Mobile workshop tents
How the railway wants to upgrade freight transport
10/08/2022 2:07 p.m
Deutsche Bahn wants to revolutionize rail freight transport in Europe by 2030 with a digital coupling. A total of 500,000 wagons are to be equipped with the technology. Because the number of workshops is not sufficient, the company came up with something else.
By 2030, around half a million freight wagons across Europe are to be equipped with a new digital coupling system – but the current workshop capacities at European railway companies are not sufficient for this. Deutsche Bahn is therefore experimenting with mobile workshop tents, so-called pop-up workshops. With them, the freight wagons can be converted in the vicinity of their place of use, for example at industrial customers, in a short time and during ongoing operation.
“We put the workshops where our customers are and can thus convert the wagons directly on site,” said Andreas Lipka, who is responsible for converting the freight wagons to the new coupling at the railway subsidiary DB Cargo. “The customer hardly notices anything because they can be used again immediately for his traffic after the conversion.” The railway is currently testing one of these workshops near the Mercedes plant in Bremen.
Several steps are necessary
The group wants to set up 150 pop-up locations with partner companies throughout Europe. During the hot phase, a total of 100,000 freight cars could be fitted with the new coupling within a few weeks, said Lipka. The remaining 400,000 wagons would then be gradually converted in the normal workshops. Prerequisite: The wagons would have to be “prepared” as early as next year during ongoing maintenance operations. According to Lipka, only a few hand movements are then necessary in pop-up workshops.
The Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC) is regarded as a beacon of hope for European rail freight transport. Only in Europe are freight cars still coupled together by hand as they were more than 100 years ago. To do this, a steel bracket weighing 20 kilograms has to be balanced and tightened over the hook of the next wagon. Hours can pass before a train is ready to depart.
Only minutes needed
With the DAK, this practice should run automatically in the future, so a train should be coupled through within minutes. A data cable should transport information about content or weight. The trains should be put together much more efficiently. Freight transport by rail would become more competitive compared to road.
But it will be years before the clutch is used. The technology is currently being put through its paces on a test train. According to the railway industry, the preparatory work on the wagons cannot begin until next year. There is also a struggle for money. The conversion of the European wagon fleet could cost up to 8.6 billion euros. The companies rely on EU funding, but the Commission also sees the countries and the industry as responsible.