Modern state of the structural perfection of hopper cars for transportation of grains and their development prospects

The analysis of the modern fleet of hopper cars used for grain transportation in Ukraine has been done. The analysis revealed the need to create a new generation of wagons to upgrade the fleet of freight cars and reduce the number of specialized cars with expired service life. The structural features of various hoppers used for grain transportation as compared to the other types of hoppers as well as the prospects for their development have been covered. The analysis of the hopper cars fleet used for grain transportation has led to the conclusion that Car 19-7053 is losing competitiveness in carrying capacity. The new generation of «teardrop» shape cars with increased volume due to the highest quality using the design envelope has been proposed. The newly designed car is supposed to be of the same length and base as the prototype model. Thus, the length of the consist remaining the same but there being more cars in it with increased body volume, capacity and small length of the cars, it will be possible to carry more goods. The article noted that such characteristics will pomote the competitiveness of the designed car. The article outlines the design requirements on new-generation railcars, namely, the increase in capacity and better cargo accommodation thanks to the rational design, the use of strong corrosion-resistant steels, aluminum alloys; the improvement of adaptation of the cars to the complex mechanization of loading and unloading operations and the maximum reduction of manual labor in these operations; less material and labour consumption in manufacturing through better manufacturability of the design, maximum unification of units and parts; the strength and reliability of the car under operating conditions and etc. We determined the optimal constructive solutions for innovative, competitive freight rolling stock. The following materials are the base to create the bunker hoppers or to modernize the existing models and to improve the operating efficiency