Why Australia Is The ONLY Place With Road-Trains?
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- čas přidán 29. 04. 2024
- Why Australia Is The ONLY Place With Road-Trains
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Discover the captivating reasons behind Australia's exclusive use of road trains in this intriguing video.
From their exceptional length and weight to their vital role in remote regions, we explore why Australia stands alone in embracing these massive vehicles.
Join us as we delve into the fascinating origins of road trains and their significant impact on transportation.
Don't miss this eye-opening exploration of why Australia remains the only place with road trains. Hit that subscribe button for more captivating content like this.
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▬▬▬ The video ▬▬▬
00:00 Start
00:56
The First Road-trian
01:45 The First Reason
03:30 The Second Reason
05:06 The Main Reasons
06:03 The Future Of Road-Trains
▬▬▬ Credit ▬▬▬
Tomas Varg
/ @tomasvarg
Peterbilt
/ peterbiltclasspays
Volvo USA
/ volvotrucksusa
Kenworth
/ kenworthtruckco
▬▬▬ End ▬▬▬
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To add as well road trains save time as well. As using general trains to transport goods from different states is a issues. As different states have different garages in tracks. Meaning trains need to be changed. Whrn my old drive trucks he drive upto 9 trailers at a time. Sone trains would upto 300tons in Weighting need a certain truck to pull this weight.
I personally can’t see an electric truck coming to the road train scene. As Aussie truck drivers are old school. Power is king.
@@Grant80 There is at least one possibility for electric trucks for road trains. There's a Canadian company called 'Edison Motors' that figured out how to do an Extended Range EV truck by basically making an electric truck on a conventional frame, with a generator and solar on the roof (and trailer), so essentially it becomes a diesel-electric locomotive instead of a diesel-mechanical drive.
It's a pretty brilliant idea, and one I've been trying to figure out for standard automobile drivetrains, because honestly...gas is expensive and electric drive with battery is far more efficient. I've run tests on my ranch, though I haven't been able to get my hands on an E-axle yet, where running my house (off-grid) directly from the generator gets me about 0.5 gal/hour without the battery bank, and about 0.2 gal/hour with the battery and shutting the generator off when the batteries are full. No solar during those tests. (With my solar I get closer to 0.1 gal/hour, and only because the solar isn't actually enough to power the whole house yet)
@@NikkiTheOtter cool wouldn’t have link by any chance
@@Grant80 www.youtube.com/@EdisonMotors
@@govlovesyou1334 top prize. One of my old man favourite rigs
To be fair the rail network in Australia used to be significantly more expansive than it is now. But each state more or less ran on their own guage which makes interstate ttansport a bit of a pain
Why there are different rail gauges in Australia was because when it was a British colony the British did this on purpose to try to prevent the state's getting together as anation and telling the British to f off. We need to take the next step and dump the British all together and become a republic.
Also Australia only has ONE east-west transcontinental railway, and only ONE north-south transcontinental railway, the latter of which was only opened in 2004. Sure, the east coast has railways from Melbourne up to Cairns, but there is still the break of gauge at Brisbane, and the other parts of the route were not standard-gauged throughout until late in the 20th century.
@@JBofBrisbane And the fact that a lot of the places that run some of the larger road trains never had even the thought of building a railway to certain places, even with government funding back in the early 20th century.
That is completely ridiculous and sounds like a better explanation for they don't use trains
To be fair there's NO DAMN rail network where road trains are commonly used. I grew up around triples. We were fortunate to even have power lines, regardless of the fact it went off 5 TIMES A WEEK.
They exist in Western Canada. Most Canadian provinces allow 2 full 53' trailers , but in Saskatchewan they have triple 53' trailers too.
As a new truck driver, running 53' triples sounds terrifying 😂😂😂
Even three isn't exactly the same as that 👉2:05 or the insane 7 trailer 0:53.
@Cliffdog01 Obviously not, but the point that Road Trains are not only in Australia. The longest ones, yes.
In America republicans want 10 year olds to drive them.
I saw a couple triple 53's drive through Pennsylvania. I think they were just passing through, though.
under this definition, Brazil also has road-trains, we call it bi-trem, rodotrem or bitrenzão, but they are limited to two trailers or semi-trailers. excepted for only rural areas, Brazil had a giant sugar cane production, and we had no limits to "caminhões canavieiros" (sugar cane's trucks). I remember trucks with up to six semi trailers crossing in front my house when was a kid, twenty yers ago
Actually three semi-trailers are also permitted. We call them tritrem (B-triple).
treminhão
Australia does 7 trailers. No countries come close to the length and weight that Australia has when it comes to road trains.
That’s really interesting. Thanks for chiming in.
@@OfficialSamuelCGood for them. I don’t think the top comment meant it as a competition.
A big reason why you see both bonneted and cab over trucks in Australia is length restrictions. A shorter truck can make it possible to add an extra trailer or to travel into certain areas without having to leave a trailer behind. This can go in depth some more but thats the simple explanation.
I drive these. The 2 trailers configuration you see @ 2:12 with the RCHERS TRANSPORT livery is NOT A ROAD TRAIN. It's what's known as a B-Double configuration. It's a bridge configuration between Singles and Road Trains, and while still managed on what roads/routes it may use, it may use MANY MORE roads/routes than a ROAD TRAIN as it's length tops out at 28m (91.86ft) and gross mass 63.5t (139993.54lbs). It's NOT a Road Train, because it has that specially made shorter "A-Trailer" with a direct connected turntable that slides under the full sized "B-Trailer", a true Road Train with only 2 trailers is anything OVER 28m in length.. or having more than 2 articulations - like having 2 "A-Trailers" connected before the "B-Trailer", and/or 2 trailers connected together by an independent, small, dual-axle or tri-axle "Bogey".
I pull two 28's in the US. I would love to drive one of those with 6-7 in the outback. What size engine do the trucks have to pull that many trailers.
Doubles are 26m not 28m and can be stretched to 27m with a reduced speed limit if you run a quad axle configuration.
@@Lemmon714_15litre or 16litre anything from 620hp upwards
dimension depend on country. Here in finland A and B-doubles can be driven without special permits up to 34.5meters long and 76tons. And true they are not road trains. But in theory you could load up 3+ shorter trailers as long as it stays under 34.5m/76t and it would be legal and considered road train. But who would bother.
Respect
In 2018, while on a touring holiday in Australia from UK where I am a HGV driver, I visited Gilbert's Transport depot in Darwin. A three-trailer road train was being loaded and assembled for the regular run to Adelaide some 3000ks south. It was explained to me that the trip would commence at 6pm, would be operated by two drivers who would each drive for 750ks while the other slept and they would then change over every 750ks before arriving in Adelaide at 6pm the following day; they would have to stop at the road train assemble point north of Adelaude as only two trailer vehicles were allowed in the city. At Adelaide they would take a twenty-four hour break before returning north and complete two round trips brfore a forty-eight hour break. The depot manager said that 'Australian road train drivers are a special breed; two-up teams are an extra special breed'
How could battery powered vehicles ever be used on trips like that? In Australia it will never catch on.
Also the heat, Batteries don't do well in excessive heat. They lose somewhere around 30% capacity at 100f/38c and Australia can get much hotter than that.
@@smallmoeI think you are forgetting that all electric vehicle batteries are liquid cooled.
Also we are seeing extremely fast charging being feasible on the horizon, so stops wouldn’t amount to much more than a normal fuel-up, and additional capacity could be added to allow ultra long range operation with even more pulling power than any diesel.
While we are a little ways off from this, I definitely think you and the video creator here are MASSIVELY dismissing the huge advantages and rapid adoption electric vehicles are going to get in the next ten years.
the thing is though, not every trip is 3000kms and it’s only on some long trips they choose the drive two up. electric trucks will have their place in Australia
@@Hick25 True. Probably only in cities where it would be relatively easy for them to get power, and for the power grid to be upgraded to handle the extra draw.
I honestly don’t see electric vehicles being a real solution anytime in the near future, our electric efforts really need to go into solving inner cities issues long before they bother with long haul electric trucks.
I wonder if it would be possible to go back to a “trolley bus” type of system where the buses can be operated on major roads with power lines above the road and the buses have a connecting bar to recharge the batteries while they are driving along, then when the buses need to go into areas without the overhead power supply wires it switches to batteries
I was riding in the west of Queensland, BMW 75/7. I came up to several of these trains. The last trailer whips across the road. Air turbulence is incredible. To pass these monsters is a real challenge and a scary action. Fortunately, road out there are relatively straight and flat, so, if careful you can pass them. You need about 2km to pass them safely.
I've always been fascinated by these. I pull (2) 48' bulk tankers here in the US and they are called Thruway Tandems in New York, primarily restricted to toll road operation with build/break lots. The vehicle is 121' long assembled. They're little baby trains by Austrailian standards, and I would love to experience driving one down under someday.
The other thing is that road trains travel heaps of the unsealed roads into small communities. Driving through holes, bulldust and mud to get freight into tiny places with less than 100 people.
What on earth does a community of 100 people need a delivery of that size for? Do they have freezers they only fill up every couple of centuries?
@@c2757 fuel, groceries, building and repair equipment etc
@@c2757 fuel, building materials, food and medical supplies. Some places only have roads open in the dry season so they've got only 9 months or so to move stuff in. It's a different world in remote Australia especially if your goods travel close to 1000km on rough roads to get to you.
@@c2757 Uhh, well obviously they don't. So, what about 2 communities that are more or less along the same road? Or 3 communities? And so on. So to be clear: there is no rule that a truck is only allowed to make 1 stop before it heads back to a warehouse. It's allowed to make 2, or even more! :)
They go to many small towns & some cattle stations are a small town on their own. Dont forget a lot of these stations are bigger than some countries & are a loooong way from anywhere. Your neighbour may be 300 km away & they fly there because it is cheaper & easyer on your truck.@@c2757
In areas of Western Australia 60 metre road trains are now operating. I'm told they actually handle better on the roads than the 53 metre setup.
thats due to the better positioning of the turn table on the prime mover so the weight sits better over all and handles better which takes up about .5 of a meter and then an B trailer can be replaced with a longer A trailer allowing for more product transfered on 1 trip. Equates to around an average of 5T worth of extra goods.
We need to fact check that around the Nürburgring
@@scottdouma8161 sorry to tell you they still have the turn table in the same place the center of tri drive prime movers on the big quads and the supper quads the dont use the conventional dolly set up
We technically have "road trains" here in the U.S. but we call them doubles and triples, they're limited to smaller trailers, and only Old Dominion and I believe XPO are the ones who do it. The reason we run doubles and triples here is for better time management. Instead of waiting hours at a loading dock for workers to load or unload your trailer, if you're running a triple you can drop a trailer off then immediately run a double to your next location. The tradeoff being less cargo space in the smaller trailers, which is why not everyone does it.
On interstate 80 in Ohio I've seen FedEx and UPS do this also
Saia, R&L, Arcbest (ABF), and more also do it. Also, it's typically in the northern States where you see the really heavy haulers with a dozen axles or more. I've seen tractor trailers with 20+ axles.
Lots of companies in Chicagoland do double but triple is rare
Im an engineer for a major diesel engine company and what I hear come up from other engineers is a hybrid system. A diesel power generator that generates electricity for your high torque electric motors. Having such a system will allow the engine to operate at continuous rpms and reliability of the engine would increase by tenfold. Having control and power at each wheel of the truck because of the electric motors sounds ideal for quick acceleration and great maneuverability
I lived in Alice Springs for 40 years. I grew up driving and riding around triple's. You have to give those trucks a lot of room and respect.
I spent two nights in Alice Springs in a camper, went to bed warm, woke up in the early hours freezing. I know, it is in the middle of the desert! Walked the whole length on The Ghan (along the platform), what a train
Never went to Alice Spring, don't want to be R-ed by the local Abos.
@@failedparents I don't blame you mate. Its only getting worse and worse there. That's why I left last year.
It's important to note that the railway network pictured is mostly the passenger network. Think it might actually be outdated, too. The freight network is extensive, with major lines to all the capital cities and major ports, in addition to secondary freight lines heading out to our many, many mine sites, towns or depots. The amount of iron and coal we transport simply isn't feasible via road transport.
Railfreight carrying mines produce is quite efficient especially if you use a merry go round system like BR
The rail network is also used extensively in Queensland, NSW, and Victoria for agriculture. A lot of farmers while use a range of single, B-Double and 2-3 trailer road trains to transport hrain to a centralised bunker site near them. Then silos and grain sheds will load grain on trains to be taken to the eastern ports. While not to the sane scale as rail lines to the west that transport minerals. The rail network is still expansive with each town and farming community having a grain bunker site and railway tracks going through towns
Many of those shown are actually just B doubles, = 1½ normal semi trailers, and are common place around built up areas. Full 3 up road trains are the ones to watch for on country routes, 3 full size trailers with converter dollies between them, not superimposed upon each other.
Wait until they find out about trains.
Pretty good summary of why we use roadtrains in Australia. Actually the longest roadtrains are in North-West Australia at 60 metres, they are called mega-quads and haul iron ore. Coincidently they also run the heaviest and longest trains in the world up there at up to 42,500 tonnes and over 230 cars hauling iron ore from the mines to the ports. Kenworth is the #1 seller of class 8 trucks here, they are mainly what you see hauling roadtrains, Volvos aren’t all that common. As for electric trucks, forget it. Only in urban areas.
There are lots of Volvo trucks pulling two 53' trailers in Western Canada in the standard A train configuration. They don't hold up. The local guys pulling Queen City Triples (two fuel tankers and a 53' dry van) only drive Kenworths.
@gm16v149 - As you must already know, Gilbert's Transport operate predominantly Kenworth prime movers; the one that I saw being g prepared was a Mack. I also visited Shaw's Transport in Darwin and they use all Kenworth. One I was told was 'new', it had only done five round trips to Sydney! The manager spoke as though Sydney was just round the corner rather than down the road a few thousand kilometres distant! Very interesting conversations I had with both transport managers who were more than prepared to speak.
Electric bahahahaha
We actually have ultra-quads and super-quads, depending on their axle grouping (tri-axle and Quad-axle) and over all Gross Combination Mass. They are up to 60 metres long. And don't forget Quads. They're only 53 metres.
Therere still a few abab quins around. But mostly gone to A quads.
They existed in Brazil too. Specially in logging and sugar cane transport. You forgot to say that Australia is the most flat continent what is a very advantegeous for hauling cargo in trucks.
It's even better for using actual trains....
One often overlooked advantage of trucks over trains is the fact that trucks can clim steeper grades and make tighter turns. This means building roads and using trucks in mountainous countries is a lot easier than building railroads and using trains, which then have to cover greater distances to cover the same change in elevation. This difference is a lot smaller on flat open ground, where the energy efficiency and potential speed advantage of trains will more than pay for the higher build cost and maintenance of tracks as compared to roads. Australia actually has great geography to build cheap railroads in. Most road trains are going between the densely populated areas on the west coast and the densely populated areas on the east coast. Instead of breaking up and building up road trains on either end, it would be more efficient, both in energy, and in manpower, to put everything in containers and just transfer it all on electric (or even diesel) trains to go across the country. The goods will get there sooner and cheaper, once the infrastructure is up and running.
Brazil is another matter entirely as the topography between the major ports and their hinterlands is very rough, road-trains make more sense there than in Australia IMO.
Well. I know that a lot of road trains go to farms to move cattle and deliver things in remote comunities in the Bush. Only trucks can stand the vibration and rough conditions. I dont know if its more cost or not to maintain heavy train equipment on remote areas like desertes with floods an wild fires year around. Think of that.
In Brazil, there two tipos of RT, two trailers, they can circulate on cities and almost every road by regulation. And there are the 3, 4 and even 8 trailer that transport logging and sugar cane, this in rural areas and remote farmlands and forests and jungles. You didnt see them often. They are far on the brazilian "outback". But its similar in culture, however no asphalt roads or luxuries. Because brazil has a corrupt government state, so bulding roads and infrasctructure for the people is never a priority...
So flat you would think we be able to figure out High Speed Rail between sydney and melbourne by now...
@@mofo78536 You would think so but now that we are going to have windmills and solar only those high speed electric trains might be a problem . Japan and France have been the pioneers of high speed electric and much of their electricity is produced by nuclear power stations .
@@mofo78536we don't need one, get over it
As a combined vehicle driver in the U.S., I can’t imagine having responsibility for so many tires.
artysanmobile.... You can't "imagine having responsibility for so many tires."......because "today's" so called truck drivers in the US, are basically "Morons" (excepting most of the "bull haulers" and the few that eventually make it into Over Dimensional and "Heavy Haul"!!) They can't even begin to compare to the "boomer" generation and earlier generations, who had great work ethics, Lots of "common sense" combined with (for the most part, anyway) good to great mechanical skills.... all combined with a "Can Do" attitude.
Typically 62 wheels for an A triple (semitrailer plus two 5 axle trailers). At truck stops you see drivers going along the vehicle thumping tyres to check pressures
Yes, and for desert travel, there is often up to 8 spare wheels, for replacing flat tyres.
there is a road train in Indonesia. we called it logging truck (triple trailer). located in Riau Province, Indonesia. the one and only road train in Indonesia. the name of the company is PTSI
Something you missed was road trains that have 5+ trailers also have a powered trail unit. basically a trailer with a motor hooked up to the prime mover like a locomotive in a push pull config.
That's awesome, never knew trucks could have that!
Powertrains are a minesite thing theyre 7 or 8 trailers roadtrains on on the hoghway are upto 5 trailers with just a primemover towing
Without our truckers we're screwed.
❤🇦🇺🙏
Same here in N.Z 🇳🇿
`Without Trucks Australia Stops`
Yep 100% I give them the most respect they work long hours to deliver our cars our food well basically everything we buy
Travelling a back road between Glenn Hellen and Papunya years ago (Tanimi dessert about Two hundred km nw of Alice Springs)and was run off the road by one of these road trains. The thing was that the road was so rough and narrow that you would never think that a road train would be there.😂 Bloody tough rigs those trains. You definitely give way no matter if you have right of way.
Another benefit to using a cab-over instead of a long-nose truck is that the cab-over can pull larger loads before it is classified as a road train, allowing it to drive on more roads
you find road trains with up to 5 trailers in very limited parts of Europe (Sweden and Finland) as well, and shorter types of road trains are actually quite popular across both countries
5 trailers? do you have any photos? maximum i've seen is 3
@@Asphroxia ROG tested them within the harbour area of Gothenburg: czcams.com/video/PNykiHkmJV0/video.html
Apart from that you can see them on the Åland archipelago between Finland and Sweden:
czcams.com/video/ov0hMgGEIU0/video.html
czcams.com/video/qjcND5kvAyQ/video.html
@@EnjoyFirefighting Oh how interesting to see! thank you for showing me something new! however that said, as I noticed in the comment's none of these combo's were exactly road legal but still fascinating nonetheless!
@@Asphroxia yeah the one in Gothenburg was only used within the harbour area, which technically also included public roads there, but still a very limited area obviously; And the others were used in close proximity of the ferry ports as well
@Asphroxia nice pfp, did you make it?
On the part regarding the rail networks in upside down land. The other part is that Australia's rail network is horrifically inconsistent with rail spec.
yep... we have 3 rail sizes here... narrow 3'6" - standard 4'8.5" - broad 5'3". Eg: Queensland mainly uses narrow and New South Wales uses standard so trains don't even cross boarders.
The trains will run right over boarders, not a problem. Borders on the other hand...@@scottdouma8161
Clever country!
The Smart State. Lol.@@MegaSkypes
@@MegaSkypes railways are so old, i bet then they were built, the owners of the networks didn´t think they would end up beeing one country one day :D
I would guess that Australia's relatively flat landscape helps. If a road train is 200 t with 700 hp that's only 3.5 hp/t, which will get very slow very quickly on any sort of climb. As long as the roads are level, no problem!
We have road trains in the United States. All states allow doubles with pup trailers. Many western states allow even longer trucks such as pup triples, Rocky Mountain doubles, and turnpike doubles.
Electric Prime movers will never ever replace diesel powered trucks in the bush , maybe in the Capital cites where short haul is the norm , but never in the bush or long distance haulage !
Battery vehicles suck and you're better off with my solution.
How about instead of building roads that cause potholes to exist everywhere, we can build dense, cheap, durable steel guideways everywhere to reduce friction and increase speed & hauling capability with less space, and make sure the steel guideways have a grade-separated right-of-way for them. Also, let's make the road train run with steel wheels on those steel guideways and make sure the power source is an electric powerline instead of a motor that runs out of power. Apparently, Europe already does this even in rural areas while being bigger & poorer than USA and not using road vehicles. Heck, if there's less stops then there's less money to spend. Boom, now the auto enthusiasts can go fast now that traffic is reduced, and if traffic is reduced then the truckers can get to their destinations on time.
Uhhhhh, that's an actual train.
EDIT: What I mean by poorer is having lower nominal GDP.
EDIT 2: @hobo1704 Steel wheels on durable iron tracks have less friction than rubber tires on concrete which is why trains have higher continuous top speed than automobiles. @ryanfrick5451 Extreme construction situations also apply to building anything else including roads.
EDIT 3: If you support auto-dependency, you'll thank me when an idiot gets you in a crash.
Well they can build electric station by using solar panels or maybe Hydrogen version
@@widodoakrom3938 1 MW photovoltaic plant costs about 50M. That would charge a road train in about an hour or so. If medium voltage charging existed. Does photovoltaic even work in Oz? Is it too dusty and dry?
I know that private solar on people's rooftops is being installed faster in Australia than almost anywhere else, and not because of any sort of subsidy program. Just because it's so cheap and so good there.
our roads kill electronics in all vehicles, especially here in Queensland with the worst roads in the country.
While a 'Multi Combination' is considered a Road Train, general use of the term 'road train' in Australia refers to a minimum 'A' triple or 'AB' triple. An 'A' double or 'B' triple here would not generally be referred to as 'trains' in conversation.
i saw about 4 '28 trailers a little while ago carrying oil in the midwest, truly was a sight to behold
My Dad was partially responsible for the advent of triple tractor trailers in the US in the 1970s. He sat across from Jimmy Hoffa a few times and was mentioned in his autobiography. Ironically, I was almost killed by one on St Helens road outside of Portland on my motorcycle many years later.
6:00 I would imagine the popularity of the long nose trucks also has something to do with the huge number of large animals on rural roads: kangaroos, cattle, and camels are super common and I imagine hitting one at 110kmph would suck for the driver in a flat faced truck.
If you hit a kangaroo or a cow, in a heavy vehicle it makes a bit of a bang but rarely causes you to stop. (its not that common, 20 years on the road and only hit 2 'roos)
The popularity of bonneted trucks in rural areas is because the country roads are a bit shite, and if you sit behind the front axle it does smooth out the ride a bit.
Most of the bonnetted trucks in the video are Kenworth's SAR variant. A compromise between the long bonnet conventional, and the cab-over. The short, sloped bonnet and raised cab are the giveaway. The SAR (Short Australian Right hand drive) was developed to enable a conventional to haul a road train, and stay within legal length limits.
Long nose equals longer wheelbase, equals better ride over rough roads.
Truest meaning of “ if we can hitch it , we can haul it “
i have a mate that does in WA, she drives up and takes 3-4 hours to load a train then drives 2 hours to the shipyard to unload and back and forth every day. sometimes there is a cue of truck so she plays on her phone thats how we men through a game we all play lol a cool job and pays really well.
Another factor in the suitability of Australia for road trains is that the interior is mostly very flat. There are mountains running down the east coast of the continent but inland there are few ranges that a road train would struggle to cross so there is not much fuel loss climbing grades..
No but the a few smaller climbs that are around the that road trains do use from time to time are very step climbs and also alot of roads are still dirt which don't hurt fuel costs but does hurt the pocket in blown tyres and sometimes repairs on trailers and prime movers.
In the Canadian Province of New Brunswick we have 'Road Trains' which consist of a tractor and two 53' trailers allowed on our twinned highways. I do believe there has been discussion of trialing three 53' trailers as well. We are a much less dense area of Canada with sparce rail connections as well.
Northern Alberta has or is allowing 3 long trailers on one spot, but it is 2 loaded 1 empty with 2 reefers and a tank trailer one way and the loaded tank and 2 empty reefers returning.
The Long Combination Vehicle configuration with two 53' (16 m) trailers is common in Alberta, too.
@@brianb-p6586
Triple 53s in Saskatchewan, loblaws, I have a video of it leaving their DC in Regina. It's gross max weight is 90,000KGs
I haul two 53s between Edmonton and Calgary nightly.
@philmarwood69 the triple 53' combination was reportedly first tested in 2011, and was a B-train with three-axle trailers and a 90,000 kg maximum combination weight. The pilot program ran between Regina and Saskatoon, with the third trailer taken off (and presumably pulled by another tractor) for the portion within Saskatoon.
Sweden and finland is changing to 32 meter later this week. That will be about the the same length.
While not as extreme as Australia, I have seen the triple trailer configuration in the U.S, state of Oregon. I have not, however, seen triple trailers in any neighboring states. This all leads me to believe that triple trailers are used primarily to facilitate business activities exclusive that are to Oregon. By the way, nice job on your video.
Triples are allowed in Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Colorado here in the west. Wyoming allows Rocky Mountain doubles which is a 53’ trailer with a 28’.
@@TheMagnificentJonnyBYou beat me to it. I live in New York state, where even doubles are restricted, and the first time I saw triple PROPANE TANKERS in Montana was a little disconcerting.
We have some truck-trailer combos up here in Alaska that might qualify as a road train. In the graphic comparing the four largest countries, only the "lower 48" of the US was shown -- the state of Alaska, if put over the rest of the US, would stretch from the east coast to the west coast. There are double and some triple trailer trucks seen here in Fairbanks. As for electric vehicles...batteries don't work well (if at all) when they get cold, which it does get rather cold up here (-30s to -40s F.).
*I used to see road trains all the time in California where I grew up. Up to three trailers. California has a major port where ships come from all over the world to offload and ship out stuff. So it made sense.*
serious question: what does the USA actually export in 2024? besides culture wars
@@jsleeio *Besides Tesla's you mean? That info can be looked up online. I'm not doing your homework for you.*
weather in australia is problematic for all of the infrastructures so railroad networks are realy hard to maintain and also roads so that one reason why they prefer the use of a robust road-train because when there's no road but a path you still can transport goods in remote areas.
Australia is so empty and with so harsh roads that in a real-tv show they showed a 40 years old experienced trucker who thought his delivery will last 1 week and he spent 40 days to deliver a small remote comunity.
FYI - we refer to the trailers as "dogs". The truck is said to be pulling x no of dogs.
Because other countries actually have Trains.
That’s exact what I thought before I saw this comment
Until about the mid 2000 it was semi common to see 2 trailer setups here in the US, they seem to have disappeared in the urban and suburban areas I've lived in
I've noticed that two. I'm often on the interstate between St. Louis and Chicago, two major cargo centers, and I can't remember the last time I saw one.
2 trailers aren't actually considered a road train anymore. Road trains are 3 or more and aren't allowed in urban areas- you will often see the prime mover with two trailers and the road train signs covered/folded in the city- the 3rd trailer (or more) will be left at a staging area on the edge of suburbia and picked up later, or a second prime mover will meet the road train and take the extra trailers.
You should make a video about why trucks don't last long in China and in the worst cases turn into steel pretzels.
Cheap
@@Low760 The ways trucks are used in China even a MAN or a Kenworth will turn into steel pretzels.
thats easy to explain.china believes "gross weight limit" is the point the vehicle cannot move under its own power.thats why in china 2 trucks & 1 car can make highway bridge sections topple over.the toothpaste & rice concrete mixtures dont help the matter much.
@@timkis64 And also take into account that the average mainland Chinese believe in the "Fate Decides" principle instead of "F^ck Around And Find Out" like we Westerners do, doesn't bode well for the overall health of trucks over there too. If a truck's maximum load is 50 tons and they dump 100 tons on it they reason that if Fate would have the truck snapped in two it would have done that long ago. That's why mainland Chinese have a hard time to learn from mistakes and do better next time. They keep repeating the same mistake and hope "FATE" will gift them a different result. In the West we call that Insanity.
@@legiran9564Harmful stereotype. Not only harmful, but simply wrong.
I saw 3 trailers behind a truck while in the USA this year. We were driving down the mountain when we passed it. It amazed me
I remember seeing two trailer trucks when I was younger, haven’t seen a multi trailer truck in a long time
Passed a four trailer road train today while driving from Port Germaine to Adelaide, South Australia.
On the Kansas Turnpike they are allowed to do double 48', triple pups, or even 1 48' and 2 pups. They just get charged more by the axle. There are truck parking areas adjacent to the highways leading into Kansas City and Wichita where they can shed trailers and park them to get back to legal loads. They are also allowed to go so many miles beyond the turnpike, so a lot of trucking companies have their depots within that legal limit so as to avoid the need to shed trailers.
In large parts of Europe, they are now also starting with making road trains normal
in my country with e special driver license you can transport a truck of 25.25 meters and max load of 60 tons
They also exist in Brazil. They are common in sugarcane producing areas in the state of São Paulo, where they are called "Treminhão" (a mix of Trem, for Train, and Caminhão, for Truck)
That's strange because in a video showing photos of quad tip trucks used in mining areas, a Brazilian commentor said it WAS PHOTOSHOPPED. Triples were normal where I grew up in Western Australia and they have quads of everything in the outback
They also exist in Colombia
@@OffGridInvestor you will usually see only doubles on the public roads, I think triple are also allowed, but never seen them. there is some with 6, but they only travel inside private roads.
@@OffGridInvestor Triples are common on sugarcane producing areas. There are even road signs warning about them. Don't remember ever seeing a quad.
HOWEVER, they seem to be something exclusively used for sugarcane harvest. If someone doesn't live near the production areas, it is feasible they don't even know about the Treminhão.
The most tyres I've counted on a road train was 96. That includes all the hidden ones underneath. I was stopped by the roadside for a break and on a phone call when it came by in Broken Hill.
In my state we have gravel trains. Not as massive as they are down under but still pretty big. They are dump bodies usually consisting of the tractor, lead, dolly, pup and can weight 160000 lbs or 80 tons, but with a permit you can run a super train that can weight 198000 lbs or 99 tons. A normal setup is a 47ft lead and 38 ft pup with super trainings running 2 47 ft trailers. Wheels very too where I worked we ran 3 axel truck and trailer with a 2 axel dolly but the super trains were 3 axels on the trucks, trailers, and dolly.
If it counts as a road train to have 2-4 trailers they are extremely common in the us. I have never seen one longer than 4 though.
Typically a road train is at least 2 45 foot trailers connected by a dolly. But we have so many different types of road train combinations its too extensive to list.
(We have shorter “pocket road train” combos too)
The main differences between here and the US is our overall length, weights and how widely used they are.
I run roadtrains with in 15 minutes of the cbd and amongst all the normal traffic 🫣
Wow! It would be a nightmare to overtake this road train on the road.
I've overtaken one of the mine ones with 5 trailers. It was pretty gnarly, the trailers weren't pulling overly straight.
As an Australian travelling across the USA in 1992 I couldn't believe the number of trucks on the road with a single bogie axle trailer running on perfectly decent roads and limited to double nickle speeds. IIRC Freightliners were very common. You have some very big operators there e.g. JB Hunt who I believe had something like 3700 trailers on the road?
Another reason that Aussies don't transport by rail, is that until very recently, there was no gauge standard between competing railroads, which meant that rolling stock loaded with cargo could not travel over the entire rail network. Cargo had to be transferred to gauge-specific rolling stock everywhere these competing gauge railroads met, which added work and time. Highways, on the other hand, don't have a gauge, but merely weight limits per axle. Thus a truck hauling six trailers could go from one side of the continent to the other without any intervening transfers to slow down delivery.
The gauges of Australian railroads was finally standardized, in 1995, but there are still many kilometers of track set up as dual gauge, to accommodate older rolling stock of differing gauge than the motive power of the train.
Doubles and triples exist in the states but are usually pretty restricted as to where and when they can run.
I see triples running on I5 all the time in Oregon.
This is why large capacity adventure motorcycles are needed for long distances in Australia, the less time your on the other side of the road while overtaking the better. Good explanation of our road trains👍
What are you talking about....As I sat here I cycled...yes on a push bike more than 30 000km in Australia...without any incident...The drivers of these monsters are fantastic !!!!
@@truth-Hurts375 Well done, big effort there. And it’s great that they gave you room, sadly many cyclists lose their lives on push bikes each year in Australia. My comments refer to over taking the Road trains. I have done over 100,000 Kms touring Aus over a 40 year period & trust me it’s nerve racking on low powered motorcycles going past road trains. Ride safe.
@@standupmoto it's nerve wracking passing a road train in a car honestly
@@biosparkles9442 Yes agreed.
@@biosparkles9442 was following an oversized load on the Stuart Highway back in August. About 50km outside of Mildura, in a thunderstorm and a driver in a B triple decides, on a solid white line coming up to a rise no less, to try and pass me, the follow car and the oversized load. Of course oncoming traffic meant he had to pull back into the right lane. Even though I had slowed down anticipating this I was still nearly run off the road as I was level with the centre of his middle trailer when he came back across.
I've seen many tractors pulling triples like this in Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico back in the 90's & 2000's.
Thanks for the great video Truck Topia! I have though, seen road trains (3 long trailers) at Zimplats platinum mine operating at their Ngezi area.
A few years ago there was a discussion in Germany about articulated lorries with two trailers. But because only a few routes are designed for it, it was only allowed on a few roads. Most motorway bridges are already at the limit of the load and not even possible for higher weight. It's too narrow for that on country roads and in cities.
We have multiple trailers in the US as well. I've seen up to three. It's actually fairly common. You see cab overs here to all the time.
In America triples are only allowed in a limited number of states.
they are not rated to haul anywhere near as much weight as we do in Australia. Most of the trailers in the US and Canada are twin axles only.
This is bringing up bad memories of an assignment for Diploma of Logistics.
Getting a D11 from South Guildford, Perth to Laverton, WA.
Look that up on a map. We had to work out load height, load weight, load size, what bridges it was crossing and where it was crossing them.
Weight per axle was a factor.
And I was only on the team for working out how we were shipping the thing. No cab, no trunions, no dozer blade too. We trimmed off something like a metre.
Should still be qualified to run a fatigue management program for drivers. No more than fifteen hours driving, breaks of at least 15 min every four hours and you better get that rest.
Might have that wrong.
Brother in law drove one in the 1960s. He was away from home for weeks at a time and my sisters nearest neighbour was 30 miles away so they came back to Britain.
In BRAZIL its common to have trucks with up to 9 axles. We call them bitrem ou tremimhão. Quite used for agricultural transport in not so remote roads.
9 Axle standard in NZ. 56 tonne. Me overtaking a mate. czcams.com/video/SQjAfurulqg/video.html
1:06 in Australia that is commonly known a b-double line haul ( The small trailer at the front is the A and long trailer on the back is the B ) which is extremely common within transport routes between Sydney - Melbourne - Adelaide - Brisbane. A road train is considered to have 2 b trailers or more which generally never travel into metropolitan areas.
You see the two B trailer configurations in Melbourne but not in Sydney.
@@Mike-pf1ru Sydney is the main transport change over point between Melbourne - Adelaide - Brisbane. There are more trucks going thru South West Sydney than anywhere else in Australia so obviously there is two b trailer configurations in Sydney but they are in the outskirts 35km from the CBD. 🤦🏽♂️
Although it's been five years since I last drove around the western US (Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California), at that time it was common to see tractor-trailer rigs of two and sometimes three trailers. Don't believe these are called "road trains" here in the United States and our laws are probably different, but seeing this video makes me want to visit Australia again. I've been three or four times and very much enjoyed it, drove around the Sydney area in the east and Perth in the west, but didn't have a chance to drive all the way across... looks like that'd be a great road trip.
On another channel a few days ago, a trucker answered the question why no electric semi trucks in the U.S..
He said it would take 1.2 GigaWatts of batteries to power a fully loaded 53' trailer and cab. No charging station could supply that much power.
That is the equivalent of powering 1000 average homes using 1.2MegaWats.
Great video well done. Just 2 things: a lot of cab overs in Aus are because of length restrictions. Can have a longer trailer with a cab over. And a lot of trucks you showed where B doubles (and a few B triples). The significance of this is the restrictions are a lot less compacted to road trains.
Cab overs suck I would not do that
@@frostyvt4477 yeah not
mt cup of tea either
Road trains exist in the UK as well - but only for vehicles specifically registered as "Showmans" - moving fairground or circus equipment, and nothing else.
Technicallly they're only supposed to pull one trailer and another on the rear for accomodation like a caravan. But if you've ever seen them driving around then their definition of accomodation is very different 😂
Interesting video. I didn't even know "road trains" were a thing, and now I'm totally here for them.
I can only imagine what an LTL Linehaul network would like in Australia. In some areas of the US we can pull triples 28 foot trailers and turnpike doubles but a majority of places it two 28 foot trailers.
Electric motors do have some good options for heavy hauling as they tend to be able to generate a lot of torque. The biggest issue I can see is power capture.
Given where Road Trains are most used in Australia are some of the sunniest places on earth, fitting solar panels to the cab and/or trailers might be a feasible means to increase battery longevity, if not now, than in the ear future once flexible/ultralight solar panels become proven technologies (but have been built, but are still in the testing stage IMO). Alongside with improvements in battery technology, I can see electric road trains becoming viable in the not so distant future.
malusignatius...... You're completely Delusional!!
My aunt Polly was driving Outback in Australia, when a road train came up behind her! She'd been told to give way! But, her friend started telling her, then screaming, then grab the wheel turning them off the road! Like real train's they can't slow enough to avoid hitting cars!
I drive rocky mountain doubles mostly in Nevada, Utah. 129,000 pounds.
These road trains fascinate me. I want to go to Aussie land drive those trucks
And here is where the Edison motors trucks will come in and take over. Their first production concept truck one it's first hauling of any load weighed 100,000 lbs. and it hauled it with no issues as side from wheel spin in the gravel. It's basically the same concept of a train. A small diesel motor turning a generator and supplying power to the batteries and electric drive motors
Australia had a much more extensive rail network a century ago. It was mostly local lines with excellent coverage and a few interstate lines. The local lines are now mostly gone for unclear reasons - perhaps because of who actually had to pay for the maintenance? Now road trains are used in regions because they don't have to pay the true cost of using and damaging roads.
You obviously are unaware of just how much these road trains contribute in fuel excise and permits. Check it out, it would surprise you. Not to mention that if say a new mine were to open up and they wanted to use public roads, they often have to pay for the upgrade to that road themselves before being granted permission to use it. Let's not forget that road trains also pay a hefty fuel levy on outback roads that never see any maintenance, in addition to having to pay for all the wear and tear to their vehicles.
Also the reasons the regional rail was removed in most areas was that it simply wasn't financially viable once better road networks came into play.
Exactly
Old local lines were all on different gauges across states, which means you couldn’t run a train from one end of the country to the other without having to unload and reload at least once. You don’t have to do that with a truck and trailers, that will just keep rolling. Rail isn’t really viable without lots of customers in close to the stations and each other. At the distances Australia is working at, rail cannot be worth it without a massive freight load, which most of the country can’t generate. A couple of mining companies run private networks to ship ore to the port; but that’s instead of a massive truck fleet using the highway.
And as already mentioned by someone else, the trucks more than pay their way for road use. Some of the roads heavily used by truck traffic are lucky to get any maintenance, so it’s not even like the money is going where it probably should sometimes.
There’s a difference between a bdouble and road train, has to hav a dolly to be classed as a road train
Road trains are amazing to see every time. Canada does double 53's, making them the only country that comes close in length comparison.
I got my Northern Territory C class licence (which covered road trains [prime mover + 3 trailers up to 100M in length]) in Darwin 1976. I took the test in a 6 wheel rubbish truck. The examiner asked me to drive around the block and asked me 3 questions. Job done in about 5 mins. Still a proud owner of that license even though I never drove a road train.
I think it might be good to install solar panels, batteries and electric axles within the trailers, to support the truck with acceleration and deceleration power. Of course there would be some sort of control signal from the truck to the trailers needed, so the trailers know what to do…
The easier way to do as a first step would be to put solar panels on the trailers, some batteries to store the energy and a power line to the truck to supply a electric axle built in the truck… (kind of a hybrid)
That would reduce the amount of freight that could be carried. A better solution would be a diesel electric hybrid.
@jailbird1133 You have 30 sq m for panels on top of each 12 m container and they'd generate around 200 W/sq m = 6 kW peak or 18 kW for an A triple. Batteries could go under the trailer. With regen braking it might produce a useful amount for acceleration.
@@alans9806 All that gear would add to the wieght which them means you need more torque etc to haul the current load i would think
Have you seen Edison Motors electric truck. It has those things
Massively complicates the wiring for the combo, and if you’re running on a lot of dirt; which is fairly common depending on the area; the dust can corrode the wiring. As it is, corroded wiring can cause electrical shorts the whole way along a triple combo, and will usually result in lights failing at several points. If you start relying on that wiring to generate power to keep the truck rolling, you will probably wind up stranded a long way from anywhere.
To be clear, I have had my bunk aircon rewired several times due to dust getting in and corroding wires; and that’s just an inconvenience.
Good video. Being here in Oz and having travelled the major routes frequently, I was wondering how Tarcoola got to be the jumping off point north to Darwin. Tarcoola is a rail siding and the highway goes nowherenear it. Turns out you were looking at a rail map and not the highways actually used by road trains. Same with how the highway goes straight to Kalgoorlie in WA. It doesn't. That again is the national rail route. I guess getting road trains mixed up with train trains can be a bit of a problem with Google maps.
Wasn't that meant to be the rail map though? Like the video was talking about the rail network not covering most of the country when it showed that map.
That makes sense. 👌
In my city we actually have road train buses. 25m long and consisting of 3 parts with a passenger traversable "accordion" between each so it can navigate city roads. Can transport over 150 people at full capacity.
I lived in Wichita, Kansas from 1980 to 1984 and recall seeing triple trailer semi trucks, but only on the Kansas Turnpike.
You got my subscription just for that ending lol like I’m all for coming up with solutions to reduce pollution but only when they actually make sense and actually reduce pollution.
A lot of the trucks you showed are not road trains but B Doubles.
I remember as a kid in the 80's a company called CF (Consolidated Freight, I think) that operated in the Southeast US. It wasn't uncommon to see 2 or 3 smaller trailers. On rare occasions, 2 full sized trailers.
In Canada and US on the Prairies, you can still spot double trailered trucks called B-trains (not to be confused with B trains in Australia)
Why only in Australia? That's always been pretty obvious to me. In a place where you can go 2-3 days without seeing a soul letalone a town. So makes perfect sense to me. Love how they still use cabover's, but what has kinda puzzled me is for trucks that travel such vast distances between civilizations why their trucks don't have larger sleepers. Their sleepers are actually smaller than our standard size 1s here in the states. You'd figure where length isn't an issue that they'd atleast have slightly bigger bunks. As for the electric topic, I don't know why they don't try utilizing a dynamic braking concept like with trains but instead of radiating it off like locomotives do, capture it to help charge the batteries & have a simple electric braking system that works coincide with the air brakes (like on hybrid cars) Having it on all the trailers along with small additional battery bays would highly extend the range, making the charge station issue less of a problem. Shoot- just stopping from full speed would probably charge the batteries all the way up 😂.. Just an idea
They can probably drive eight or ten hours without needing to touch the brakes once. The distances are mind bogglingly vast.
Length in Australia is counted from the bull bar at the front of the cab. So a larger sleeper cuts down on how much freight you can pull. Same reason why a lot of the depot-to-depot Linehaul trucks are cab overs; no big bonnet up front means one more trailer and a few more pallets of stuff in behind. Depending on the company, most drivers can drive for 12-14hrs a day, so you only really need the sleeper for sleeping. It’s not really intended for full time living like the American trucks seem to.
@@Mike-pf1rueh, there are limits to how long you are allowed to drive. Generally, over the course of a day, a driver will have to stop at least twice for breaks, not including the stop to sleep for the night.
Dynamic braking only does so much, and the risk of system failure is rarely worth it. Batteries take up weight that could used for freight, which means you’re taking up cargo space for a system that still can’t generate the necessary range. Same reason they don’t mount solar panels on trailers for charging purposes, too much weight taken up by a system that can’t beat the current method. It also complicates the wiring for the whole combo, which is already a weakness on dirt roads because dirt corrodes the wiring and causes stuff to short out…which you really don’t want 2000kms from help or parts.
There are a couple other places that have road trains. Some places in Canada & United States I believe run two or three 53' full trailers. Here in New Zealand we technically have road trains too, which consist of two 45' full trailers . These units are specifically for logging purposes however, and only operate on private roads. I guess it really depends on what you define a "road train" as.
Twin trailers are legally defined as B Doubles. It also depends on how they are hitched. Road Trains are connected via Dollies, B Doubles via King Pins and turntables....
Wikipedia says "two or more", so I'd say that counts. In Aus we typically have 3 or 4 trailers on the road trains, and in some mining areas they'll go up to 7.
@@biosparkles9442 Wikipedia is just peoples opinion. 2 trailers is B Double.
@@gregorchard7881 Yeah, I'm not talking about B Trains (B Double for Australians). The combinations I've mentioned all have a dolly as the hitch point between each trailer, not a king pin like with B Trains.
I also made sure to say "full trailer" instead of just "trailer", that by default would eliminate B Trains automatically. B Trains have a shorter first trailer, and if you're in N.Z, both the first or second trailer of a B Train unit are actually shorter than a standard full size trailer.
@@biosparkles9442 You guys definitely have the biggest road trains out there, that's for sure!
I wasn't expecting a gorgeous turtle guy when I chose this video. I got lost every now and then and had to replay and look somewhere else to really listen. 😍
I grew up in a small town with a railroad track running through it (in the US). Sometimes when the train whistles blew when I was standing outside, I'd be overcome with the irrational fear of being hit by a "truck-train."
This video would've given six-year-old me a heart attack.
Most of these reasons would apply to Canada and Russia too so I guess the other big reason is since it's a Desert the roads are very flat and most of the time they don't need to worry about roads being washed away.
Your right you cant operate these in winter.
@@hassanalinoo except for monsoon and cyclone seasons
One of the few good things about "that country"
I love seeing a B-triple chugging along the highway. Super impressive 😊
Back during my days on the road I used to frequently cross paths with somebody who used to drive these. He actually called them truck trains.
Australia has a very small rail network that also has multiple gauges of track and loading gauges. The only real workhorse of those gauges is the standard gauge, where BHP runs all American-made equipment to haul Austalia's heaviest of loads. The rest comprises smaller European trains and narrow and broad gauge equipment that isn't compatible with the standard gauge. Australia also, unlike, say, the U.S., doesn't have a vast navigatable river system to rely on. So no large container ships or huge barges.
So Australia's only real option is stringing together a bunch of trailers.
I'm glad you mentioned the standard gauge network, so many people have tried to tell me that Aus doesn't use rail for freight at all and I'm like m8 Oz Minerals would beg to differ on that. Like, people seem to really think that the Darwin-Adelaide rail infrastructure is maintained just so that tourists can take a train trip once a week from Feb to November only????
I’ve also seen these in use on the I-15 east of Las Vegas, though they were only in 2-trailer configurations.
Seeing one of these on a small rural highway is honestly terrifying