Conventional Wagon Services

Conventional wagons are available in many different types, such as:

• Open-topped wagons, used for carrying bulk solids, such as coal, iron ore and aggregate
• Tanker and hopper wagons, used for carrying bulk gases, liquids and powders
• Van and covered wagons, used for carrying general cargo
• Specialist wagons, designed for carrying specific commodities, such as steel coils, nuclear products or cars

Rail freight services are available to move conventional wagon traffic within Great Britain and to and from the rest of the European continent. There are two general types of service available:

Wagonload

Where the volume of freight moved per shipment is less than 500 tonnes, this may be insufficient to justify operating a dedicated train service between two points. As an alternative, the wagonload option assembles a number of less-than-trainload shipments from separate sources or customers into a whole trainload.

With this type of service, groups of wagons can be collected (tripped) from an originating terminal to a hub terminal, then marshalled with other wagons into full-length trains which are hauled over longer distances (trunked) to another hub, then delivered individually to destination terminals. In logistical terms, this type of operation is known as a hub and spoke network.

Trainload

For larger freight volumes, a trainload operation is likely to be involved. For such higher volume traffic, full-length trains can be moved directly between origin and destination terminals, without intermediate marshalling with other wagons. Examples of such flows are the merry-go-round trains that carry coal from collieries and ports to power stations, often with loading and discharge at each end undertaken automatically while the trains are still moving.

Conventional wagon services are well-suited for terminal to terminal movements, i.e. where there is little or no road transport required at each end. It is possible to load and unload freight between conventional wagons and road vehicles if required, but if road haulage is required at each end of a rail transit, intermodal services may be more suitable.