Rail-car

A rail-car is a Véhicule or a whole of railway vehicles motorized with thermal traction intended for the Transport travellers.

History

The first rail-cars were designed as of before the First World War on the basis of road vehicle, in order to ensure an exploitation faster and more economic than the oars tractor drawn by engines vapor. They constituted an answer to the increase in the costs of exploitation of the secondary lines during between two wars, and of important manufacturers, such as Of Dion-Button, Renault or Billard produced rail-cars of which some remain today still on tourist networks.

In the years 1930, the company Michelin built Micheline S, fast rail-cars equipped with special wheels provided with Pneu S patented: the Pneurail. Bugatti also produced such vehicles of luxury.

Thereafter the term of rail-car was wrongly used to speak about rail-car.

Technical definition and elements

A rail-car can generally circulate in convoy, harnessed of one to four trailers (X 2800), or twinned with one or more other rail-cars in multiple unit (UM). However, the composition is generally limited to six elements (rail-cars and trailers).

One can also by extension include in the motorized rail-cars Diesel which X 72500 are the and the AGC whose Diesel version is the X 76500. The dual-mode AGC B 81500 and B 82500 are them also indicated motorized.

One tends to confuse the motorized and the rail-cars (or motorized ) because at the time of the large Companies only the term Automotrice was employed. the SNCF will make apply during its creation the term automotice to the vehicles to electrical motor, therefore having an external energy source, and the term rail-car with the motor vehicles thermal, therefore having an internal energy source.

It is generally animated by one (or several) diesel engine assembled under the floor or in the case. The transmission can be following types:

mechanical, with a gear box as on a coach or a truck,
electric, with a generator coupled with the diesel engine, and electrical motors actuating the driving axle,
or hydraulics (for example, hydrodynamic Mekydro limps on the rail-cars X 2700 RGP1, X 2800).

In France, the SNCF uses the prefix " X" in front of their number to distinguish them from the other materials.

Use

The rail-cars are used, because of their limited capacity and their reduced cost of exploitation, for the service road of the lines with weak traffic, particularly in rural area. The great advantage is of course that the costs of electrification of the line are avoided.

Today, the rail-cars most used for the SNCF are the X 73500 (also called " ATER ") who operate with the four corners of France. However there still remains of the older models like the X 2800, X 2100, X 2200 or the big family of the " Caravelles" represented by the EAD (motorized Elements Diesel double or triple).

Railroads and automobile transport (CFTA) uses on its two lines of Brittany of the light rail-cars, with two axles and without Bogie S: three A2E manufactured by Soulé, complémentés by “traditional” rail-cars repurchased or rented with the SNCF.

In Belgium, the only rail-cars still used by SNCB are those of the series 41.

Famous rail-cars

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