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Concept
Flat wagon
Summary
Flat wagons (sometimes flat beds, flats or rail flats, US: flatcars), as classified by the International Union of Railways (UIC), are railway goods wagons that have a flat, usually full-length, deck (or 2 decks on car transporters) and little or no superstructure. By contrast, open wagons have high side and end walls and covered goods wagons have a fixed roof and sides. Flat wagons are often designed for the transportation of goods that are not weather-sensitive. Some flat wagons are able to be covered completely by tarpaulins or hoods and are therefore suitable for the transport of weather-sensitive goods. Unlike a "goods wagon with opening roof", the loading area of a flat is entirely open and accessible once the cover is removed.
Flats form a large proportion of goods wagons; for example in 1998 they comprised 40% of the total goods fleet owned by the German carrier, DB, the overwhelming majority of which were flat wagons with bogies.
Typical goods transported by these railway wagons are: vehicles, engines, large pipes, metal beams, wire coils, wire mesh, half-finished steel products, (sheets, coils, pipes, bars and plates), containers, rails, sleepers and complete sections of railway track. Gravel, sand and other bulk goods are transported on flat wagons with side panels.
UIC classification of goods wagons
Flat wagons are classified by the UIC into:
Ordinary goods wagons with category letters "K", "O" and "R", and
Special goods wagons with category letters "L" and "S".
The main difference between the ordinary and special types of flat wagon is that the former always have to have a flat deck that can be driven on, whereas the special types do not have to be so designed. Within both types of flat wagon, there are variants with separate axles as well as bogie wagons.
In addition numerous other terms are used to classify flat wagons according to their purpose, but without clear and comprehensive specifications.
Attempts by the International Union of Railways (UIC) to standardise flat wagons go back to the 1950s.
Official source
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