Swedish Steel Prize winner 2017 - Kiruna Wagon

When Kiruna Wagon was asked by a customer to develop a more efficient solution for the transportation and unloading of iron ore, the northern Swedish company went a step beyond. Based on an old concept, they created the Helix Dumper, an innovative wagon solution that is highly durable, as well as far more efficient and versatile than other ore wagons on the market. High-strength steel played a key role in the development of the wagon and Kiruna Wagon has been named a finalist for the 2017 Swedish Steel Prize.

[@hoosierhobbies]

The designer is a genius, and must be an avid roller coaster rider to think up that helix!

[@isakjohansson7134]

hoosierhobbies There is actually a rollercoaster in sweden called helix

[@bigbob1699]

Love their Swedish tool steels also.

[@createvitesanthoshpatil]

Kiruna wagon awesome. Super technology and save energy &save time .very nice. Thanks to showing.👍👌

[@petter5721]

A very nice system, the best solution I have ever seen. Must save huge money.

[@GWRProductions-kg9pt]

not really

[@railroad9000]

Great concept and execution!

[@nagendramishra8947]

This is the best solution I have ever seen in the world

[@merrymanrc]

Someone was thinking outside of the box on this one savings money and time 👍👍👍

[@tony1961chl]

Sorprendente y hermoso,gracias .

[@enthalpiaentropia7804]

Very clever ,congratulations to the designers...!

[@rosewhite---]

sheer brilliance!

[@anvilhead59]

I've never seen anything better than the Asea bottom dump used in underground mining for speed and efficiency. This looks like a larger scale Telluride dump.

[@coso2]

I don't know why the algorithm decided to suggest this to me, but I won't complain

[@screamingdemon2453]

That's awesome

[@godbluffvdgg]

Tell ya what; If I ever need a better and less expensive iron ore unloading system I am so gonna call Kiruna! :).....Amazing System and brilliantly engineered...it's a nobrainer purchase to anyone in the industry.

[@DonnyHendrawanSGTX]

How about ballonloop track? It can change wagons position

[@cyclingnut2122]

Cool

[@hifijohn]

first abba and now this!!!

[@jackking5567]

They made stainless steel coal hopper wagons in the UK but made them so well that they manufactured themselves out of a job. Maintenance became almost nil due to the high quality manufacturing, It forced the closure of a complete wagon works and made hundreds unemployed! This design is clever for bulk handling. Yes it has its limits (be rubbish for biomass) but is ideal for ores. Sometimes the best ideas are cheap and simple.

[@inevitablecraftslab]

yeah right, the british manufactured something that was so perfectly built and maintenance free that the company which produced it went out of business. as this is the way british companies run out of business hehe like jaguar, rover, cooper, triumph, matchless and all the other wonderful maintenance free companies they got on their island :)

[@T1hitsTheHighestNote]

Swedish ingenuity!!

[@scottpecora371]

As the Inuit would say; "Good Idea".

[@pootthatbak2578]

Perfect for making soylent green

[@godbluffvdgg]

Or at least; unloading it!...Hey, ya gotta feed zombies pretty quick!

[@skbabar4646]

Very good evening sir today is my happy

[@TexasGTO]

1:04 The "Chas-is" ahahahahaha

[@Tadesan]

TexasGTO she has no idea what she is talking about lol

[@whiteknightcat]

My granddaughter sometimes gets boogies in her nose.

[@CristiNeagu]

And that's not how you pronounce Kiruna...

[@torquetrain8963]

Key- Roona

[@danadams3465]

So, after a year or more in use, what is the verdict on this system? Pros and cons.

[@carlwereld5131]

yes I also like to know

[@petter5721]

It works great and has low operation/maintenance cost👍🏻

[@jeanmarcos4028]

Name músic??

[@godbluffvdgg]

One Word; Mahavishnu Orchestra...

[@reapouch7187]

💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎

[@whiteknightcat]

I see one drawback to this - the engaging wheel is located on only one side of each car, so one would have to make certain that train routing would preserve the correct orientation unless this was for dedicated point-to-point service. A second wheel could be mounted on the opposite side to allow interchangeability but now there's added weight of several tons per car. Could such a system be used in North American practice with 120 ton capacity light aluminum cars? Not likely - as the video stated, the system depends on high strength steel for durability, and steel coal cars were mostly phased out years ago. Maybe this could be implemented as some sort of next generation ore car, though, but that would involve totally rebuilding ore docks. While innovative, this appears to be of limited use for now.

[@thomasboese3793]

With all due respect... No, a second wheel cannot be located on the other side due to the hinge opposite of the wheel down on the chassis. This car can only be dumped one way. See 1:10 - left-hand side shows the hinge mounting points. The only way to handle a wrongly placed car would be to have a second dump rail system on the other side and dump both ways as needed based on how the car is orientated. Interesting idea... Would love to see some railroad modeler build a working scale model.

[@quillmaurer6563]

It is true that they need to all be facing the proper direction, but in operation most trains of this type always remain coupled together as unit trains going back and fourth along a defined route, so the logistics of keeping them all the right way is pretty straightforward. American-style rotary dump coal cars (gondolas technically) have a similar limitation in that one end has the rotary coupler, that needs to be facing the same way on every car so that every car-connection has one rotary coupler, otherwise it would bind during rotation. This is clearly seen by the orange (usually) marking at one end of every car. Keeping them the proper orientation isn't a big deal as they're all permanent unit trains - though I guess in that case it doesn't matter which way they're facing just so long as they're all facing the same way. As for using this for coal, it probably wouldn't be as practical for a lower-density cargo. The biggest drawback I see of this concept is that both the tub and chassis have to be independently structurally self-supporting, the tub has to be able to be lifted and tipped without turning into a taco, and the chassis must support this - basically redundant structures, a non-tipping car could have the tub serve as the sole structural integrity of the car, no chassis - most hopper, coal-gondola, and tank cars don't have chassis from what I've seen. These ore cars are relatively short, and the tubs small because ore is so dense, hence the extra weight and cost of these redundant structures is acceptable. It would be much heavier and more expensive to build a much larger car for carrying lower-density coal in this manner. Another consideration is efficiency of unloading versus efficiency of transport. A car with this system will be heavier, more expensive, and have less capacity than a car without it (as described above, separate tub and chassis versus integrated structure). Thus a shorter journey it would make more sense to have cars with special unloading systems even if that makes them less efficient at transporting the cargo, but for a longer journey the weight and cost (more cars needed to haul a given annual tonnage) of hauling such a system the full distance wouldn't be worthwhile, and simpler, cheaper, lighter cars are preferable even if the system for unloading them is more expensive. So this system here is probably best for a journey of less than 100 miles, while US coal cars will carry coal across multiple states.

[@whiteknightcat]

@@quillmaurer6563 I love tacos.

[@quillmaurer6563]

@@whiteknightcat Me too! Just so long as they're full of ground beef, cheese, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, and what not. Not ore. That's a bit crunchy for my tastes! Not fun coming out either, worse even than Taco Bell in that regard!

[@thedave7760]

@@quillmaurer6563 Man thats what I was going to say glad you did it for me.