Axle loads

I know South Africa has some heavy axle loads on ore trains, as does Australia; are there any other countries that have axle loads of 25 or higher?

Well, yes, the US has 286,000 lbs, so 286,000/4 axles = 71500 per axle, 71,500 lb / 2000 lb/(short ton) = 35.75 tons.
Perhaps more comparable : 71,500lb /2204 (lbs/tonnes) = 32.44 t/axle (if I did my math correctly ).
Come to think of it, even the previous loading (263,000, been around for decades) yields a load of 29.8 t/axle, still above the limit you requested.
You can add Canada & Mexico to this list too, of course.

Note, it looks like the AAR and other American groups use short tons for calculations, which give a per axle loading of 33tons for 263Klbs, 36tons for 286Klbs, and 39tons for 315Klbs (this one is considered 'Heavy-Axle-Loading').

Sir Ray wrote:Well, yes, the US has 286,000 lbs, so 286,000/4 axles = 71500 per axle, 71,500 lb / 2000 lb/(short ton) = 35.75 tons.
Perhaps more comparable : 71,500lb /2204 (lbs/tonnes) = 32.44 t/axle (if I did my math correctly ).
Come to think of it, even the previous loading (263,000, been around for decades) yields a load of 29.8 t/axle, still above the limit you requested.
You can add Canada & Mexico to this list too, of course.

Note, it looks like the AAR and other American groups use short tons for calculations, which give a per axle loading of 33tons for 263Klbs, 36tons for 286Klbs, and 39tons for 315Klbs (this one is considered 'Heavy-Axle-Loading').

I should have been more clear, I know the U.S. has some tremendous axle loadings, and rails to go with it, but I was wondering how many outside North America have these heavy loadings.

RpR wrote:I should have been more clear, I know the U.S. has some tremendous axle loadings, and rails to go with it, but I was wondering how many outside North America have these heavy loadings.

Hmm, poking around a bit, seems India is (or was) experminenting w/ 25t/axle loading starting a few years ago - haven't read if they have made that permanent.
Now, from the same article comes this tidbit:
"An axle load of 25 tonnes has become an international norm in freight intensive railway systems in most countries. If the Indian Railways had a 25-tonne axle load system, the gross weight of each wagon would be 100 tonnes, implying an increase of 19 tonnes over the present gross weight of 81 tonnes."
This, if true, would indicate finding systems to match your criteria will be easy (I was actually surprized how limited other systems were in axle loading, even if many were metre gauge)

Sweden: Malmbanan (Iron ore line) Luleå - Boden - Gällivare - Kiruna - Riksgränsen (border)- Narvik (Norway), 30 metric tons. Note: the Norwegian part of this line is namned Ofotbanen (Ofot line) after the Ofot Fjord. This line has been electrified with 15kV 16,7 (used to be 16 2/3) Hz, which makes it one of the few heay haul lines onder wire. The basic purpose of this line is to transport iron ore from the deposits at Malmberget (near Gällivare) and Kiruna to the harbours of Luleå and Narvik.

As to the USA is 315000 lbs not the next thing as to the maximum weight of freight cars?

Gijs

NS3737 wrote:As to the USA is 315000 lbs not the next thing as to the maximum weight of freight cars?

I mentioned 315K above in my post (nominally called 39ton by AAR), but there is some question whether it is currently Cost Benefical to go to that standard at this time - Check this AAR discussion (from 2000) about the cost/benefits of 'Heavy Axle Load' , and especially this statement:

In these services, the operating costs actually decline more for the 286,000-pound cars than for the 315,000-pound cars, primarily because of the net-to-tare benefits of the particular 286,000-pound car that was used. (The net-to-tare ratios for the 286,000- and 315,000-pound cars were 3.79 and 3.63, respectively.) In other cases, the savings varied, but in every case, the 286,000-pound car selected was found to be superior to the 315,000-pound car.

.
I take this to mean the 315Kip axle loading awaits better designs & materials technology, although it seems it will eventually arrive just like 286K did. Unfortunately the articles I found seem stuck in the late 1990s, so I don't have any info on current 315Kip fleet penetration in North America...

As to 315000 lbs, I do recall a Trains article on an Arizona Shortline operation wherin one of its officers claimed that this (his) road was preparing for 315000 lbs since that was the future according to him.

As to the additional costs of the 315000 lbs car, what about the costs of getting the infractrure to match this laod?

To get this topic back to wolrdwide: 315000 lbs is close to the double as the usual axle loandings for mainlines in Europe: 22,5 metric tons.

Gijs

Its ok to discuss american operations here , as they have a large influence in the rest of the world .

David Benton wrote:Its ok to discuss american operations here , as they have a large influence in the rest of the world .

But not too much, I hope. American practice differs a great deal from most other parts of the world - and is not necessarily better.

NS3737 wrote:Sweden: Malmbanan (Iron ore line) Luleå - Boden - Gällivare - Kiruna - Riksgränsen (border)- Narvik (Norway), 30 metric tons. Note: the Norwegian part of this line is namned Ofotbanen (Ofot line) after the Ofot Fjord. This line has been electrified with 15kV 16,7 (used to be 16 2/3) Hz, which makes it one of the few heay haul lines onder wire. The basic purpose of this line is to transport iron ore from the deposits at Malmberget (near Gällivare) and Kiruna to the harbours of Luleå and Narvik.

As to the USA is 315000 lbs not the next thing as to the maximum weight of freight cars?

Gijs

I have travelled down the Narvik line and up again. I would think that it is a good thing that the heavy trains go down and come back empty as there is a long downward grade. I noticed huge electric locos to haul the ore trains. I had taken the Inlandsbanan to Gaellivare, as I had read there was a threat to close it so it was still open to Inter-rail ticket holders. On the way back I had a sleeper to Stockholm on the main line. Probably the iron ore line has the heaviest freight in Europe - longest trains and heaviest weights. What its axle weight is I have no idea.

longest trains and heaviest weights

Heaviest weights, probably, longest trains, no. On this line trains are, if I remember correctly, 500 m long (about 1/3 of a mile), but elsewhere in Europe there trains are 600 to 750 m long, and Germany is trying in regular service trains longer than 750 m (up to 1 km I think).

Axle load on new European railways is usually 25 metric tonnes, on other lines often 22,5, but on branch lines it can be less than 20.

Trains weights on the Malmbanan.

With the older iron ore cars: wagon 20t + load 80t = 100t (metric) per car, the old trains have a lenght of 52 cars, so 52 x 100 = 5200t train weight excluding the locomotive which can be a triple unit Dm + Dm3 + Dm or a twin unit Iore.

With the new iron ore cars: wagon 20t (actualy a little bit more) + load 100t = 120 t (metric) per car, with four axles per car this makes an axle load of (slightly over) 30t, the trains composed of the new ore wagons have a lenght of 68 cars, so 68 x 120 = 8160t train weight excluding the locomotive which in this case is a twin unit Iore.

Both figuers 5200 and 8160 are heavy by European standarts (excluding Russia). Due to the high spefic mass of iron ore, iron ore trains might not be long in comparison to say container or coal trains but these are heavyweights for sure. A dedicated ore car will be considerably smaller as a coal car of the same capacity (weight wise).

From the Port of Rotterdam (Netherlands) to Germany there are running iron ore trains of just under 5000t with German six axle ore cars. For the Dutch part three class 6400 diesel locmotives are used on the German part two class 151 electrics will do the job.

If someone wants to know how a triple unit elecric looks like:
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/dm3group/

The Inlandsbanan is a real tread, I rode it all the way from Kristinehamn to Gällivare (and back), however on the Kristinehamn - Mora strech trains are substituted by busses, which is a pity since track is still there but in need of expensive maintenance and some bridge work. As a side the Inalndsbanen allows during its food stop to get aquiantied with the Swedish cuisine. I once took the night train from Narvik (Norway) to Stockholm (Sweden) and had diner in one of the ex DB TEE Rheingold/Rheinpfeil dome cars in use a restaurants cars bck then. The view on the Fjord and mountains was great.

Gijs

For the interested:

http://www.lkab.com/?openform&id=39AA

Gijs

The Inlandsbanan is a real tread (?treat),

At that time it was still part of the ordinary SJ network. But I joined at Oestersund where the train from Stockholm dropped me.

It was interesting trip, with a guide to point out things on the way. There was a pause at a Lapp (Sami) tourist place and at Polcirkel. I remember lots of lakes and rivers on the way.

The guide told us that during the second world war German troops had used the line to travel from southern Norway to Narvik. Sweden was supposed to have been neutral at that time. I imagine they had little choice but to agree. They kept it very quiet, however.

The line was originally a strategic line in case the main coastal line had been blocked by enemy action. But it also had some timber traffic.

The inlandsbanan has a intriguing historty, over the years I sample quite a few books on the subject (in Swedish) what I can read with some difficulty.

The Swedes indeed wanted a more inland rail conection (hence the name) since the coastal main line was within reach of the Russian navy. And yes the Norwegians claim that the Swedes colaborated with the Germans as to alowing German troop transports over the Inlandsbanan during WOII. The main disadavantage of this line is that it has been lightly built especialy the northernmost part from Arvidsjuar to Gällivare. Trafic leves allways have been low since the area it traverses is sparcely populated.

I rode the Inlandsbanen in both situations when the SJ was in control and with the IBAB in control. I think with about 1300 km the Inlandsbanan can claim it is the longest tourist line in the world. The IBAB does a nice job and I hope that they can rehabiliate the gap between Kristinehamn and Mora so that they do not have to use a bus anymore.

Gijs