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April 2023
Compiled by Grace Renderman, Associate Editor
TrinityRail® builds covered and open hopper cars that are designed to boost efficiency in the rail transportation of bulk commodities. The company’s line of covered hopper cars includes 3,230- and 5,660-cubic-foot-capacity pressure differential discharge cars tailored for dry, free-flowing commodities.
Pneumatic discharge cars for petrochemical products and such parts as the EDSCO Pro-Series® line of pneumatic gates — which can boost product discharge efficiency — also are available, TrinityRail officials said in an email.
In addition, the company offers a variety of gravity-discharge cars that range from a 3,281-cubic-foot covered hopper for cement and sand to cars that measure over 6,000 cubic feet for lighter-density products, such as dried grains.
Meanwhile, a line of midrange covered hoppers is marketed for grain, dry chemicals and similar products, which includes corrugated side-construction cars that offer optimized lightweight capacity and reduced car length, TrinityRail officials said. That model helps maximize capacity while maintaining structural integrity and optimizing shipments by allowing more product to be shipped, they added.
Additionally, the company offers specialty hopper cars for commodities such as carbon black and aluminum-bodied covered hoppers. TrinityRail’s line of open hoppers includes the Rapid Discharge® rail car, a 1960s-era aluminum-bodied rapid discharge coal car. A longitudinal-discharge version of the car — the RDL™ — offers efficient and quick unloading of aggregates, company officials said.
Amsted Rail Co. Inc.’s Motion Control® truck has been specified for several hundred thousand M-976 applications approved by the Association of American Railroads. The variable damped, passive steering truck system offers extended wheel life and high-speed stability to protect a hopper car’s structure while accommodating a range of weights from empty to full, Amsted officials said.
Wide friction wedges provide increased wear life and warp stiffness to keep the truck square in operation. The truck is rated for at least 1 million miles and can maximize the lifecycle performance of its components, company officials said.
Amsted’s TrakMaster® truck is designed to provide both longer life and energy absorption capacity. Proprietary material at the friction damping interface enables higher squaring force while alleviating suspension stick-slip action for more efficiency in both lateral and vertical modes, company officials said. The TrakMaster is ideal for customers with heavier axle loads, supporting greater range, longer trains, reduced maintenance and higher operating speeds, they added.
For more than a decade, Amsted has been working to upgrade its pellet hopper car system, which features an optimized pneumatic pellet outlet gate. An updated end panel and backup strip design improves weld joint design; ground inside corners decrease risk of contamination; and a larger mounting hole allows for easier installation, company officials said.
The lightweight, watertight design protects commodity integrity and maintains efficient throughput while reducing friction-induced melting. The gate’s dual shaft allows sampling from either end, while its valves permit infinite flow-rate control, Amsted officials said.
The Greenbrier Cos. and Shur-Co. recently introduced the Tsunami Hatch™ automated cover for covered hoppers. The hatch system is designed to eliminate the need for personnel to climb on top a covered hopper before, during or after loadings, which drastically improves worker safety and terminal efficiency and increases rail’s competitiveness with trucks, Greenbrier officials said.
Greenbrier has built more than 150,000 covered hoppers for the North American market in more than 40 years of business, they added.
FreightCar America (FCA) designs and manufactures steel, stainless steel, aluminum and hybrid steel-aluminum hopper cars that can be used to move a variety of bulk commodities, consumer products and containerized freight. The company’s line of covered hoppers includes thru-sill and stub-sill designs engineered to meet customer needs for a range of commodities, FCA officials said.
To handle commodities ranging from sand and cement to grains to lighter weight agricultural products to fertilizers and plastic pellets, the company’s covered hoppers can be configured with a variety of hatch cover and outlet gate options. The cars measure 3,280 cubic feet to 6,250 cubic feet.
In general, FCA’s hopper cars are “purpose-built for the long haul,” company officials said.
Email questions or comments to grace.renderman@tradepress.com.
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