Road trains 60m long.

[pet-els]

Just heard on the radio [WA] that there is to be a trial of new, larger road trains [60m] carrying Iron Ore into Port Headland. these are 6.5m longer than any at the moment they will be restricted to 95kph. It is a three month trail, but at the cost of these you can bet it will be permanent.
Where normal trailers have two point swivel between, these will only have one swivel point.

PeterH

[generdawg]

Peter, more containers on longer boggies?
Thought there were three, prim mover and two for the trailers.

Road Train 53m.jpg

[T1 Terry]

https://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/P ... lbara.aspx 4 trailers with what looks like a dolly under the front of each additional trailer so the trailers would all be interchangeable, unlike the "B" trailer on a B double(the one pulled by the prime mover) and the standard A trailer that couples up behind. These look to be all "A" trailers with added linking cables for stability and electronic brake control added to each trailer and connected back to the prime mover. That would be some rig to overtake, you would want to be able to see for miles before you pulled out onto the wrong side of the road to overtake, I'm guessing these are being restricted to multilane hwys in really top class condition, not the back road style seen around the back of Bourke and up through Qld where the 3 trailer road trains run, they are real scary to overtake with the rear trailer constantly flicking out

[generdawg]

1)... I'm guessing these are being restricted to multilane hwys

2)...they are real scary to overtake with the rear trailer constantly flicking out

1) One lives in hope eh T1?
2) The sting is in the tailer!

[pet-els]

According to the minister [on the radio] they are restricted to 95kph and he says that as they are going slower the passing time to the other RT is about the same.
The roads are one lane either way. And they say there will be less flicking out due to the construction.

PeterH

[dapope]

The article i read said 90. Its other truck getting stuck behind them will be the big issue

[Kelvin12]

Wonder how long its going to be before someone steps up the computers like they have on other trucks.

Dirk

[T1 Terry]

If these trucks are going to be on single lane roads the whole idea is flawed. A slower vehicle of any type behind the road train will make the overtaking manoeuvre take longer increasing the time spent on the wrong side of the road. Once the overtaking vehicle is alongside the road train there is no possibility to pull back in to the correct side of the road. The truck travelling at 90km/h and the over taking vehicle limited to 100km/h would take 40 secs to travel from the rear of the truck to level with the front of the truck, add the length of the overtaking vehicle, say a car and caravan, the one here at the moment is 15 mtrs, add a safe clearance when pulling back in allow at least another 10 mtrs and say 10 mtrs on the approach....now the figure is close to a 100mtrs or nearly 1 min on the wrong side of the road, that is a long time and hard to judge as far as distance required before an on coming vehicle is in the same spot as you would need to be...... Now add the 53mtr road train who would not be able to get past until a long overtaking section was available, add a car and caravan caught up in this convoy.... the whole group would now be travelling at 90km/h and some fool is going to get the dirts and try to pass the whole group in one hit.
The 90km/h is a bad call, lift it to 100km/h and the super quad is no longer a mobile road block.

Just my view on the planned exercise, agree or disagree but put forward your views and see where this discussion goes

T1 Terry

[T1 Terry]

Wonder how long its going to be before someone steps up the computers like they have on other trucks.

Dirk

Telemetry tracking, they will know immediately if one of these super quads goes off the designated route or exceeds the speed limit.... and when one gets into trouble no doubt. I'm guessing during the trial they will satellite video the road trains to watch how traffic flow is affected and pin blame to who-ever was the cause of any carnage resulting from this trial, a cover your butt exercise using the technology available in the name of research

[pet-els]

The driver is monitored by TV and if he shows signs of tiredness he receives an alarm if it continues [tiredness] he gets a phone call and is advised what to do.
PeterH