Use of hopper cars in rail freight transportation

Various types of cargo are transported by rail. The requirements for the conditions of transportation and ensuring the safety of different cargoes vary. That is why there is a wide range of different types of railway rolling stock designed with the characteristics of the transported cargo in mind. Let's clarify what a hopper car is and what it is intended for.

Hopper cars as a type of railway rolling stock and their hopper variety

Hopper cars differ from regular railway cars in that they lack a stationary roof. That is, there is a body mounted on a frame, but there is no roof rigidly connected to it. Sometimes, removable roofs are installed on hopper cars, but most of these vehicles travel on railways open from the top.

This design significantly facilitates the loading process of hopper cars with bulk cargo. However, if you remove the roof from a regular car and fill it with bulk material, to quickly unload the cargo, the car will need to be turned over. This is how bottom-dump hopper cars are unloaded. For their unloading at the destination, there must be a special technical device called a car tipper. Such devices are not available everywhere, and this method of unloading bulk cargo is not very convenient. Therefore, bottom-dump hopper cars are usually used in closed transportation loops. For example, between a sand quarry and a concrete products plant. The second use of bottom-dump hopper cars is for transporting containers, which are loaded and unloaded using a crane.

To facilitate the unloading of bulk cargo from hopper cars without having to rely on a car tipper each time, a hopper variety of hopper cars was developed. In such hopper cars, hatches are designed and built into the floor, specifically intended for unloading bulk materials. Additionally, the end walls of hopper cars can also be opened.

Special ladders, called scobtraps, are installed at the front right and rear left corners of all types of hopper cars. The personnel servicing the hopper cars can access them via the scobtraps.

The majority of hopper cars with hatches in the floor have a carrying capacity of up to 71 tons. There are hopper cars with a carrying capacity of up to 77 tons, referred to as innovative. However, they should only be used for high-density bulk cargo. For example, it is pointless to transport coal in them. The reason is that the useful volume of the hopper car does not allow loading 77 tons of coal into it, and consequently, the carrying capacity is not fully utilized.

What and where is transported in hopper cars

Hopper cars are the main type of rolling stock used on main railways for transporting cargo that is not affected by atmospheric precipitation:

• ore;
• coal;
• gravel;
• sand;
• other bulk cargoes with similar characteristics.

If the loading point and unloading point of the bulk cargo are connected by rail, then delivery by hopper car is possible. In particular, this method is used to supply Russian coal to Poland. Naturally, this is not the only route. China, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Europe, and almost all of Eurasia are accessible for such railway freight transportation.

What affects the cost of cargo delivery by hopper car

The main parameters that determine the price of a one-time transportation in a hopper car are the mass and dimensional characteristics of the cargo and the length of the route. If the transportation is international, transit customs duties are added.

The cost of one-time transportation can be significantly reduced by renting a hopper car for a certain period. This is a sensible action for companies that constantly transport bulk cargo.