Control car
Control cars can carry passengers, baggage, and mail, and may, when used together with diesel locomotives, contain an engine-generator set to provide head-end power (HEP).
A more recent method is to control the train through a Time-Division Multiplexed (TDM) connection, which usually works with two protected wires.
In North America, cab cars are used primarily for commuter rail and, less frequently, for longer distance trains.
There are both single and bilevel models; styling ranges from blunt ends to newer, more aerodynamic, streamlined cabs.
The Chicago and North Western Railway had 42 control cabs built by Pullman-Standard in 1960, which eliminated the need for its trains or locomotives to be turned around.
During the mid-1990s, as push-pull operations became more common in the United States, cab-cars came under criticism[2][3] for providing less protection to engine crews during level crossing accidents.
This criticism became stronger after the 2005 Glendale train crash, in which a Metrolink collided with a Jeep Grand Cherokee at a level crossing in California.
Ten years later, in early 2015, another collision occurred in Oxnard, California, involving one of Metrolink's improved "Rotem" cab cars at the front of the train hitting a truck at a crossing.
From the 1970s until 1999, the Long Island Rail Road used a number of older locomotives converted to "power packs".
The original prime movers were replaced with 600 horsepower (450 kW) engines/generators solely for supplying HEP with the engineer's control stand left intact.
They were eventually retired in 1995 upon the arrival of the EMD F59PHs and subsequently scrapped, except for one F7A and one F7B, which were sold to Tri-Rail and the Ontario Northland Railway, respectively.
[7] Amtrak developed their Non-powered Control Unit (NPCU) by removing the prime mover, main alternator, and traction motors from surplus EMD F40PH locomotives.
A floor and roll-up side-doors were then installed to allow for baggage service, leading to the nickname "cab-baggage cars" or "cabbages".
In Belarus, as part of push-pull trains, control and intermediate cars from DR1 DMUs manufactured by the Riga Machine-Building Plant (RVR) are used.
The main reason was concerns about the greater tendency of trainsets that do not have a traction unit at the head of the train to derail.
The length of train consists in push-pull operations was originally limited to 10 cars for reasons of guidance dynamics.
A special circumstance is the ICE 2, which may operate with the control car in the lead at up to 250 km/h (160 mph) on the recently built high-speed lines.
With the purchase of the former East German carriage series from the DB, called "Halberstadters", 27 control cars serialed Bybdtee arrived in Hungary.
Iarnród Éireann formerly operated Mark 3 Control Cars from 1989 until 2009: In Italy, the first push-pull trains began to run after World War II.
Driving cars can be recognized because of the "np" in their identification number and usually also have a dedicated compartment for bicycle and luggage transportation.
These are operated by the federal railway system (SBB) as well as various private railroads throughout the country (including narrow gauge lines) and into France, Germany, and Italy.
The Zürich S-Bahn trainsets with Re 450 work in fix consists of Re 450 - B - AB - Bt but intermediate cars and driving trailers are numbered as coaching stock.
Older driving trailers, mostly BDt EW I/II and a few remaining Dt of SBB can be used with Re 420 and RBe 540 and some motive power of private railways.
The BLS operates four groups of driving trailers: Südostbahn had a fleet of ABt for their BDe 4/4 but they will soon be fully replaced by FLIRTs.
The narrow gauge Zentralbahn ABt can control HGe 101 (ex SBB), De 110, BDeh 140 (ex LSE) and the new "SPATZ" ABe 130.
The Rhaetian Railway (RhB) has, besides the ABDt that work with Be 4/4 511-516, a group of driving trailers that can be used with their Ge 4/4 I, II and III locomotives.
These allowed a train driver to remotely control the regulator and reverser of a suitably equipped locomotive.
[citation needed] The Mark 5a sets formerly operated by TransPennine Express include a purpose built Driving Trailer.
A Driving Van Trailer or DVT is a more modern type of control car, purpose-built to include space for baggage and a guard's office.
Control cars exist on all push-pull trains operated by Israel Railways, as well as their Siemens Desiro electric multiple unit sets.
