Operations started on 2 November, when all autorack trains were taken over by the new company.
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A modern German autorack similar to the original design with a full load of automobiles A Norfolk Southern autorack on a TTX platform An autorack, also known as an auto carrier (also car transporter outside the US), is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks. Autoracks are used to transport new vehicles from factories to automotive distributors, and to transport passengers' vehicles in car shuttles and motorail services, such as Amtrak's Auto Train route.
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In the 1950s, Canadian National Railway (CN) introduced a group of innovative bi-level autorack railcars. These autoracks had end doors and were very large by the standards of the time; at long, each autorack could carry 8 completed automobiles. These autoracks were a big success and helped lead to the development of today's fully enclosed autoracks. Tri-level autoracks were developed in the 1970s.
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Cargolink AS is a Norwegian railway company. Owned by the automotive distribution company Autolink, Cargolink has operated both autorack and container trains since November 2008. Cargolink has a fleet of ten diesel locomotives, five shunters, 100 autoracks and 60 container cars. Combined autorack and container trains are operated up to five times per week along the Sørland-, Bergen-, Rauma-, Røros- and Nordland Lines, as well as services through Sweden.
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Barão, Carla and Mineiro collect the cash and the group moves the R$164 million to their HQ, where each criminal earns R$2 million. Saulo, inspired by Doutor's communist ideals, protests against the unequal division of the money, but is shot dead by Barão. In order to bait the police away from his whereabouts, Barão has a large sum of money planted inside a car that is later loaded on an autorack headed for São Paulo. Police stop the autorack and arrest its driver, believing all the money was sent to São Paulo.
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On contract from Autolink, Cargolink operates autorack trains throughout large portions of the Norwegian railway network, from the seaports in Drammen and Oslo. Services are provided along the Sørland Line to Stavanger, along the Bergen Line to Bergen, along the Dovre Line to Trondheim, along the Rauma Line to Åndalsnes, and along the Nordland Line to Mosjøen, Mo i Rana and Bodø. It also operates through Sweden to reach Narvik and Malmö Each route has up to five weekly departures in both directions with combined autorack and container trains. The company transports 55,000 cars annually on 600 trains, giving a revenue of .
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CSX trains can interchange with NS here. There is a Ford automobile plant, which requires autorack cars for loading. North of Wayne, it enters Plymouth, Michigan. At Plymouth Diamond (MP CH82), the Saginaw Subdivision meets the east-west CSX Plymouth Subdivision- Detroit Subdivision line.
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FXE 4050 in Winnipeg, Manitoba on the Canadian Pacific Railway's Emerson Subdivision A Ferromex autorack, very far from its home line, in a Canadian Pacific Railway train in Bolton, Ontario In January 2011, Ferromex ordered 44 new SD70ACe locomotives from EMD, its first order since 2006.
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Portion of route shown in gray on statewide rail modernization map Union Pacific freight trains run on the route, although the Fresno Subdivision through the San Joaquin Valley is the preferred north–south California route due to having easier grades and curves. The freight trains are typically local freights, empty baretable and autorack trains.
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Traditionally, Autolink had used the Norwegian State Railways, and subsequently their subsidiary CargoNet, for operation of the autorack trains. On 31 January 2007, Autolink bought 40% of the private railway company Ofotbanen, and transferred the freight contract to them. This made Autolink Ofotbanen's largest customer. In March, Ofotbanen ordered additional 70 new autoracks for NOK 175 million.
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By mid-century, under the leadership of Richard L. Duchossois, the company focused on building specialized freight cars, such as high-cube boxcars for auto parts, all-door boxcars for building products, gondolas, rotary-dump gondolas for coal, bulkhead flatcars and centerbeam flatcars for lumber, double-stack container cars, covered hoppers, autorack cars and single-level trailer cars. In the 1980s, Thrall acquired five competing railcar manufacturers, including autorack builders Whitehead & Kales and Portec, and became the largest such manufacturer of these cars in the United States. In 1984, Duchossois purchased the remaining shares of the company owned by the Thrall family, and the company then operated as part of Duchossois Industries. In the 1990s, Thrall had a production capacity of over 16,000 freight cars per year, with more than 3,000 employees.
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Autorack and flat car length quickly grew to and then to increase their loading capacity even further. This made them about as long as the average railroad passenger car of the time; if the cars were much longer, they would not be able to operate in interchange service due to clearance on curves. Yet, the railroads could still do better. A major problem left to solve was that the new autorack cars did not provide any protection from theft, vandalism, or from severe weather. Individual railroads began installing mesh side screens and solid panels to their racks to protect the vehicles from impact and debris in the late 1960s,Railway Age March 31, 1969 and by the early 1970s new racks were being delivered with these side panels.
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The following year it entered the freight market, in particular with timber trains for Norske Skog. It further expanded into other services, such as charter trips. In 2006, the company almost went bankrupt, and was taken over by Rail Management. In 2007, the automotive distributor Autolink started purchasing the autorack operations from Ofotbanen, and at the same time bought 40% of the company.
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Autolink also offeres a wide range of installation and customization services. Transport wax is removed on all cars. Distribution is performed by autorack train from Drammen and Oslo. The subsidiary Cargolink operates ten Di 6 locomotives and more than 100 autoracks, and annually distributions 50,000 automobiles on 600 trains to terminals in Stavanger, Bergen, Åndalsnes, Trondheim, Mosjøen, Mo i Rana, Bodø and Narvik.
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Work is expected to be completed in 2015. In addition to containers, Port Newark is a major import/export center of automobiles using roll-on/roll-off operation between ship and rail. The adjacent Doremus Avenue Auto Terminal I & II is owned by Conrail and serves CSX and NS trains. The yard occupies 87 acres and has ten unloading tracks and ten holding tracks to serve multilevel autorack cars.
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Paragon, the other leading rack-builder, was purchased by Portec in the early 1970s, which was in turn acquired by Thrall in 1985. Paragon's autorack designs were sold to Greenville Steel Car, also in 1985, which was itself acquired by Trinity Industries in 1986. Thrall itself was eventually acquired by Trinity as well in 2001. Currently autoracks are produced by TrinityRail, Greenbrier, Johnstown America, National Steel Car, and the Union Pacific Railroad.
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The collision happened at around 2:35 a.m. in Cayce, about 4 miles southwest of Columbia. An Amtrak Silver Star passenger train with 139 passengers and 8 crew on board was traveling south from New York to Miami when it collided with CSX train Q210-03 (Cayce, SC-Smyrna, TN), an empty Autorack train. The Silver Star was hauled by GE P42DC locomotive 47, while Q210-03 was headed by two GE AC4400CWs, 130 and 36.
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In 2004, Canadian National was at the forefront of autorack technology again by using light-weight aluminum. The new cars, built by Johnstown America Corporation beginning in December 2004, are brand named AVC, an acronym for Aluminum Vehicle Carrier. Two hundred new aluminum autoracks promise a softer ride, a wider interior, superior door-edge protection, and a rust-free interior from older steel versions. Canadian Pacific Railway has ordered 375 of these new cars as well.
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Cargolink autorack train on the Dovre Line Ofotbanen lost their license from the Norwegian Railway Inspectorate on 7 October 2008. This was because Ofotbanen had not documented necessary accounts for 2007, nor provided evidence of necessary liquidity. On 24 October, the company was declared bankrupt. Rail Management subsequently established the new company Ofotbanen Drift, and stated that the cause of the bankruptcy was that Autolink had not let them make a private placement of NOK 10 million.
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Thus, intermodal facilities have specialized cranes for handling the containers, and coal piers have car dumpers, loaders, conveyors, and other equipment for unloading and loading railroad cars and ships quickly and with a minimum of personnel. Often the equipment used to ship the goods is optimized for rapid transfer. For instance, the shipment of automobiles is expedited by autorack rail cars and roll-on/roll-off ships, which can be loaded without cranes or other equipment. Standardized containers allow the use of common handling equipment and obviate break bulk handling.
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CSXT used to provide intermodal, autorack, and general merchandise over the Worcester Line, a part of CSXT's Boston Line. This part of the Commuter Rail network could host over 12 mainline freight trains per day, including descendants of Conrail's expedited intermodal Trail Van trains. Currently most freight service terminates in Framingham, and a trainload facility in Westboro, with limited freight service east through Beacon Park Yard in Allston to a few local customers. In 2013 CSX moved its intermodal service from Beacon Park to an expanded yard in Worcester.
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VW's two-level flatcar design effectively became the first autorack, entering service circa 1954. Also in 1954 Evans Products, a manufacturer of loading racks for carrying automobiles in conventional boxcars, developed a bi-level Auto-Loader superstructure with an elevating top deck capable of carrying six cars or light trucks on a typical flatcar. Two prototype units were constructed and mounted on conventional 53 ft flat cars for field testing. NYC 500085 carried a semi-streamlined rack,Railway Age March 8, 1954 while UP 5800 had a more utilitarian rack mounted.
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Railway Age May 16, 1960 The slightly longer racks could carry 12 full size or 18 compact autos per car. Several other railroads quickly ordered their own auto racks from Dana and W&K; or from American Car & Foundry, Darby Corporation, Evans Products, Paragon Bridge & Steel, or Thrall Car Manufacturing.Railway Age November 27, 1961 The Santa Fe and Frisco also built some of their autoracks in their own car shops. Curiously, in 1961 a German-built three-unit, articulated bilevel autorack was imported into the United States to demonstrate the German design to U.S. railroads.
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The open end of a bi- level autorack that is undergoing repairs During the early 1960s, specially built auto carriers rapidly took over rail transportation of newly completed automobiles in North America. They carried more vehicles in the same space and were easier to load and unload than the boxcars formerly used. Ever-larger auto carriers and specialized terminals were developed by Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W;) and other carriers. Autoracks were built in three-level configurations carrying automobiles, and with two-levels for vans and light trucks.
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CSX autorack train on the Baltimore Terminal Subdivision in Baltimore Camden Station in 1865 The Baltimore Terminal Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of Maryland. The line runs from Baltimore to Halethorpe along the original Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O;) line, one of the oldest rail lines in the United States and the first passenger railroad line. At its east (north) end, it connects with the Philadelphia Subdivision; its west (south) end has a junction with the Capital Subdivision and the Old Main Line Subdivision.
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Pizza delivery scooters in the Makati Business District, Manila, Philippines Delivery is the process of transporting goods from a source location to a predefined destination. Cargo (physical goods) is primarily delivered via roads and railroads on land, shipping lanes on the sea, and airline networks in the air. Certain types of goods may be delivered via specialized networks, such as pipelines for liquid goods, power grids for electrical power and computer networks such as the Internet or broadcast networks for electronic information. Car transport is a particular subgroup; a related variant is Autorack, which involves transport of autos by railroads.
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Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana SD70MAC 1627 at Nueva Italia station Conrail "White Smiley" SD-70MAC seen in Cleveland, Ohio with an autorack train The SD70MAC uses three phase AC traction motors. Production of the model commenced in 1993, competing against the GE Dash 9-44CW. The majority of SD70MAC models were produced with the EMD 710 prime mover while later units are rated at and feature EMD SD45-style flared radiators. The Alaska Railroad ordered their locomotives with head-end power to make them suitable for both freight and passenger service; no other railroad ordered this variant.
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Autoracks wait to be unloaded in a BNSF Railway facility in Los Angeles, California Railroads of today are still grappling with the problem of loading more and larger vehicles onto autoracks. One popular solution is to create a double-length car that is articulated over a single middle truck so that each half of the car is about the same length as a conventional autorack. These cars, which can be seen in operation on many of the railroads of the western US (but also seen occasionally in the Great Lakes and Southern Ontario), are brand named AutoMax cars. These cars, built by Gunderson (a subsidiary of The Greenbrier Companies) measure long and tall; they feature adjustable interior decks to carry up to 22 light trucks and minivans.
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Freight movement on the Detroit Terminal Railroad steadily increased up to 1950 fed largely by the development, growth and maturation of the automotive industry in Detroit. Business remained stable throughout the 1950s then slowly started dropping off starting in the 1960s. By 1968 the alarm bells were ringing at Detroit Terminal Railroad's business offices as carloadings had dropped dramatically from a peak of 151,914 in 1953 to 57,543 in 1967. This was a result of changing ways of urban living (natural gas to heat homes instead of railroad-hauled coal) to the closing of major automotive plants in Detroit (DeSoto and Hudson) and also due to the use of large, hi-capacity ("hi-cube" and "autorack") freight cars especially by the automotive companies replacing two or three smaller freight cars needed before.
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Autorack wholecar ;whole train :All train cars (usually between four and eight or more, regardless of the train length) completely covered with paint reaching the far end of the train on one or both sides. Such demanding actions are often done by multiple participants or crews and with a limited variation of colors – commonly in black and silver – because of the stressing time limitation they are facing when painting in the train yards (very often less than 30 minutes). However, the more participants who participate, the better works can come out of it and the cars are done quicker too. This type of graffiti, if finished successful, is one of the most respected forms among other graffitists, but is also rarer due to the higher risk of getting caught.
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On December 6, 1971, Auto-Train Corporation introduced a new and innovative rail transportation service for both passengers and their automobiles in the United States, operating scheduled service between Lorton, Virginia (near Washington, D.C.) and Sanford, Florida, near Orlando. The Auto Train offered an alternative to motorists who would otherwise drive their automobiles the distance along the east coast of the United States. For vacationers with destinations at one or more of the many popular tourist attractions of Florida, the Auto Train service offered dual features: # avoid the long automobile ride on busy Interstate 95 in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida # have the convenience of use of their own automobile upon arrival. From the beginning in 1971, the same year Amtrak began service on purely passenger routes in the United States, a key feature of Auto-Train's new service was the use of autoracks, which were former Canadian National transcontinental bi-level, enclosed autorack boxcars.
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