Shipping bulk cargo by rail in dump cars

Shipping bulk cargo by rail can be carried out using rolling stock of different types. A dump car differs from other cars for this type of cargo in its unloading principle. It operates similarly to dump trucks. The body tilts, the side drops during the tilt, and the cargo spills out to the side of the tilt. This type of rolling stock is often referred to as a dump truck car. Dump cars are most commonly used for transporting construction materials during the construction of railway tracks. Additionally, they deliver raw materials to processing plants and remove empty rock to dumps.

Design and operating principle of rail dump cars

To ensure the strength of the body in dump cars, a special design of the bottom is used. The floor is made multi-layered. It consists of upper and lower steel sheets, with the space between them filled with wooden beams that serve for cushioning. Sometimes the floor is five-layered: three steel sheets and two layers of wooden beams between them.

The tilt of the dump car body for unloading is provided by hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders. The return of the body to its original position can occur under the weight of the body itself or can be facilitated by special pneumatic or hydraulic cylinders.

Types and characteristics of railway dump cars

On mainline railways, four-axle dump cars with a carrying capacity of 60 or 65 tons are used. However, there are also cars of this type designed for industrial enterprises:

• For narrow gauge railways with a carrying capacity of 20-22 tons.
• Six-axle cars with a carrying capacity of 100 to 105 tons, for industrial railways.
• Eight-axle cars for coal mines with a carrying capacity of up to 145 tons.
• For quarries extracting heavy rocks, dump cars with a carrying capacity of over 145 tons are manufactured.

Ordering dump cars

Shippers who require dump-type cars can order any number of such cars. If such shipments are frequently carried out by your company, it makes sense not to order cars for each individual shipment but to rent them from the car owner for a certain period of time. In this case, the cost of a one-time rail shipment will be significantly reduced.