CargoSprinter
Encyclopedia
Multiple unit
The term multiple unit or MU is used to describe a self-propelled carriages capable of coupling with other units of the same or similar type and still being controlled from one driving cab. The term is commonly used to denote passenger trainsets consisting of more than one carriage...
(or articulated) freight car;
it could also be thought of as a container truck that runs on rails.
Built by the German company Windhoff, it is in effect a self-propelled flatcar
Flatcar
A flatcar is a piece of railroad or railway rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck on four or six wheels or a pair of trucks or bogies . The deck of the car can be wood or steel, and the sides of the deck can include pockets for stakes or tie-down points to secure loads...
for container
Containerization
Containerization is a system of freight transport based on a range of steel intermodal containers...
s. It is intended to recapture some of the freight market back from road trucks
Truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...
, by making it economically feasible to carry small amounts of freight to the individual sidings of warehouses and businesses, without the complications and overhead of conventional locomotive
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...
-hauled train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
s.
The unit consists of two driving and power units, each fitted with a full width cab and two Volvo
Volvo
AB Volvo is a Swedish builder of commercial vehicles, including trucks, buses and construction equipment. Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace components and financial services...
truck engines for propulsion, which operate in a push pull
Push-pull train
Push–pull is a mode of operation for locomotive-hauled trains allowing them to be driven from either end.A push–pull train has a locomotive at one end of the train, connected via some form of remote control, such as multiple-unit train control, to a vehicle equipped with a control cab at the other...
mode, with up to seven trailers in between. The drive train is hydraulic via an automatic 5-speed gearbox, and has a maximum speed of 120 km/h. The complete train has a total power output of 4 x 265 - 1060 kilowatts and weighs 118 tons.
Control system
The computer system in the CargoSprinter is based around a computer running the LinuxLinux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
operating system, with software written in C and in Pascal (Kylix). The computer modules communicate over TCP/IP across a LAN
Län
Län and lääni refer to the administrative divisions used in Sweden and previously in Finland. The provinces of Finland were abolished on January 1, 2010....
.
Mechanical wear out disadvantage
The transfer mechanics on the railcars for interchange of cargo containerContainer
Container may refer to:* Items used to contain, store, and transport products, such as:** Carton** Bottle** Can , several meanings* Shipping containers include** Crate** Wooden box...
s between railcars requires a certain building height. The required measure is lesser than with trailer-on-flatcars, but not negligible. The mandatory requirement to fit under overhead wire for the traction engine electrical power supply led to a minor size of wheels for the railcars. Hence increased degradation of bogeys by wheel wear-out is a cost disadvantage for the system
Usage
* In AustraliaAustralia
Australia , 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...
the CRT Group
CRT Group
CRT Group is an intermodal transport company in Australia. Begun as Colin Rees Transport , a taxi truck company in suburban Sydney in the 1950s, it became known as the CRT Group in 1981, and by the time of its acquisition by QR Limited was in the top 10 logistics companies in Australia with a...
introduced the first CargoSprinter to Australia
Australia
Australia , 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...
in February 2002. After a number of promotional trips, the CargoSprinter operated a tri-weekly service from Melbourne to Wodonga in 2003, followed by a port shuttle from the Port of Melbourne
Port of Melbourne
The Port of Melbourne is Australia's busiest port for containerised and general cargo. It is located in Melbourne, Victoria and covers an area at the mouth of the Yarra River, downstream of Bolte Bridge, which is at the head of Port Phillip, as well as several piers on the bay itself...
to Altona
Altona, Victoria
Altona is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 13 km south-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Hobsons Bay. At the 2006 Census, Altona had a population of 9685....
from September 1 that year, before being put into storage.
- In Germany CargoSprinter units have been operated by Deutsche BahnDeutsche BahnDeutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
. - In the United Kingdom, 25 two-car units are used by the infrastructure operator Network RailNetwork RailNetwork Rail is the government-created owner and operator of most of the rail infrastructure in Great Britain .; it is not responsible for railway infrastructure in Northern Ireland...
as the British Rail MPVBritish Rail MPVThe Multiple-purpose Vehicle or MPV is a purpose-built departmental derivative of a diesel multiple unit. Twenty-five two-car units were ordered by Railtrack to enable it to replace its varied collection of ageing departmental vehicles, many of which were converted from redundant passenger...
, grouped into five distinct types. - LRZ NT, Fire Fighting and Rescue Train in Switzerland for incident response in the Lötschberg Base TunnelLötschberg Base TunnelThe Lötschberg Base Tunnel is a railway tunnel on the BLS Lötschbergbahn's Lötschberg Line cutting through the Alps of Switzerland some below the existing Lötschberg Tunnel. It is currently the world's longest land tunnel and accommodates passenger and freight trains. It runs between Frutigen,...
. Originally developed by Windhoff with versions operated by Bern-Lötschberg-SimplonBern-Lötschberg-Simplon railwayThe Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon railway, known since the merger of the "old" BLS with the Bern-Neuenburg-Bahn , the Gürbetal-Bern-Schwarzenburg-Bahn and the Simmentalbahn in 1997 as the BLS Lötschbergbahn, is a Swiss railway company. It is the largest standard gauge network on the Swiss Railway...
(BLS) and Swiss Federal RailwaysSBB-CFF-FFSSwiss Federal Railways and SFR are not in official use) is the national railway company of Switzerland headquartered in Bern. Formerly a government institution, it is since 1999 a special stock corporation with all shares held by the Swiss Confederation or the Swiss cantons...
(SBB-CFF-FFS).
