Arefrigerated van(also called arefrigerated wagon) is a railwaygoods wagonwith cooling equipment. Today they are designated by theInternational Union of Railways(UIC) asClassI.
History
editThe first wagons were cooled withicethat had been cut in winter from special pools or lakes. It wasGustavus Swiftwho succeed in the winter of 1877 for the first time in developing an efficient cooling system for railway wagons forChicagobusinesses and meat producers. It circulated air through the ice and then through the entire wagon in order to cool it down. This system was the basis of the success of theUnion Stock Yard,the Chicagoslaughterhouses.The cooled wagons made it possible for the first time to transport the meat of slaughtered animals to the whole of the US.[1]Later, manufactured ice was used, but this rapidly gave way to other means of cooling; the simplest was the substitution of normal (water) ice bydry ice.With the increasing reliability ofcombustion engines,engine-powered refrigerator vans emerged. There are even vans whose cooling is achieved by the evaporation ofliquid gas.
Construction
editCompared with machine-cooled vans, ice-cooled wagons have the disadvantage of uneven temperature control, because the cooling effect is only achieved by air circulation. On the other hand, machine-cooled wagons are expensive to maintain and operate, but can be set to the desired temperature and maintained at that temperature throughout the entire journey. They are also better suited to transporting goods at deep-freeze temperatures of around −30 °C (−22 °F), whereas evaporators and ice-cooling are more suited to maintaining temperatures of around 0 °C (32 °F).Bananatransport wagons with gas evaporators have an optimum internal temperature of +14.4 °C (57.9 °F) In addition to proper refrigerated vans, there arecovered wagonswith thermal insulation and, in some cases, even those are equipped with refrigerating sets. These wagons can only operate at temperatures between 0 and +20 °C (32 and 68 °F), where a constant internal temperature is desired.
In Asia, Chinese and Kazakh railways are experimenting with using refrigerated rail cars to transport sensitive consumer electronic goods manufactured in China to European markets. The products are transported in climate-controlled rail cars from factory towns in the interior of China toAlmaty,Kazakhstan,and from there by air to Europe. The use of insulate climate-controlled cars makes it possible for these kinds of goods to be transported by rail even in winter, which had not been done previously.[2]
Use
editIn long-distance trains in the formerEastern Bloccountries, refrigerator trains were used that comprised a refrigeration plant wagon, aguards vanand several refrigerated vans.
Most food is transported by road nowadays due to the shorter journey times. The stock of refrigerated vans owned by railway companies has therefore shrunk considerably. Most refrigerated vans in Europe today are operated by Interfrigo. These wagons are easy to tell apart externally: white vans are normal refrigerated wagons, blue ones with white stripes along the side are machine-cooled refrigerator vans.
Types
editAlmost all refrigerated vans currently in service are built toUICstandard classes. The two-axled wagons have the same overall dimensions as thecovered goods wagonsof classes Gbs or Hbfs.
| UIC 571-3: Special classes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class | two-axle refrigerated vans | four-axle refrigerated vans | ||
| Standardwagen | Ferry wagons | 1st Variant | 2nd Variant | |
| Class1) | Ibbs / Ibbgs | Ibfs / Ibfgs | Ias / Iags | |
| Axle base | 8.00 m | − | ||
| Bogiepivot pitch | − | 15.80 m | 16.80 m | |
| Length over buffers | 14.02 m | 21.04 m | 22.24 m | |
| Loading length, min.1) | 10.50 m / 11.00 m | 16.40 m / 16.80 m | 17.80 m / 18.00 m | |
| Loading area, ca.1) | 27 m2/ 28 m2 | 23 m2/ 24 m2 | 42 m2/ 43 m2 | 45 m2/ 46 m2 |
| Unladen weight, max.1) | 15,5 t / 18.5 t | 31.0 t / 35.0 t | 32.0 t / 36.0 t | |
| Door height | 1.90 m | |||
| Door width | 2,70 m | |||
1) Refrigerated and insulated vans / Refrigerated vans with cooling equipment
See also
edit- Refrigerator car(covers US practice)
References
edit- ^History of the Union Stock Yard at brandeins.de
- ^IRINA BEKTIYAROVA,Rail-Air Connection Can Bring Goods from China to Europe Quickly,2015-04-08