Russia: 113 tons of wheat were loaded into a hopper wagon during operation, which could be a world record. The railcar by the United Wagon Company (UWC) includes 2 bodies, however, it was also designed for a 25-t axle load.
The manufacturer reported on the results of pilot operation of 19-6978 (grain) and 19-6978-01 (mineral fertilizers) articulated hopper wagons. According to UWC, during this time the cars were used in the work of more than 20 industry sites, in particular, of Acron Group and Russian House Holding. The average loading into a wagon for grain cargo was 101.6 t, for mineral fertilizers – 111.1 t. At the same time, as UWC stated to ROLLINSTOCK Agency, wheat was transported in the hopper wagon with a load of 113 t, almost at the level of the maximum carrying capacity (113.5 t).
The analysis of open sources done by ROLLINGSTOCK Agency shows that the 19-6978 hopper has the highest carrying capacity not only in Russia, but also in comparison with the models of the world’s largest players – CRRC, Greenbrier, Trinity Rail and FreightCar America. Thus, CRRC has a line of covered hoppers with a load limit of no more than 75 t, which is due to the lack of export contracts for such cars to rail networks where a heavy weight norm is allowed. In the Greenbrier’s portfolio of covered hopper wagons, a maximum load limit of 104.2 t is declared, for the FreightCar America – 102.1 t. The hoppers of Trinity Rail turned out to be limited for analysis, however, for the majority of cars, the load limit is declared at the level of 100 t.
It should be taken into account that such load limit was achieved by UWC through the use of an articulated structure: 19-6978 hopper includes use of two bodies with a total volume of 160 m3 on three 18-9855 bogies with a 25-t axle load. However, in the USA, where the railcars of the named American manufacturers are mainly hauled, the weight norm is significantly higher.
19-6978-01 hopper wagon in pilot operation with Acron Group. Source: UWC
UWC certified cars of 19-6978 and 19-6978-01 models in 2019. In particular, Acron Group began using the wagon to transport mineral fertilizers in September 2020. Acron’s Vice President for transport and logistics Igor Bogdan says that the cost of transporting 1 ton of cargo in such a car turned out to be on average 25-30% cheaper than in a typical Russian analogue with a 23.5-t axle load bogies.
UWC’s portfolio of serial articulated railcars also includes 2 models of gondola railcars, tankcars for LPG (400 railcars were purchased by TEXOL group in 2019) and light oil products. Additionally, 10-630 articulated flatcar is also was designed by UWC as the basis for the implementation of swap bodies technology.
