New deal will put South Africa’s trucks on train tracks Transnet has signed an agreement which will allow privately-owned road trucks to run over its rail network. Step one involves a test train of truck trailers being hauled on rail bogies – the framework carrying wheels – on the Cape corridor in 2017. “This means the containers do not need to be lifted off the truck onto the railway flat cars. Instead, the truck’s trailer is suspended on the rail bogies,” said the Sunday Times. The RailRunner system is a container trailer chassis with normal road wheels and a rail bogie for use on rail. The report stated that Transnet will supply the locomotives and operate the trains, and a typical RailRunner train would consist of 40 truck trailers running on the bogies. The road truck will then move the trailer over the “last mile” to its final destination. I'd liken this to being similar to when shipping converted to using containers - the principle of quick loading/unloading, and using trucks for the last mile on either side of the trip. We've certainly needed this type of innovation to make rail relevant again, and to make long distance roads safer. See http://ift.tt/2cfFq8S
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