Rail Cars

........Durability with a High Pay Load

Several hundred 100-ton capacity triple-hopper cars, originally built around 1967 with approximately 13,500 pounds of aluminum sheet, plate, and extrusions, were sold 30 years later for almost 90 percent of their original manufacturing cost!

Aluminum rail cars, designed with aluminum extrusions, require one-third the number of components, have reduced welding needs, and are two-thirds the weight of comparable steel cars. In less than two years, aluminum's higher carrying capacity repays its higher initial cost. Life-cycle fuel costs are lower due to the lighter weight of the car. Aluminum offers excellent resistance to corrosion from high-sulfur coal Aluminum rail cars have high salvage value when their hulks are scrapped.

Building rail cars from aluminum is a tested and proven way to increase railroad efficiency. Aluminum railroad cars were pioneered for the railroad industry in the late 1950s and are still the material of choice for this mode of transportation. Designing with aluminum results in lightweight cars that retain the strength of steel cars but can carry greater loads. Whether constructed of all aluminum, or aluminum with steel, lighter railroad cars save money in both freight and fuel costs.

An excellent example is the third generation of the TGV Duplex, a French high speed train, converted from steel to aluminum to achieve a 20 percent weight savings, while also converting to two decks and keeping the axle load below 17 tons. The Japanese high-speed "Bullet" train and the Washington, DC Metro trains are also fabricated with aluminum.

Aluminum is durable and withstands the railroad environment. Extensive shaking tests and decades of use offer testimony to aluminum's superiority for this application. A recent study shows that after 20 years of service, there is negligible loss of metal thickness or surface defects on cars used to ship different materials an average of 110,000 miles per year. Metal loss on floors and sidewalls from corrosion and wear measured approximately 25 percent less than comparable steel cars.

Aluminum Applications in the Rail Industry (Adobe PDF File)