Goods, load securing and telescopic loaders in the preparation

If you choose the freight train specialty in the train preparation qualification, you learn a skill that the passenger train specialty does not require to the same degree: to load, unload and secure cargo on cars. Here the core is the same as elsewhere in the trade — thoroughness and systematicity — but the object of work is the cargo instead of the passengers.

§The telehandler as a work tool

Material property

• 01Know the machine's lifting capacity at different arm extensions
• 02Keep an eye on blind spots and colleagues' position during lifting
• 03Distribute the load evenly — uneven distribution can affect the train's handling.
• 04Stop and ask if the load's weight or placement is in doubt

§Why load securing is a trade in itself

Goods that are not properly secured on a railway wagon can shift when the train accelerates, brakes or goes through curves — forces that on a long freight train can be significant. Load securing on railway wagons follows international loading regulations that stipulate how much a load may shift during normal operation and which securing methods — such as lashing, bracing or friction mats — should be used depending on the load's weight, shape and position on the wagon.

§Wagon axle load sets the limit

Each golf course must once a year report its pesticide use for the previous calendar year together with information about the course's areas divided into course elements. Reporting occurs in the Environmental Protection Agency's IT system Greendata in the period January 1 to March 1. The Environmental Protection Agency supervises that reporting takes place and that exposure limits are complied with. At many courses, it is the head greenkeeper who handles the reporting — but the figures come from the entire team's careful recording throughout the season.

§Different types of goods different solutions

Goods vary enormously — from containers and pallets to loose bulk goods and heavy industrial items — and each type makes its own demands on how it is handled and secured. You therefore do not learn one fixed recipe, but a systematic way of assessing loads: how heavy is it, where is its centre of gravity, and what securing method suits this particular load on this particular vehicle.

§Weighing and registration before reading

Before goods are loaded on a vehicle, their weight must be known and recorded — not guessed. It's the prerequisite for both distributing the load correctly on the vehicle and controlling that the total load stays within the vehicle's allowable limits. A habit of estimating weight 'by eye' has no place in the trade, no matter how experienced you are.

§The core is the same as in passenger train preparation

Although cargo securing and machine operation is extra expertise the passenger train specialty does not require in the same way freight train preparation rests on exactly the same foundation as the rest of the trade: coupling brake inspection and systematic inspection before clearance. The cargo is just one more thing that must be in order before you can say the train is ready.

“A freight car with a perfect brake test and poorly secured cargo is still a train that should not run.”