TCDD is getting prepared for carrying autos with the special wagon it produced last year.

TCDD started works to carry finished vehicles by rail, which is quite common in USA and Europe. The car carrier was designed and produced last year for TCDD, and is now being tested.

The car carrier is Laaeilprs type twin wagon, double deck and has a capacity of 12 vehicles. It can carry max 12 tonnes of cars in each deck. Wagons tara is 42 tonnes.

The wagon’s sides and top is covered, which prevents cars from some damages like thrown stones etc.

Wagon meets G2 loading gauge, thus it can run on big portion of European rail network.

This wagon can accept general cargo by lowering the deck. Car transportation is generally in one direction, thus, this wagon can transport other goods on return (see below picture).

The main cons about the wagon at first glance are the design which doesn’t seem very modern and the tara which is higher than its competitors.

The wagon is designed and produced by Solentek.

Some brands like Mercedes, BMW are already coming on rail from Europe to Turkey. However, neither the automotive plants nor the stock areas are railway connected in Turkey. Since companies are avoiding any additional transhipment, railway needs time to increase its share.

But Turkish automotive industry is quite big and distances from plants to clients are quite long. Thus this initiative of TCDD will certainly attaract their attention.

Cover Photo: S. ©