Rail transport in India consists of primarily of passenger and freight shipments along an integrated rail network. Indian Railways (IR), a statutory body under the ownership of the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India, operates India's national railway system. It is the primary owner and operator of rail operations throughout the country including suburban rail in major metros.
A railroad car, railcar, railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck, also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is a vehicle used for the carrying of cargo or passengers on a rail transport network. Such cars, when coupled together and hauled by one or more locomotives, form a train. Alternatively, some passenger cars are self-propelled in which case they may be either single railcars or make up multiple units.
Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation, without any handling of the freight itself when changing modes. The method reduces cargo handling, and so improves security, reduces damage and loss, and allows freight to be transported faster. Reduced costs over road trucking is the key benefit for inter-continental use. This may be offset by reduced timings for road transport over shorter distances.
ISO 6346 is an international standard covering the coding, identification and marking of intermodal (shipping) containers used within containerized intermodal freight transport by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The standard establishes a visual identification system for every container that includes a unique serial number, the owner, a country code, a size, type and equipment category as well as any operational marks. The register of container owners is managed by the International Container Bureau (BIC).
A tank car or tanker is a type of railroad car or rolling stock designed to transport liquid and gaseous commodities.
A flatcar (US) is a piece of rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck mounted on trucks (US) or bogies (UK) at each end. Occasionally, flat cars designed to carry extra heavy or extra large loads are mounted on a pair of bogies under each end. 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. Flatcars designed for carrying machinery have sliding chain assemblies recessed in the deck.
Rail freight transport is the use of railways and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers.
Indian Railways coaching stock consists of various travel class passenger coaches, freight wagons apart from specialized and dedicated coaching stock for other uses. Indian Railways operates India's railway system and comes under the purview of the Ministry of Railways of Government of India. As of 2022, it operates over 8000 trains daily with a inventory of 318,196 freight wagons and 84,863 passenger coaches. The rolling stock is manufactured by five units owned by Indian Railways, four public sector units and one private company.
Burn Standard Company Limited (BSCL) is a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) of the Government of India. Headquartered in Howrah, India, BSCL is engaged mainly in railway wagon manufacturing under the Ministry of Railways. On 4 April 2018, Cabinet approves closure of loss making Burn Standard Company Limited. The company was formed with the merger of two companies – Burn & Company and Indian Standard Wagon, and was nationalised in 1975. In fiscal 2006, the company reported aggregated revenues of ₹1,373 million (US$16 million). Subsequently, the company with its two engineering units at Howrah and Burnpur came under the administrative control of Ministry of Railways in September 2010. The refractory unit at Salem, Tamil Nadu, was transferred to Steel Authority of India Limited.
Goods wagons or freight wagons, also known as goods carriages, goods trucks, freight carriages or freight trucks, are unpowered railway vehicles that are used for the transportation of cargo. A variety of wagon types are in use to handle different types of goods, but all goods wagons in a regional network typically have standardized couplers and other fittings, such as hoses for air brakes, allowing different wagon types to be assembled into trains. For tracking and identification purposes, goods wagons are generally assigned a unique identifier, typically a UIC wagon number, or in North America, a company reporting mark plus a company specific serial number.
Arbel Fauvet Rail (AFR) is a railway rolling stock manufacturer based in Douai, France. In 2010 the company was acquired by Titagarh Wagons and renamed AFR Titagarh.
Flat wagons, as classified by the International Union of Railways (UIC), are railway goods wagons that have a flat, usually full-length, deck and little or no superstructure. By contrast, open wagons have high side and end walls and covered goods wagons have a fixed roof and sides. Flat wagons are often designed for the transportation of goods that are not weather-sensitive. Some flat wagons are able to be covered completely by tarpaulins or hoods and are therefore suitable for the transport of weather-sensitive goods. Unlike a "goods wagon with opening roof", the loading area of a flat is entirely open and accessible once the cover is removed.
The Victorian Railways used a variety of both 4-wheel and bogie open wagons for the transport of a wide range of loads.
The Sealdah–Ranaghat–Gede line connects the Sealdah Main and North terminus of Kolkata with Ranaghat and Gede of Nadia district of West Bengal, India. Once a part of the old Calcutta–Siliguri main line, today it is a busy suburban section of the Kolkata Suburban Railway's Sealdah North section connecting the North 24 Parganas and Nadia districts with Kolkata. It is under the jurisdiction of the Sealdah railway division of the Eastern Railway zone of the Indian Railways.
The South African type MY1 tender was a steam locomotive tender.
The Type P1 ship is a United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) designation for World War II passenger ships. P1 was used in World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War. Type P1 were the smallest of the P-class ships, at 400 to 500 feet long. Two P1-S2-L2 ships were built for the Navy and used as attack transports (APA). Many P1 type ships were built on Type C3-class ship hulls.
Titagarh Rail Systems Limited, is an Indian rolling stock manufacturer. Established in 1984 as a rolling stock foundry unit, the company's headquarters are situated in Kolkata, West Bengal. Titagarh is publicly traded on both the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE).
The Victorian Railways used a variety of flat wagons for the transport of a wide range of loads. Generally speaking, the bogie wagons were custom-built for the job, while the fixed-wheel variants were cut down from former open wagons. Loadings would be placed on the deck and, if necessary, protected with tarps, then secured to the wagons with chains or rope connecting to lashing rings along the side of the wagon frames.
The Victorian Railways used a variety of former traffic wagons around depots and for specific construction, maintenance and similar tasks. Very few of these vehicles were specially constructed from scratch, often instead recycling components or whole wagon bodies and frames from old vehicles that had been withdrawn from normal service as life-expired or superseded by a better design.
A pocket wagon is a freight wagon that has been specially designed for the transport of truck semi-trailers. This wagon belongs to the group of flat wagons in special design with bogies and is used in combined transport (CT). The name of these freight wagons comes from the fact that between the narrow longitudinal girders on the outside and also lengthways between the bogies, the so-called pockets are located, in which the wheels of the semi-trailers are particularly low. For flexible use in CT, pocket wagons have hinged latches with ISO spigots on the solebar, so that containers and swap bodies up to 45 ft can be accommodated. As a flat wagon, it bears the UIC generic letter S and, since it is intended for the transport of road vehicles on one level, the code letter d. Since it is also possible to transport containers in a pocket wagon, it bears the UIC generic mark Sdgs. In this context, the code letter g stands for "containers up to 60 feet" and the lower case s for the permitted speed of up to 100 km/h (62 mph). The wagons have a yellow triangle with a black P on the long side. The first pocket wagons were built in Germany as early as 1972 and further developed according to requirements.
