A work train or departmental train (engineering train in the UK) is one or more rail cars intended for internal non-revenue use by the railroad's operator. Work trains serve functions such as track maintenance,

maintenance of way Maintenance of way (commonly abbreviated to MOW) refers to the maintenance, construction, and improvement of rail infrastructure, including tracks, ballast, grade, and lineside infrastructure such as signals and signs. Track The most fundamen ...

, revenue collection, system cleanup and waste removal, heavy duty hauling, and crew member transport.

Types of work trains

* Locomotives and

cab unit In North American railroad terminology, a cab unit is a railroad " locomotive" with its own cab and controls. "Carbody unit" is a related term, which may be either a cabless booster unit controlled from a linked cab unit, or a cab unit that co ...

s * Track maintenance equipment ( track geometry cars,

ballast regulator A ballast regulator (also known as a ballast spreader or ballast sweeper) is a piece of rail transport maintenance of way equipment used to shape and distribute the gravel track ballast that supports the ties in rail tracks. They are often used i ...

s, ballast tamper cars,

ballast cleaner A ballast cleaner (also known as an undercutter, a shoulder ballast cleaning machine) is a machine that specialises in cleaning the railway track ballast (gravel, blue stone or other aggregate) of impurities. Background and development Over ti ...

stoneblower A stoneblower is a railway track maintenance machine that automatically lifts and packs the sleepers with small grade ballast, which is blown under the sleepers to level the track. An alternative to the use of a ballast tamper, the totally self-c ...

s, rail grinders, Sperry rail cars, ballast loaders/removers,

hopper car A hopper car (US) or hopper wagon ( UIC) is a type of railroad freight car used to transport loose bulk commodities such as coal, ore, grain, and track ballast. Two main types of hopper car exist: covered hopper cars, which are equipped with ...

s, continuous welded rail handlers, weld cars, track renewal train) *

Flood cleanup car A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrolog ...

s (reach cars, pump cars, hose cars) * Snow removal cars * Rail inspection cars *

Refuse motor car Waste (or wastes) are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste pro ...

s * De-icer cars * Rail adhesion cars * Crane cars *

Dump car Dump generally refers to a place for disposal of solid waste, a rubbish dump, or landfill. The word has other uses alone or in combination, and may refer to: * Midden, historically a dump for domestic waste * Dump job, a term for criminal disposa ...

s * Flatbed cars * Signal supply cars * Tanker cars * Vacuum cars * Revenue collection cars *

Rider car Rider or Riders may refer to: People * Daniel Rider (1938–2008), American mathematician * Fremont Rider (1885–1962), American writer and librarian * George Rider (1890–1979), American college sports coach and administrator * H. Rider Hag ...

s * Sweeper Cleaner * Rail bridge inspection * Weed spray rail * Bush cutter rail * Excavator rail

Gallery

WMATA PM35 at Eisenhower Avenue.jpg, A

Washington Metro The Washington Metro (or simply Metro), formally the Metrorail,Google Books search/preview

work car in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

providing support for a track maintenance operation Ballast Tamper.JPG, Ballast tamping machine as used in railroad track maintenance in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

RD417 work 34 plat jeh.JPG, A New York City Subway work train Work_train_macarthur_station.jpg, work train at the construction of a freight line in Sydney, Australia East Side Access GCT cavern with work train.jpg, work train in

East Side Access East Side Access (ESA) is a public works project in New York City that extended the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) from its Main Line in Queens into a new station under Grand Central Terminal on Manhattan's East Side. A project of the Metropoli ...

cavern under construction in New York City

Types of work trains

Gallery

See also