese border town of Manzhouli...
- one a rail car takes 5–6 hours. - ErenhotErenhotErenhot is a city located in the Gobi Desert, in the Xilin Gol league of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China . It has 16,330 inhabitants and the elevation is...
- one a rail car takes 5–6 hours.
Variable Gauge Axles
Variable Gauge Axles also called Automatic Track Gauge Changeover System is a newer and faster development than bogie exchange. While Bogie Exchange is "obvious" and brute force, VGA / ATGCS is "subtle, hidden" and elegant. The SUW 2000SUW 2000
SUW 2000 is a type of variable gauge system that allows a train to travel across a railway break-of-gauge.The SUW 2000 design is manufactured by Polish company ZNTK Poznań for Polish State Railways...
ATGCS requires a change over track about 20 m long, with a shed if there is snow compared to a small marshalling yard required by bogie exchange.
See also
- Automatic Track Gauge Changeover System
- Eurasian Land BridgeEurasian Land BridgeThe Eurasian Land Bridge, sometimes called the New Silk Road, is a term used to describe the rail transport route for moving freight and passengers overland from Pacific seaports in Siberia and China to seaports in Europe...
- Gauge conversionGauge conversionIn rail transport, gauge conversion is the process of converting a railway from one rail gauge to another, through the alteration of the railway tracks...
- Mungindi railway lineMungindi railway line, New South WalesThe Mungindi railway line is a railway line in northern New South Wales, Australia. It branches from the Main North line at the town of Werris Creek and heads north-west through the towns of Gunnedah and Narrabri before reaching Moree which for many years was the railhead before the extension to...
- Qazaqstan Temir ZholyQazaqstan Temir ZholyKazakhstan Temir Zholy , also National Company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, is the national railway company of Kazakhstan.-Organization:...
- Ramsey Car Transfer ApparatusRamsey Car Transfer ApparatusIn railroad industry, the Ramsey Car Transfer Apparatus was a proposed device to replace bogies on railroad cars to permit transfer of a train between railroad lines with different gauge....
- SeaRailSeaRailSeaRail operates a train ferry for railway freight wagons between Turku, Finland, and Stockholm, Sweden. Because the track gauge of the Finnish railways is wider than the standard gauge of much of the rest of Europe , a special fleet of freight wagons with interchangeable bogies is used...
- Transporter wagonTransporter wagonA transporter wagon, in railway terminology, is a wagon or railroad car designed to carry other railway equipment. Normally, it is used to transport equipment of a different rail gauge...
- and its logical development, the transporter train. - WheelsetWheelset (railroad)A wheelset is the wheel-axle assembly of a railroad car. The frame assembly beneath each end of a car, railcar or locomotive that holds the wheelsets is called the bogie...