Railway transport unit with automatic adjustment of wagon spacing

摘要

The unit automatically locks the length of an extending coupling bar (4) between two railway wagons (1), in order to achieve a minimum separation between the containers (3) which are carried on them. The wagons are loaded with the couplings at maximum extension, and are then pushed towards one another. Each bar has a strip (5) of proximity switches (6) or light barriers in order to detect the floors (9) of the containers, or the lower edges of their outer longitudinal beams. Locking equipment (10) on the coupling is then operated by a control system, at least before the required minimum number of proximity switches are left unactivated.