INNOVATION IN CLASSIFICATION YARD TECHNOLOGY: PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD RAILROAD CLASSIFICATION YARD WORKSHOP. INTRODUCTION

Classification yard design and freight car performance were the major topics of the 1983 TRB Classification Yard Workshop. Deregulation and the impact of railroad mergers have affected freight traffic by car type and have altered car classification requirements. Freight car rollability and prediction of car performance are important to the functioning of hump yards and were discussed by a panel and in individual papers during the first session. Yard control systems were the subject of the second session. The third session covered yard design tools and practices. CP Rail then demonstrated the recent coversion of its Agincourt Yard from analog to digital computer control. Two major conclusions were that the rollability of cars remains a major unknown and that the future need for traditional car classification, and yards, may be in doubt as transportation requirements change. A series of yard design criteria were given.