A freight train, also called a goods train or cargo train, is a railway train that is used to carry cargo, as opposed to passengers. Freight trains are made up of one or more locomotives which provide propulsion, along with one or more railroad cars (also known as wagons) which carry freight. A wide variety of cargos are carried on trains, but the low friction inherent to rail transport means that freight trains are especially suited to carrying bulk and heavy loads over longer distances.
The earliest recorded use of rail transport for freight was in Babylon, circa 2,200 B.C.E. This took the form of wagons pulled on wagonways by horses or even humans. [1]
Freight trains are almost universally powered by locomotives. Historically, steam locomotives were predominant, but beginning in the 1920s diesel and electric locomotives displaced steam due to their higher reliability, cleaner emissions, and lower costs. [2]
Freight trains carry cargo in freight cars, also known as goods wagons, which are unpowered and designed to carry various types of goods. [3]
Freight trains often operate between classification yards, which are hubs where incoming freight trains are received, and then broken up, with the cars then being assembled into new trains for other destinations. In contrast to this type of operation, which is known as wagonload (or carload) freight, there are also unit trains, which exclusively carry one type of cargo. They normally operate directly between origin and destination points, such as a coal mine and a power plant, without any changes to the makeup of the freight cars in between. [4] This allows cargo to reach its destination faster, and increases utilization of freight cars, lowering operating costs. [4]
Unlike passenger trains, freight trains often do not follow fixed schedules, but are run as needed. [5] When sharing tracks with passenger trains, freight trains are scheduled to use lines during specific times to minimize their impact on passenger train operations, especially during the morning and evening rush hours. [5]
Rail transport is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road transport. It is used for about 8% of passenger and freight transport globally, thanks to its energy efficiency and potentially high speed.
A train is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives or railcars, though some are self-propelled, such as multiple units. Passengers and cargo are carried in railroad cars, also known as wagons. Trains are designed to a certain gauge, or distance between rails. Most trains operate on steel tracks with steel wheels, the low friction of which makes them more efficient than other forms of transport.
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.
VR-Group Plc, commonly known as VR, is a government-owned railway company in Finland. VR's most important function is the operation of Finland's passenger rail services with 250 long-distance and 800 commuter rail services every day. With 7,500 employees and net sales of €1,251 million in 2017, VR is one of the most significant operators in the Finnish public transport market area.
The Southern Railway (SR), sometimes shortened to 'Southern', was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent. The railway was formed by the amalgamation of several smaller railway companies, the largest of which were the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) and the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR). The construction of what was to become the Southern Railway began in 1838 with the opening of the London and Southampton Railway, which was renamed the London & South Western Railway.
Rail transport operations are the day-to-day operations of a railway. A railway has two major components: the infrastructure and the rolling stock
Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India that operates India's national railway system. As of 2023, it manages the fourth largest national railway system by size with a running track length of 104,647 km (65,025 mi) and route length of 68,426 km (42,518 mi) of which 60,451 km (37,563 mi) is electrified. With more than 1.2 million employees, it is the world's ninth-largest employer and India's second largest employer.
Green Cargo AB is a Swedish state-owned logistics company transporting various types of goods by train. It was created on 1 January 2001 out of the logistics division of Swedish State Railways (SJ). While organised as a public limited company, it is wholly owned by the Swedish government. As of 2019, it was responsible for almost 80% of Swedish rail freight transport.
Rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria is provided by a number of railway operators who operate over the government-owned railway lines. The network consists of 2,357 km of Victorian broad gauge lines, and 1,912 km of standard gauge freight and interstate lines; the latter increasing with gauge conversion of the former. Historically, a few experimental 762 mm gauge lines were built, along with various private logging, mining and industrial railways. The rail network radiates from the state capital, Melbourne, with main interstate links to Sydney and to Adelaide, as well as major lines running to regional centres, upgraded as part of the Regional Fast Rail project.
A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or unused locomotives stored off the main line, so that they do not obstruct the flow of traffic. Cars or wagons are moved around by specially designed yard switcher locomotives (US) or shunter locomotives (UK), a type of locomotive. Cars or wagons in a yard may be sorted by numerous categories, including railway company, loaded or unloaded, destination, car type, or whether they need repairs. Yards are normally built where there is a need to store rail vehicles while they are not being loaded or unloaded, or are waiting to be assembled into trains. Large yards may have a tower to control operations.
Rail freight transport is the use of railways and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers.
A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons. Although common in the early days of railways, by the 20th century they were largely confined to branch lines with little traffic. Typically, service was slower, because mixed trains usually involved the shunting (switching) of rolling stock at stops along the way. However, some earlier passenger expresses, which also hauled time-sensitive freight in covered goods wagons (boxcars), would now be termed mixed trains. Generally, toward the end of the mixed train era, shunting at intermediate stops had significantly diminished. Most railway passenger and freight services are now administered separately.
SBB Cargo is a subsidiary of Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) specialising in railfreight and is operated as the Freight division. Swiss Federal Railways is a former state-owned and -controlled company that was transformed in 1999 into a joint-stock company under special legislation following the first Swiss railway reform and divided up into three independent divisions: Passenger, Freight and Infrastructure. The headquarters of Swiss Federal Railways SBB Cargo AG, the Freight division's official designation, are in Olten. In 2013, SBB Cargo had 3,061 employees and achieved consolidated sales of CHF 953 million. In Switzerland, SBB Cargo is the market leader in rail freight, transporting over 175,000 tons of goods every day. This corresponds to the weight of 425 fully loaded jumbo jets.
Land transport is the transport or movement of people, animals or goods from one location to another location on land. This is in contrast with other main types of transport such as maritime transport and aviation. The two main forms of land transport can be considered to be rail transport and road transport.
A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self propelled passenger trains are known as multiple units or railcars. Passenger trains stop at stations or depots, where passengers may board and disembark. In most cases, passenger trains operate on a fixed schedule and have priority over freight trains.
Lyttelton Line is a name sometimes used to refer to the section of the Main South Line in New Zealand's South Island between Lyttelton and Christchurch, and can also be used to refer to the operations on this section. As it has always been part of the Main South Line, this name has never been officially used to refer to the track itself.
Transport or transportation is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land, water, cable, pipelines, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations. Transport enables human trade, which is essential for the development of civilizations.
The railway network in Great Britain has been used to transport goods of various types and in varying volumes since the early 19th century. Network Rail, which owns and maintains the network, aims to increase the amount of goods carried by rail. In 2015–16 Britain's railways moved 17.8 billion net tonne kilometres, a 20% fall compared to 2014–15. Coal accounted for 13.1% of goods transport in Britain, down considerably from previous years. There are no goods transported by railway in Northern Ireland.
TCDD Transport is a government-owned railway company responsible for the operations of most passenger and freight rail in Turkey. The company was formed on 14 June 2016, splitting off from the Turkish State Railways (TCDD) to take over railway operations, while TCDD would continue to administer railway infrastructure. TCDD Taşımacılık officially began operations on 1 January 2017.
The Condor was an overnight fast freight train service operated by British Railways between London and Glasgow from 1959 until 1965 with all freight carried in containers. The name was derived from 'CONtainers DOoR-to-Door'.
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