Infrastructure
Since articulated trains form fixed car sets and cannot be easily decoupled
into single cars, they put special requirements on the operator especially when
it comes to maintenance and repairs. For most articulated trains very long
maintenance workshops are needed (typically 150 m). This is one of the main
reasons, why countries like Germany and Switzerland are reluctant to introduce
main-line trains with Jakob-type bogies. However, depending on the existing
infrastructure of the operator and the actual length of the train sets, the
introduction does not always have to create major transition costs for the
operator (cf. General criteria - Example).
Flexibility of train composition
In addition, the fixed train composition leads to less flexibility in train
length. However, conventional MUs have the same restriction since traction
components are distributed along the train-set and therefore the train cannot be
decoupled into autonomous units. In both cases, the solution is to achieve
flexibility by having short train sets that may be combined to form trains of
variable length.
Axle load
Since the total weight is shared by less axles, articulated trains require
additional lightweight efforts in order to keep axle-load below 16
tons. |