Based in the Danish town of Frederiksværk, NLMK Dansteel choses a freight solution from DB Cargo that removed 1,650 lorries from the roads. The new solution has also enabled NLMK Dansteel to serve new customers who require delivery by rail. Working closely with DB Cargo, NLMK Dansteel “reinvented” a specialised tipping wagon to transport long and wide steel plates on freight wagons.

Innovation in rail transport is more than digitisation and new products – it is also the development of new freight wagons. The Danish steel manufacturer NLMK Dansteel in Frederiksværk produces very large steel plates. DB Cargo developed specialised freight wagons to transport these plates, which are wider than standard maximums. The Slps-u 725 freight wagon is equipped with a hydraulic tilting mechanism that tips the wide metal plates into a position that enables them to be transported.

“We can use these wagons to reach destinations where the tracks would otherwise be too narrow,” says Christoph Deing, longstanding engineer at DB Cargo and specialist in the fastening of cargo.

“These wagons save our customers from the cost-intensive and time-consuming hassle of planning special transport,” he says.

Rail cargo must be fastened so that it matches the track class and track radius of the customer’s sidetrack. The width and slope of the cargo can be adjusted so that the loading frame meets the track requirements, enabling the transport of steel plates up to 4,110 mm wide using standard transport.

DB Cargo has more than 150 Polish-built hydraulic wagons. In 2017, a weekly train carrying 46,000 tonnes of cargo ran from Frederiksværk to Maschen, Germany, via Fredericia.  From Maschen, the train’s wagons were routed to customers via DB Cargo’s network for single wagons. This transport saved 1,650 lorry trips and the carbon emissions these trips would have produced.