Motor-Car Rolling Stock

Motor-Car Rolling Stock

 

motor and trailer cars from which multiple-unit (electric), diesel, turbine, and other types of trains are formed. A group of motor or motor-and-trailer cars that are permanently coupled and interconnected by electrical and pneumatic lines and cannot be operated separately is generally called a motor-car section. Compared to trains served by locomotives, motor-car trains have a higher ratio between the adhesion weight (the weight on the drive-wheel pairs) and the total weight, thus providing high acceleration. In addition, motor-car rolling stock makes possible cutting of trains and their movement in the opposite direction without remarshaling. These advantages are particularly important for suburban passenger traffic and in subways. Multiple-unit trains for high-speed passenger traffic are usually made up entirely of motor cars and have a high power ratio (the power of the traction motors relative to the weight of the train), which makes possible the attainment of higher accelerations and speeds than with locomotive traction.

V. A. RAKOV