Are double-decker container trains rare? Don't panic, the third floor is here too

Sunny Worldwide LogisticsIt is a logistics company with more than 20 years of transportation experience, specializing in markets such as Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Southeast Asia. It is more of a cargo owner than a cargo owner~

In February 2018, the Shenyang Railway Bureau loaded a special train with my country's first 40-foot-and-a-half-high hard open-top heavy-duty containers. It was transported by double-layer loading and transportation on a 50-car ordinary flat car. It first sailed to Yingkou Port Area from Dalian Jinqiao Station. , marking the putting into use of my country’s new loading tools.

Subsequently, Ningbo Zhoushan Port did not hesitate to give in. It cooperated with China Railway Shanghai Bureau to carry 56TEU double-decker containers and successfully launched the first double-decker container train from Ningbo Zhoushan Port to Shaoxing. As an advanced multimodal transportation organization method, it can increase railway transportation capacity by up to 38%, so it has already been very popular on railway lines in the United States, Australia and other countries.

The two GIFs below are the delivery scenes of double-decker container freight trains in India. After reading it, Xiaoquan’s first reaction was that it only has two floors, there are no plug-ins, and it’s not Indian at all.

Then you find that Indians will satisfy some of your unrealistic imaginations. In 2021, India's Pristine Logistics Company stated that it will adopt a three-layer container train transportation solution at Pali-KIIP. As shown below:

Whether it is a double-layer container or an imaginative three-layer container running on the railway line, it can not only optimize the sea-rail intermodal transport model, but also reform the transportation structure. It is also quite economical. It seems to be a multi-purpose solution. Why does the emerging transportation mode seem to have no turmoil in the market? The reason is simple - this kind of transportation mode is more like a "shave-headed pick-up" at the port.

First of all, "double-height box" trains have requirements for the height of the railway track catenary. The so-called "catenary" is a high-voltage transmission line erected in a zigzag pattern along the rails in electrified railways for the pantograph to draw current. Let’s take a look at this Gif first. Do you feel that the catenary in the picture is already high enough to reach the sky?

According to Port Circle (ID: gangkouquan), the height of the catenary on the planned double-layer container channel of the above-mentioned Indian railway, which is already in operation, is 7.45m. It was transformed from the existing busy trunk line, and the difficulty is relatively small. , and the height of the double-layer container contact network previously built in our country is 6.45m, and there are tunnels for major trunk lines, crossover bridges, transmission lines, etc. If it is to be modified, it will affect the whole body, which requires ports, Cooperation from railway companies, transportation bureaus and other enterprises and government departments. It is understood that at present, only Ningbo City is carrying out pilot projects to build a transportation powerhouse such as double-decker container sea-rail intermodal transport innovation to carry out new technologies such as increasing the boundaries of infrastructure construction, height adaptability of pantograph contact grids, new special flat cars, and train speed matching. Research.

Secondly, the existing track cannot ignore the safety issues caused by the increased center of gravity of the double-height box. Let’s take a look at an animated picture of an Indian double-height box traveling fast on the track. This makes it hard not to doubt that with such a high center of gravity, wouldn't two boxes be thrown out when turning, or the car would simply overturn?

The practice of Indians once again proves that no. First, their images firmly demonstrate that shipping containers’ strong latches perfectly circumvent the dump problem. Moreover, the internationally accepted railway track width is 1435 mm, but this double-decker container runs on a 1676 mm wide track, so it can do whatever it wants without fear of overturning. Therefore, if driving safety is to be ensured, the rails of the double-height box need to be modified, which feels like another high wall.

Finally, you cannot ignore a series of issues such as the existing height and load-bearing capacity of various bridges and tunnels that have been repaired. This requires all parties to overcome difficulties and rectify the equipment and lines along the way, so that the normal operation of the double-container can finally be realized. The transportation mode and allowable axle load of India's main railway lines are similar to those in my country. They also develop double-collection transportation under electrification conditions. Although the three-collection collection has not been officially put into operation, they have made preparations to better utilize the advantages of railways and actually reduce the logistics costs.

The port circle (ID: gangkouquan) believes that railway double-decker container transportation has good economic performance compared with other container transportation methods. The economic benefits of double-decker container transportation are obviously affected by the transportation volume and transportation distance. At present, the countries that actively carry out railway double-decker container transportation in the world are vast countries, and their railway transportation has large line limits and long transportation distances. Long-term characteristics, and China just fits this characteristic. Of course, what we need to pay attention to is that China's current sea-rail combined transport accounts for about 2.5%, which is very different from the 40% ratio in the United States. Double-layer containers are an advanced version of sea-rail combined transport. If you want to Popularization will take longer.