Heres one for the train spotters .google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bloo … trade-ties
I was reading about this somewhere else, and in that article is said that the containers will need transhipped onto different trains along its journey because the gauge of the railways are different in china to them in Europe and U.K. So I’m guessing you won’t see a Chinese train bringing it all the way here.
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Here’s the article I read yesterday.
bbc.co.uk/news/business-38497997
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damoq:
I was reading about this somewhere else, and in that article is said that the containers will need transhipped onto different trains along its journey because the gauge of the railways are different in china to them in Europe and U.K. So I’m guessing you won’t see a Chinese train bringing it all the way here.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This ^^^^^^^.
But still, as a railfan, it’s pretty incredible stuff though.
Socketset:
But still, as a railfan, it’s pretty incredible stuff though.
I don’t think it’s that exciting, X amount of containers get loaded onto the train in China, then get swapped onto different trains at various points, then end up in the UK on most probably a German freight train, I think what’s exciting is the volume of goods getting to the UK and Europe in a matter of days.
My Wife and I travelled on the Trans-Siberian express in the Naughties and went from Beijing to Moscow via Mongolia, it was quite a train ride!
damoq:
I was reading about this somewhere else, and in that article is said that the containers will need transhipped onto different trains along its journey because the gauge of the railways are different in china to them in Europe and U.K. So I’m guessing you won’t see a Chinese train bringing it all the way here.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Is that track gauge or loading gauge ?
when we looked at getting backhoes to Spain and Moscow from Coventry via the railway , we had all the high tech guff from the railway company about how they jacked up the carriages at various points and put the correct guage running gear underneath and the efficiency of that operation and the loading point in Coventry was suitable for entraining etc, actually turned out that the carriages they needed to use couldn’t get round the bend or under the bridges to get into prologis park to load the wretched things , and the railway is just over our back fence.
I think Russia and Belarus share the same track guage which is different to China/Mongolia so I guess before it heads into Poland the containers will be shipped to a different train capable of travelling across Europe?
Don’t think they change the train / tranship the containers onto different bogies, they can just change the wheel sets. There’s trains out there equipped with variable gauge systems - built for trips between the former USSR & Europe iirc. Note sure which would be cheaper right enough, as that’s what it’d come down to.
youtube.com/watch?v=ZiH4kt14yGw
"Talgo gauge change system:
Each wheel is sitting on a stub axle with two bearings, which can be moved sideways. The bearings are hold in position with spring locking pins. The gauge change facility consist of various guide rails, which have the function to pull the locking pins, move the wheel bearings and release the locking pins so that they can settle with spring force in their position. Technically the gauge change could be performed up to speeds of 60 km/h, but the mechanical wear would be much higher. The system is rather robust, only winter time with snow and ice can be a problem. This system is only suitable for relatively light vehicles like passenger trains. The maximal load per wheel can not be higher than 8.75 metric tons (17 tons per axle).
other gauge change systems:
There are gauge change systems for loaded freight trains used between Europe standard gauge and broad gauge used in the area of the former Soviet Union. This systems are called SUW 2000 and Rafil."
There is a ‘gauge changer’ on the Belarus/Poland border where passenger carriages are taken into a shed, jacked up off their existing wheelsets and different ones are then rolled into place. Passengers stay on board while it happens. From Belarus onwards to China the tracks are ‘Russian gauge’. This is by no means the first freight train to run from China to Europe, but on the previous ones the containers have been trans-shipped.
The article also mentions 200 containers on one train. That surely would be too long for the UK.
Olog Hai:
There is a ‘gauge changer’ on the Belarus/Poland border where passenger carriages are taken into a shed, jacked up off their existing wheelsets and different ones are then rolled into place. Passengers stay on board while it happens. From Belarus onwards to China the tracks are ‘Russian gauge’. This is by no means the first freight train to run from China to Europe, but on the previous ones the containers have been trans-shipped.The article also mentions 200 containers on one train. That surely would be too long for the UK.
Depends if and where you need to ‘recess’ the train out the way of any other trains.
Also depends on what containers they are. Assuming 200 SLU’s of 20 foot each that comes to 1280 metres without accounting for locomotives or the gaps between the wagons so the train would have to be split up into smaller portions anyway. NR work to a maximum overall train
length of 775 metres, including locomotive(s), which is slightly more
than can be accepted by SNCF on their side of the Channel Tunnel.
SO, on the basis of that, the train would have to be split somewhere (in 2) before it got anywhere near to the UK.
Gauge changes were a regular occurrence here as well; we have 1 metre, standard (4’ 81/2"), 5’ and probably some more.
Gembo:
Olog Hai:
There is a ‘gauge changer’ on the Belarus/Poland border where passenger carriages are taken into a shed, jacked up off their existing wheelsets and different ones are then rolled into place. Passengers stay on board while it happens. From Belarus onwards to China the tracks are ‘Russian gauge’. This is by no means the first freight train to run from China to Europe, but on the previous ones the containers have been trans-shipped.The article also mentions 200 containers on one train. That surely would be too long for the UK.
Depends if and where you need to ‘recess’ the train out the way of any other trains.
Also depends on what containers they are. Assuming 200 SLU’s of 20 foot each that comes to 1280 metres without accounting for locomotives or the gaps between the wagons so the train would have to be split up into smaller portions anyway. NR work to a maximum overall train
length of 775 metres, including locomotive(s), which is slightly more
than can be accepted by SNCF on their side of the Channel Tunnel.
SO, on the basis of that, the train would have to be split somewhere (in 2) before it got anywhere near to the UK.
Everything in the container world is done in TEU - Twenty-foot Equivalent Units - so I would think you’re fairly safe to assume that’s what they’re talking about here.