Flat wagon

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.

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. File:Shimmns-u-708-in-Horka.jpg|Four-axle UIC standard wagon for coil transport (Shimmns-u 708 owned by DB) File:Flachwagen-Sahimms-u900.jpg|Six-axle UIC standard wagon for coil transport (Sahimmns-u 900 owned by DB) This is the largest group of flat wagons both in terms of variety and numbers. Their classification as special wagons arises either as a result of not having a wagon deck that is drivable or due to their axle count. Unlike the standard wagons, these flats are predominantly optimised for a specific purpose. In 1998 the DB had about 22,000 Class S wagons in its fleet. The large variety of variants may be seen from the number of index letters, of which only the most important are given here; i.e. those that are needed to distinguish the basic types: a – 6 axles, aa – 8 or more axles, d – fitted out for the transport of motor cars, g – fitted for the transport of containers (Container wagons), gg – fitted for the transport of containers, total loading length over , h – for the transport of steel coils, eye to side i – with removable cover and non-removable ends, l – without stanchions (optional in certain combinations), mm – very short loading length (four-axle wagons < , otherwise < ), p – without sides (the use of this code letter is optional in certain combinations), r – articulated wagon, three bogies.

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