Evolution of the railroad car

    Why is the window in the new car below the shelf? Why did the opening window open? Where did the good old lockers go under the bottom shelf? Why instead of two locks for belts on the top shelf - some kind of bent piece of iron?



    Let's look at how wagons evolve, and how different design solutions are determined. The first cars in the Russian Empire were, in fact, barns on wheels with a gravitational toilet. Today, cars have a local network and monitoring, can give telemetry to any point of the planet and become more comfortable.

    Our Tver two-storey passenger car 61-4492 of domestic development became the winner of the international competition of industrial and graphic design Good Design Awards (USA, Chicago) in the category "Transport". In a professional environment, this is one of the most prestigious awards.

    But I will begin with the answer why the locker on the cars of the new generation is now without a wall.

    Why a locker without a wall


    Since passengers complained that they could not get things at night without waking the passenger from the bottom.

    Returning from the rest, got in a reserved seat place on the top shelf. Under the shelf stuck a suitcase. I was driving up, and a very large uncle appeared and fell asleep on the lower shelf overnight. Do not wake up. Next to him a match can not be lit: explode. I then barely lifted it and pulled out a suitcase.

    Recently, new requirements for combating terrorism have appeared; it was necessary to ensure easy inspection of all the hidden places in the cars.

    Why films are shown from the radio hoist


    Because the first inter-car network was for wired radio. There is a staff car, there is a train headquarters and a train commander. There is a radio compartment - this is the workplace of the train head, there is his office. From the radioacde, you can make an announcement for all passengers or contact the guides. Today there is a headquarters car server, it is the main one in the information network. And in the same place - the media server, which distributes content for access from players in the compartment and via Wi-Fi.

    By the way, also historically headquarters car most often - next to the dining car.

    In the Voronezh headquarters car there is a recreation area - a plot on the second floor. There you can sit on the couch, lie, play, have an animator to play with the children.

    How many cars live


    The first long-distance passenger trains are wagons with wooden frames and a body. The toilet is in the form of a hole, or there is none at all, there are no partitions inside, just three tiers of shelves. The length of this car is only 9 meters (modern - about 26 meters).

    Then steel cars were needed, but welding was not introduced into mass production, so they were riveted. About how then the production was organized, says the fact that the workers who kept the sheets of metal from inside the car, often deafened from constant blows.

    Soviet post-war cars were made of ferrous metal, served 29 years on the project. Modern stainless steel car serves 40 years. But this does not mean that he is the same for all 40 years. Standards do not change much, for example, the dimensions of the body are the same for a long time. But what to do if the interior or equipment is worn out? In this case, wagons are repaired in specialized depots or at repair plants. Depending on the type of repair from the original car, only the metal body of the car can remain.

    Why hear a voice from a nearby coupe


    The first comments about the noise were: "Well, very noisy." Insulation materials have changed, there is less noise. But as many complaints remained, however, the plot changed: “The door slammed, it interferes,” “A voice is heard from the next compartment.” Previously, passengers of this just behind the background noise and would not distinguish.

    When the king and a little later used the cork, in particular, for Turkish projects. At the same time, they also learned how to apply a layer of pot weight and dye with white glaze, but this is to protect against heat.

    Previously, foam polystyrene was used for thermal insulation of cars, or, in a different way, expanded polystyrene. Polystyrene is a thermodynamically unstable polymer, the polymerization process is reversible, so polystyrene is constantly decomposed under the influence of light, oxygen, ozone, water, mechanical and ionizing effects, and especially under the influence of heat. Free styrene formed in this way penetrates the premises, and people are in a situation for a long time when there is free styrene in the air (even if the concentration is lower than the MPC). This process never stops. Health does not add styrene. Therefore, at some point, TVZ, together with the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Railway Hygiene (All-Russian Research Institute of Railway Hygiene), began searching for alternatives, and such an alternative was found. In general, everything that gets into the car, must pass the examination in VNIZHG. After a set of tests and expert opinion on where and how the material can be used, its serial use begins.

    We switched to mineral wool - just like this:



    It is sewn into a bag:



    These bags also protect from moisture. In the shop, where they are collected, there is a separate shop with hoods, overalls.

    To improve vibration protection from the automotive industry, they took vibration-absorbing mastics, refined them according to safety requirements. They process the body from the inside. Their use has reduced the noise that went outside.

    Relatively recently, they began to use additional coatings on the inner side of the body - microencapsulated ceramic coatings. Thickness - about 3 mm, applied as paint. Heat transfer coefficient decreased.

    The existing requirements for the materials used in the manufacture of cars are very rigid, and as a result, their choice is rather small. As a rule, materials are developed specifically for safety requirements. For example, most finishing and structural non-metallic materials can be used at home, but can not be used on the car, because it will not meet this or that safety requirement.

    When did double-deck cars appear?


    The first double-decker cars appeared in 1905: at that time the Far Eastern hectare was given, and many people moved. The ground floor was used as a storeroom, then as a stall: evidence remained that cattle were being carried there. The speed of the project was 80 kilometers per hour, but they were 40–60, then it was scary.

    Modern double-deck cars allowed from 36 people to move to 64 in a compartment car for almost the same length of the car. Double-deck carriages of trains 739 and 740 Moscow-Voronezh, for example, are often mistaken for German. And they are ours. It is especially interesting to look at those who have lost their temper and, after reading the tablet in the vestibule, they run around the carriage and share their joy with other passengers: “And they are ours!” The same story with the Oriole.

    When the trains crossed the threshold of 200 kilometers per hour


    Around the 1960s, ways changed in our country: from wooden sleepers to reinforced concrete, the rails were made long. Speed ​​became higher than usual. Further development of high-speed traffic required research in the field of wheel-rail interaction and the evaluation of various structural elements of the running gears.

    In 1970, in the midst of experiments to accelerate the train, the KVZ (at that time the plant was called Kalininskiy car-building plant) offered to take engines from Yak-40 aircraft that had spent their resources in the sky and put the ER22 electric train on the head carriage:



    These engines were still removed from the aircraft, because after generating a certain resource, they could no longer be used. A train with an engine failure does not have to fall, so in the framework of the economy and optimization in the country offered to reuse them. The car on the test track accelerated to 249 kilometers per hour and showed a shock wave and turbulent flows behind him. During the tests, it turned out that the car could reach speeds significantly higher, but the existing railway track could not withstand the loads. The path had to be restored, plus those who would have passed by, would have gravel. Currently, the head of the legendary laboratory car is embedded in the commemorative stela opened on the Constitution Square in Tver to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the plant.

    In 2001, the Nevsky Express went - the one that has been running four minutes longer than the Sapsan for 17 years and looks like an ordinary train:



    Why do cars sometimes load up?


    Due to the increase in the stopping distance, there have been several cases of increasing the weight of the car without structural need. Our roads are designed for certain conditions. There was a case when the head of one of the branches ordered to lay more durable rails of steel a class higher than usual. Contact strength of the wheel and rail was calculated under other conditions. On his site began to massively fail the wheels.

    Who improves cars?


    Designers are studying the world experience and everything is calculated. At exhibitions and carriers, and manufacturers show different things in the cars. In the scientific literature, something comes across. If the carrier has got what it needs, then it sets a task for the plant to implement a new idea. If the idea came to the plant engineer, he calculates it, suggests it in the format “this can be done, this will cost so much, such comfort will give passengers” to the carrier’s representative. But to do or not is the choice of the carrier, and it is based on the economy.

    For example, a corker under the table in the reserved seat clearly brings more benefits to Russia than it does in production (although it is unclear how this was evaluated, except for coupe breakdowns and scratches).

    From the new - now the tables of TVZ wagons are made with grooves for glasses, so that they do not slide. This complicates the cleaning a little, but the edges are made with a slight slant so that dirt does not clog.





    What oral traditions are transmitted between engineers?


    Cases from the stories of conductors and ambulance. The first is that the finger does not get stuck in the detail. The second is that there are no places where a child can be held. The third is that a drunk person cannot harm himself beyond the permissible measure. Plus feedback from passengers.

    How are the cars tested?


    First, one car is made before the series. The whole complex of tests is carried out on it. On individual mock-ups tests are carried out that lead to destruction.

    The first launch of "Sapsan" - heating with the climate did not grow together and did not start. Or somehow they tried to make a wagon of aluminum, but without recalculating the design. The aluminum carriage became more elastic, people began to rock very strongly.

    Or, for the first time, on the Nevsky Express, we tried anti-slip coatings with abrasive for the first time so that the legs did not slide (shiny ones). It is not even possible to slip on purpose, but when wet cleaning a rag is quickly wiped off. Now anti-slip properties are achieved by the surface topography or by mixing materials of different density.

    At TVZ, almost everything is now in the series without significant modifications. They do this: there were carriages coupe models 61-4179. The last batch of cars in consultation with the customer became the carrier of test units of the new series - a bit of everything. After testing them on the mock-ups, they tested new nodes. For each - a report. There were few critical remarks, they noted that it became easier to wash: the sidewall rolling was flat, without joints, all transitions were smooth. Then, using the used components, we developed a new model of the car, conducted tests, passed the acceptance committee and launched the model 61-4440 in a series.

    Here is an example of a two-story car on a TVZ:



    By the way, it was on TVZ that the car was made according to the artistic project of the Italian contractor. Engineers asked the requirements, and creative people thought how to make beautiful. Among other things, there was in the first class "starry sky". There are dark and light dots in the design picture, and this should have been realized in the design. All the systems of the starry sky cost crazy money, and somehow it is necessary to fit into the economy of the project. Engineers offered to brainstorm suppliers, and all came up with very elegantly: two aluminum mirrors, one with holes. And lamps at the ends. This reflection is very interesting shimmers. When developing and building this car, it was possible to repeat the design ideas as much as possible.

    Microwave conductor - how is it different from the usual?


    It is powered by 110 volts and is equipped with vibration protection. In general, everything that looks like household appliances is usually modified for rolling stock with at least vibration dampers. The same refrigerators are also produced by the manufacturer in the transport version especially for the car factory, and then put into the car and enter the tests.

    Who should write about the found bug in the car?


    If this is a car of the Tver Carriage Works, then in the feedback form on the website or in social networks. If you do not know whose car it is, then here in the form of Russian Railways . They redirect the request to the FPK or another carrier (whose car it was), the carrier redirects to the factory, at the factory it gets to the engineer. Then they will answer you in the reverse order.

    Complaints come a lot. Of interesting things, the answer is: “We haven't put it on for 20 years”. And that's all. Or, the passengers several dozen times were asked to remove the handrail on the top shelf, because it is uncomfortable to sleep on it. This is such a piece of iron, which must be raised in order not to fall. When you enter the compartment, it lies and presses the laundry.

    PS We, the team of Tutu.ru, at the request of TVZ, did unload all the feedback for all time relating to the rolling stock. TVZ engineers read them all and took them to work, so there are chances that in a couple of years improvements will come into the series based on the feedback you leave with us after the trip.

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