New design delivers higher load limits, longer service life and improved productivity for shippers moving dense commodities.
Greenbrier’s Ultra-High-Strength Steel Gondola™ delivers increased capacity and durability through advanced materials and an innovative carbody design built for the heavy commodities railroads move every day.
The gondola uses ultra-high-strength, wear- and abrasion-resistant steel—approximately three times stronger than conventional railcar steel. The advanced material reduces the railcar’s unloaded weight by up to 15,000 pounds while increasing carrying capacity to between 230,000 and 235,000 pounds.
The result is a 10% to 15% increase in load capacity per railcar. For shippers moving dense commodities, the higher load limit allows more product to move per trip and can reduce the total number of railcars needed to move the same volume.
In addition to higher capacity, the gondola incorporates a redesigned tub structure that reduces sharp 90-degree side-to-floor angles and limits weld placement to lower-stress areas of the car body. The design helps minimize common loading issues while improving durability in heavy-use environments.
This gondola was developed through a collaborative engineering effort and represents the latest step in Greenbrier’s use of advanced steel technologies to improve railcar performance.
“We put the car through a battery of tests. We squeezed the car. We impacted the car. We jacked the car. And it met all of those standards very easily,” Senior Vice President Peter Jones said.
By reducing car weight while increasing payload capacity, the design allows customers to move more material with each trip while maintaining a durable railcar capable of long-term service.
As aging gondola fleets approach retirement, the higher-capacity design offers railroads and shippers an opportunity to replace legacy equipment with railcars built for greater productivity, durability and long-term service reliability.