Loading
There is an awareness of the weaknesses that pertain at the terminals and the need for highly automated loading and unloading. HSRF experiences difficulties in the Swedish Transport Administration’s and BaneNor’s terminals, as the latter currently lack equipment for transferring HSRF to and from high-speed trains. The effect of the transition from trucks to rail almost certainly means that the capacity of the E6 will be sufficient for a very long time to come without additional lanes, given that terminal handling is developed.
On the right are examples of how HSRF shipments by high-speed train look today.
In addition to a train length of 400 metres, the vehicle profile is absolutely crucial when fitting a standard container into a high-speed train. A streamlined design is beneficial when the train is in tunnels and travelling at high speeds. Too narrow a high-speed train would render loading containers impossible, but on the other hand it would allow the use of other types of containers permitted on aircraft such as pallets. Thus HSRF uses containers or pallets. A 400-metre HSRF high-speed train carries a load equivalent to that of 36 trucks, corresponding to 576 tonnes of freight.
The load profile for the high-speed rail line is a prerequisite for operating on the track. This involves good streamlining and special measures to secure containers in the train to make sure load shifting does not occur. This is a lot easier for high-speed trains than for aircraft and ships, but more difficult with wind loads and the low centre of gravity in trains. Thus the containers must be securely tied down at a floor height of 1,200 mm, which happens to be the standard height for loading docks along conventional railways and for passenger traffic on the Arlanda Line.
