RAILWAYS
small and medium stations,
container transport
Igor Gisterek M.Sc.
Small stations
Duties of a small station:
" Crossing and overtaking of trains
" Passengers handling (+luggage, parcels)
" Passengers handling (+luggage, parcels)
" Shunting cars
" Loading, unloading and storage of deliveries
" In some cases  rolling stock maintenance
Basic equipment
" Main, subsidiary and side tracks
" Station building
" Passenger platforms
" Passenger footbridges or tunnels, if
required
" Storages, loading ramps and surfaces
" Signalling and control devices
Track arrangements
On double track lines trains arrive and depart
using in most cases main line tracks
using in most cases main line tracks
On single track lines, main line track and one
subsidiary track are used
At small stations where overtaking of trains is
planned, two subsidiary tracks are needed
Number of subsidiary tracks for freight trains
depends on the volume of freight
Length of loading tracks depends both on
freight volume and length of loading front
For freight cars shunting a dead end track
For freight cars shunting a dead end track
equipped with a buffer stop is reqiured. Its
length should exceed ½ length of a freight
train
With small traffic, shunting can be done on
main line track
A typical track layout of a small station. Following elements
are depicted: station building, platform, signals and signalling
tower, turnouts and cargo handling facilities. Each signal,
turnout and other traffic control device is given an individual
number or description.
A view of a small station. This station on a narrow gauge single track line
is dedicated to passenger traffic, hence the quite large number of
platforms and no cargo bays or other equpiment. Note the coordination
of train and bus timetables. Passengers can easily change mode of
transportation.
This tiny station was built
in a very limited space
between a mountain
slope and a deep river
gorge. Main parts of this
station are spread apart:
passenger platforms are
visible right ahead, cargo
visible right ahead, cargo
warehouse is to the left
and a depot is hidden
behind the trees on the
other bank of the river.
A more complex track layout. Typical one-sided station with
platforms on the main line tracks, and freight subsidiary
tracks to the right. Signs and signals of various kinds can be
seen here.
Station layout
" Transversal
passenger and freight tracks are parallel
passenger and freight tracks are parallel
" Longitudinal
station is stretched along the main line
" Mixed
in some situations special layouts are needed
Every track layout should enable connections
between main line tracks and all station
facilities, also in case of double track main
line switching between tracks is needed
S1 S2
These illustrations depict typical layouts of small size stations.
From a track length, operation and compactness point of
view, all of these are optimal in one way or another.
Medium size stations
" Larger and more complex than small ones
" In most cases they origin from small st.
" In most cases they origin from small st.
" Main difference between small and
medium stations is a more strict track
specialisation: in small stations tracks are
universal and multifunctional, in medium
ones they play only one role
Modern cargo handling - containers
" One of the means of multimodal transport
" Extremely effective, cost- and labor
" Extremely effective, cost- and labor
reducing
" Fitting both in road and rail loading gauge
" Multiple types and sizes of containers: for
small items, liquids, refrigerators,&
Many years ago handling of any cargo was done manually.
While this method was very time and labor consuming, more
effective ways were invented. One of the most popular in
carrying goods in closed containers of various lengths (20 or
40 ft.) and around 20 kinds.
In US, due to the higher loading gauge, carrying of two levels
of containers on special low floor cars is possible. Such
arrangement is called  double stack .
In Europe due to the lower loading gauge, single stack is the
only possible solution.
Container terminals
" Can be found as a part of station in or
near to medium and large towns
near to medium and large towns
" Dedicated sea ports have been created
" If further developed, use of containers can
relieve roads from congestion regardless if
loading only car bodies or whole trucks
In most cases the first stage is a
maritime container terminal
where goods are transshipped between
ships and rail or ships and trucks, then
goods cover a longer distace with a mean
goods cover a longer distace with a mean
of land transport to the
inland container terminal
where they are moved from rail to trucks
and head for the recipient.
A ship loaded with containers has just arrived. Now the high-
speed gantry cranes will unload and load the containers in
proper order to keep the ship in balance. The containers will
be moved then by trucks to the storage facility and unloaded
by other cranes.
Just remember to keep the balance&
A principle of gantry crane operation
A container terminal combined with marshalling yard. Gantry
cranes of at least two types are visible, assisted by specially
modified fork lifts. With such arrangement, each part of the
storage is within the reach of a crane.
Gantry crane for rail and truck operations.
When not whole storage facility surface is within the reach of
gantry cranes, container forklifts (a.k.a. container handlers, c.
transporters, c. handling forklifts) become useful.
These machines are built
for various container sizes
and weights (e.g. empty
containers only) and are
more universal than
gantry cranes as they can
rotate a lifted item. Only
trackless gantry cranes
trackless gantry cranes
can do the same trick, yet
in terminals where tracks,
roads and embankments
are parallel, this ability is
hardly ever needed.
Trackless, small gantry cranes can stack containers up to three
layers, but they are unable to load a train (no side access or
reach is possible)
Advantages and disadvantages
+ speed of operations and transport is as high as
possible
possible
+ goods are secured from outside conditions
+ very high capacity and effectiveness of terminals
- in some cases additional change of transport
mode is needed
- many containers return empty