Rail Freight 

Here is our master guide for Rail Freight

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3.1 Introduction to Rail Freight

To put into simple words, Rail freight is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargos.

It plays an important role in the social material production process. It is characterized by large delivery volume, fast speed, low cost, and is generally not restricted by climatic conditions, and is suitable for long-distance transportation of bulky and bulky goods.

Rail freight (railway shipping) is one of the most important means of transportation in international cargo shipping due to its advantages of big volume, high speed, low risk and punctuality. Here are some useful information about rail freight.

Rail freight (railway shipping) has been one of the most important means of transportation in international cargo shipping. Its importance is just less than sea freight. The advantage of it is a big volume, high speed, low risk, and punctuality.

1. International main railroads

The US is the country that has the longest railway in the world. The countries with the railway more than 50 thousand kilometers are US, Russia, Canada, India, and China.

1) Trans-Siberian railway

It is a network of railways connecting Moscow with the Russian FarEast. With a length of 9,289 kilometers (5,772 miles), from Moscow to Vladivostok, it is the longest railway line in the world.

2) Canadian railway

Canada has a large and well-developed railway system that today transports primarily freight. There are two major publicly traded transcontinental freight railway systems, Canadian National and CanadianPacific. Canadian National links Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Jasper National Park in the Rockies & Vancouver. Canadian Pacific links Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Montreal, St.Johns, and Halifax.

3) US railway

US railways have three main lines:

Northern Pacific Railway, one of the northern transcontinental railroads of the United States, operating between Seattle, Spokane, Bismarck, StPaul, Chicago, Detroit.

South Pacific Railway connects Los Angeles, Albuquerque, Kansas City, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Washington, Baltimore, Tucson, Paso, Huston, New Orleans.

Union Pacific Railroad connects San Francisco, Ogden, Omaha, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and New York.

4) Mideast to Europe Railway

From Basra to Baghdad, Mosul, Adana, Konya, Uskudar, and then to Istanbul, and connects to the Balkan railway and Sofia, Belgrade, Budapest, Vienna, and joints the mid and west European railway network.

5) China International railway

There are two main railways from China to Europe. One goes through the Siberian continent of Russia and Mideast and European countries. And the other one from Lianyungang of Jiangsu province to Kazakhstan via Russia, Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands. The second one is also known as New Eurasia Continental Bridge, whose length is 3000km shorter than going via the Siberian continent and 9000km shorter than going by sea.

2. Points for attention on international railway shipping

1) Check the container status. Before loading cargo to the container, check if the container is intact, not contaminated, without leakage, etc. If problems are founded on the container, require for exchange of containers or repairing.

2) Avoid overweight. The weight limit for 20’ container is 21.5tons and 40’ container 26.5tons. There are some other container weight limits. Make sure you check with your shipping agent.

3) Avoid unbalanced loading. Unbalanced loading is very dangerous for railway shipping, so the center of gravity shall be kept in the middle of the container. The Center of gravity should be kept within 10cm from the cross point of the diagonals.

4) Fasten the cargo. Fasten the cargo tightly inside the container to avoid the cargo moving during transportation, which might lead to the center of gravity shifts and overturning of the container.

3. Advantages and Disadvantages of Railway Transport

1) Advantages:

(a) Reliable. Railways shipping is the least affected by weather conditions compared to other means of shipping. And it has fixed routed and schedules. So it is more reliable than other shipping modes that are subject to many variable conditions.

(b) High speed in long-distance transportation. In long-distance transportation, railway shipping speed is relatively higher than other shipping modes.

(c) Cost-effective. It is cheaper compared to other shipping modes. Railway shipping fixed cost is relatively low and has fewer labor costs or other additional expenses.

(d) Safe. Shipping by railway on land has very little risk compared to other modes of shipping. Cargo is well protected from rain, snow, and hostile weather conditions.

(e) Large capacity. It is suitable for shipping bulky and heavy cargo.

2) Disadvantages:

(a) Inflexibility. Fixed routes and fixed shipping schedules make this mode of shipping not as flexible as some of the other shipping modes.

(b) Long-distance and large capacity. Railway shipping is only cost-effective for long-distance shipping. Though LCL cargo shipping is also available, large cargo is more cost-effective for this kind of shipping.

(c) No door to door service. The railway shipping itself has not doored to door service.

If you consider shipping your cargo by railway, please contact us at Global Spring. Our shipping expert would be more than happy to assist you in cost calculating and determining the best shipping solution. Give us a call and let us help you!

 

Types of Rail Freight

The type of railway freight transportation is the method of railway freight transportation. According to the technical conditions of China's railways, the current types of railway freight transportation are divided into three types: vehicle, LTL and container. The whole vehicle is suitable for transporting bulk cargo; LTL is suitable for transporting small batches of sporadic cargo; the container is suitable for transporting precision, valuable and vulnerable goods.

 

Type of Product

The weight of the goods is calculated according to the gross weight. The unit of calculation is kilograms. If the weight is less than 1 kg, the mantissa over 1 kg is rounded off. The weight of each cargo carried by a non-wide body aircraft generally does not exceed 80 kg, and the volume generally does not exceed 40 × 60 × 100 cm. The weight of each cargo carried by wide-body aircraft generally does not exceed 250 kg. The volume generally does not exceed 250 × 200 × 160 cm. Goods exceeding the above weight and volume will be determined by Northwest Company based on specific conditions.

3.2 Operation of Rail Freight

A railway transportation system includes many elements, and they are complementary to each other. Without a suitable system, the train will not run smoothly.

First, the geographical environment along the railway.

Secondly, what is the purpose of the system: passenger or freight? In the case of passenger transportation, it is also necessary to consider whether the passenger is a commuter or a medium- to long-distance traveler.

When the demand is clarified, it is necessary to decide the type of railway to be built: light rail, heavy rail or high-speed rail. In addition, there are monorail railways, rubber wheel track systems and maglev railways, because the trains on these lines are also guided by tracks. At present, many large cities have urban rail transit systems or tram systems.

After deciding on the type of railway to be built, one must carefully select the gauge to be used.

In terms of train power, horses were used in ancient times. Later, with steam and electricity, an electrified system was needed. In this way, there are different ways to power the train. The most common is overhead cable and rail power supply.

Finally, the number of rails should be determined based on traffic flow. If the flow is small, only one rail can be built, but there must be a shelter to allow more than one train to use this rail. For heavy traffic, you can lay double or even multiple lines. Some busy sections even have eight lines running in parallel, with four rails in each direction.

 

3.3 Safety of Railway Traffic

Railway transportation safety In the process of railway transportation production, the loss of people or things can be controlled to an acceptable level, that is, the possibility of people or things suffering losses is acceptable. If this possibility exceeds the acceptable range, it is unsafe.

Railway transportation safety is accompanied by the production process. As long as there are transportation and production activities, there will be safety problems. However, safety is also the premise and guarantee of production. Normal and orderly production is inseparable from the safe operation and management of the system. Therefore, in the production process of railway transportation, the contradiction between safety, efficiency and efficiency must be properly handled.

Railway transportation safety In the process of railway transportation production, the loss of people or things can be controlled to an acceptable level, that is, the possibility of people or things suffering losses is acceptable. If this possibility exceeds the acceptable range, it is unsafe.

Railway transportation safety is accompanied by the production process. As long as there are transportation and production activities, there will be safety problems. However, safety is also the premise and guarantee of production. Normal and orderly production is inseparable from the safe operation and management of the system. Therefore, in the production process of railway transportation, the contradiction between safety, efficiency and efficiency must be properly handled.

The key to railway transportation safety is management. The railway is like a large joint machine. Its transportation production process is a multi-link operation process that is combined by multiple types of vehicles, machines, workers, electricity, vehicles, etc., involving a large number and variety of equipment, the continuation of the depth of equipment layout and the position of operators The independent and decentralized characteristics make the coordination and cooperation of various types of work and links inseparable from strict and effective management. In addition, although the unsafe behavior of people and the unsafe state of things are often the direct cause of accidents, and management seems to be an indirect cause, tracing the source is indeed a fundamental and essential cause.

The key to railway transportation safety is management. The railway is like a large joint machine. Its transportation production process is a multi-link operation process that is combined by multiple types of vehicles, machines, workers, electricity, vehicles, etc., involving a large number and variety of equipment, the continuation of the depth of equipment layout and the position of operators The independent and decentralized characteristics make the coordination and cooperation of various types of work and links inseparable from strict and effective management. In addition, although the unsafe behavior of people and the unsafe state of things are often the direct cause of accidents, and management seems to be an indirect cause, tracing the source is indeed a fundamental and essential cause.

In the case of high-speed trains, once equipment abnormalities or human operation errors occur, the time available to correct and avoid accidents is very short, and the available emergency methods are also limited. In addition, the cost of hard equipment such as railway lines, locomotives and vehicles is high, and the trains carry a large amount of passengers and cargo. The accident not only causes huge property losses, casualties and environmental damage, but also affects the road network and disrupts due to the interruption of transportation. The order of transportation affects the overall situation of social production and transportation. More importantly, the railway has no ownership or control over its transportation objects-passengers and goods, but only provides necessary transportation services. Therefore, the accident loss involves a wide range of social factors, which will greatly damage the image of the railway and even the prestige of the government. The severity of its social impact is incalculable.

 

 

3.3 Railway Management

The organization and command of daily railway transportation production shall be uniformly implemented by the railway transportation department setting up dispatching agencies.

Although the railway transportation dispatching work of each country has its own characteristics, its main contents include driving work and dispatching work. Train operation refers to the command of train operation, and vehicle allocation refers to the planning and organization of truck loading and unloading and train operation, and adjustment of traffic flow.

The train command is to ensure the transportation scheduling of the train running according to the train operation chart on time. The train operation command implements a single command system of train dispatchers, that is, all commands and instructions related to train operation can only be issued by the train dispatcher on duty; the relevant driving personnel must execute the train dispatcher command and obey the dispatcher command.

The section commanded by each train dispatcher is called a dispatch section, and its length is determined according to the traffic volume, freight volume, and equipment of the section. Usually a dispatch section includes a locomotive traction section. However, in a direction with a small traffic volume or a direction with driving command automation equipment, a dispatching section may include several traction sections; conversely, a traction section may also be divided into several dispatching sections.

The train dispatcher uses dispatch telephones, wireless train dispatch telephones, etc. to continuously receive train operation information from the dispatching section under his command, and takes corresponding operation adjustment measures according to the actual conditions of the train operation to ensure the realization of the train operation diagram. The adjustment measures that the train dispatcher can take include: speeding up the train operation, changing the location and meeting method, organizing the opposite direction of the train, organizing the combined operation of the train, and continuing the train. The order of adjustment measures is issued to the station through the train operation adjustment plan, and is supervised and implemented by filling in the actual operation chart.

 

3.4 What Can be Shipped via Railway?

Article 1: Personal consignment items (such as moving goods and luggage) are classified into two types: insured transportation and non-insured transportation. The method of transportation shall be selected by the shipper and shall be indicated in the record of the shipper of the cargo waybill.

Article 2: The following items shall not be included in the articles consigned by individuals: 1. Gold, silver, diamonds, jewelry, jewelry, antiques, cultural relics, watches, cameras; 2. 2. Securities, currency, various tickets; 3. Dangerous goods.

Article 3: For the consignment of personal items, the shipper shall number each shipment, and fill in the number on the list of items and after the total number of cargo marks (labels) of each cargo. For example, if the total number is 15 pieces, fill in 15(1), 15(2)...15(15). In addition to affixing the label to the personal items according to the regulations, the same content as the label must be written or pasted on the packaging of the goods. In the packaged goods, the shipper must also store the note with the arrival station, consignee and address.

Article 4: When an individual consigns an item to be transported at an insured price, the insured amount of the batch of goods shall be stated in the column of the cargo price of the consignment note, and the words "insured transportation" shall be indicated in the column of the consignor’s record, and press It is stipulated to propose a list of items, and the carrier shall review the list of items, and stamp the station date stamp and the name stamp of the operator on each page of the list.

Article 5: Personal items handled in batches cannot be processed for insured transportation of only some of them.

Article 6: The shipping station has the right to request the shipper to open the package of the goods for inspection and verify the value of the insured value when the shipping station has doubts about the insured amount declared by the shipper. Article 7 For goods transported at an insured price, the goods shall be checked and charged for the insured price of the goods in accordance with regulations.

 

3.5 Rail Freight Contract

If the shipper transports the goods by rail, it shall sign a cargo transportation contract with the carrier. The contract for the transportation of bulk materials for vehicles signed on a quarterly, semi-annual, annual, or longer period must be submitted with a monthly vehicle demand schedule. Other vehicle cargoes can use the monthly vehicle demand schedule as a transportation contract. The person delivers the delivery waybill. LTL cargo and container transported goods use the cargo waybill as the transport contract.

The preparation of the monthly cargo transportation plan shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of the "Measures for the Preparation of Railway Monthly Freight Transportation Plan".