Imagine four locomotives and 340 cars aligned on rails. A train with 700m more than the length of the whole Avenue Paulista in its 2,8km; capable to almost nine turns around an official 400m running track; and of an extension equal to the five times the height of Corcovado, whose pick reaches 710m of altitude. Now imagine this giant moving for 892km, with a speed of up to 80km/h. If you dont get to visualize it, plan a trip to Maranhão and see it pass in the Carajás RR: the largest freight train in operation in the world, with 3,5km, connecting the Port of Ponta da Madeira, in São Luís, to the mines of Carajás, in Pará, in the North System of CVRD.
A person standing by the track will have to wait about four and a half minutes to see the whole train pass, at the average speed of 45km/h. The composition of 340 cars operates empty, in the sense port-mine, after being unloaded in the CVRD terminal of Ponta da Madeira. For the loaded trains from the Carajás mine to the port, the composition is separated in two trains of 170 cars , with a pair of locomotives in front of each. In one stretch, close to the station of São Pedro da Água Branca (MA), a third machine is coupled on the tail. The 340 car train is the largest train-type — or train of regular programming — in the world in commercial operation (in spite of tests done with a gigantic composition of 682 cars and 7,3km of extension in June 2001, for the Australian BHP Billinton, to probe GE-Harrison´s Locotrol).
To form the configuration of 340 cars, two locomotives operate in front and two in the middle. The four have 16 thousand HP. The length of the composition is possible due to the geometry of the line, that has few curves (347 in the total, with minimum radius of 860m) and few ramps. It was necessary, also, to invest US 20 million, since 1995, in the installation of Locotrol. The system allows the leading locomotiveto control up to four other locomotives, distributing the traction and the braking power. The technology makes it possible to increase the number of cars by reducing the risks of breaking of the couplers. It alto spares the engineer presence in the remote locomotives.
All the 56 crossing yards in the 892km of Carajás RR are in enlargement phase. As the track is single and shared between the freight and the passenger trains, that have absolute priority, it is necessary that the yards have a minimum extension of 3,5km to hold the 340 car trains. Until the beginning of June, 13 yards had been enlarged and the expectation is that to the end of the year all are ready. The works, initiated in 2006, will cost US 249 million.
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The enlargement is fundamental, also, for the definition of a train-type of 312 cars (3,2km in length), to operate empty as well as loaded. The company is testing in simulators the new formation for the conditions of Carajas RR and the alteration is forecasted for the beginning of 2008. It is still possible that the number of cars grows. We are studying what will be better for the company, explains to José Carlos Souza, executive coordinator of institutional relationships.
The size of the Carajas RR train is a symbol of the growth of the company. 22 years ago, when it was inaugurated, the trains had 160 cars.
Freight Unit Train in Carajas RR
• Maximum speed: Loaded: 70km/h | Empty: 80km/h
• Average speed: Loaded: 40km/h | Empty: 45km/h
• Trip time, one way: Loaded: 32 hours | Empty: 26 hours
• Daily frequency: 32 loaded trains (170 cars) and 8 empty trains (340 cars)
• Length: Loaded: 170 cars and 2 locomotives: 1.740m | Empty: 340 cars and 4 locomotives: 3.480m
• Weight: Locomotives:180 tons each. Loaded car:126 tons | Empty car: 21 tons. Loaded train: 21,740 tons | Empty train: 7,860 tons
• Diesel consumption: 1,5 liters for 1000 gross ton/km (energy efficiency). About 22 thousand liters for the 892
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