| | This article is incomplete and may require expansion or cleanup. Please help to improve the article, or discuss the issue on the talk page. | The heaviest trains in the world are freight trains hauling bulk commodities such as coal and iron ore. One might distinguish between regular operations, and occasional record breaking runs. One might also distinguish between the total weight of the locomotives and its train of wagons, and the total payload. If the track and its alignment is strong, gauge is not so important. [edit]  Australia [edit] Iron ore [edit] General cargo [edit]  Brazil - Daqin: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8
+1⁄2 in) coal trains - 20,000 tonnes, 3200 m, 210 wagons [5] - Existing - 800t - 1,000 mm (3 ft 3
+3⁄8 in) - Proposed - 4000t - 1,435 mm (4 ft 8
+1⁄2 in) [6] - Improvment due to heavier 60kg/m rail, gentler curves and gradients.
[edit]  Mauritania - Iron Ore: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8
+1⁄2 in) - diesel [edit]  Russia On Russian railways, trains can be up to 6000 tonnes. Russia uses special SA3 couplers allowing higher weight. Loads are generally limited by maximum currents of the 3000 V DC or 25 kV AC electrification systems and crossing loop lengths, so it is not a fair comparison. [edit]   Scandinavia - On Malmbanan which goes between Luleå, Sweden and Narvik, Norway iron ore trains are hauled with IORE locomotives—the most powerful in the world—8300 t + 360 t locomotive. Special SA3 couplers, and 15 kV 16
+2⁄3 Hz electrification are used. The iron trains go either Kiruna-Narvik or Gällivare-Luleå. Other very heavy trains go in flat areas but these trains go through a mountain range, although the uphill grades are at most 10 ‰ in the direction with loaded trains. [edit]  South Africa [edit] Iron ore [edit]  United States [edit] Record-breaking runs - BHP Billiton: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8
+1⁄2 in) June 2001 trial with 682 ore cars and eight distributed GE AC6000CW locomotive.[10] - South Africa: 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) 23 August 2004 [7] A test train was run with a weight of 34,200 t and total length of 3.9 km in order to prove new technologies being developed[11].
[edit] General - 1753 t - Swiss train that derailed at Lausanne
[edit] See also [edit] Technical aspects - Axleloads up to 40 t in some cases. Most railways allow 20-30 t.
- Rail weight may need to be as heavy as 68 kg/m.
- Weight per meter (or foot), for example 8 or 12 t/m. Weak bridges limit this figure.
- Gauge is not so important but track strength is, which includes the number of sleepers per kilometre, and the type of attachment of rail to sleeper.
- 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) Not used for heavy haul.
- 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) Not used for heavy haul.
- 1,524 mm (5 ft) Used for relatively heavy haul in Russia
- 1,435 mm (4 ft 8
+1⁄2 in) Australia, United States, China, Mauretania, Scandinavia - 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) South Africa
- 1,000 mm (3 ft 3
+3⁄8 in) Brazil - Couplers must be strong enough. Standard European freight train couplers are not so strong. (see also AAR)
- The gradients must be low. Hills limit the weight that is possible. If the gradient is 1.0 % then the locomotives must weigh about 4 % of the trains.
- Curves must be fairly gentle or wagons may be pulled off the inside of curves and derailed, because of the high pulling forces needed.
- Wagon weights should not differ much, or light wagons could be derailed in curves. This is a bigger problem with general cargo where some wagons might be empty, so those trains are not so heavy. For heavy bulk cargo trains, all wagons should be loaded or all empty.
- Changes of gradient must be gentle else coupling forces may cause them to snap.
- Brakes: air brakes being upgraded to ECP. Vacuum brakes are unsuitable.
[edit] References [edit] External links |
