Another suggestion post, huh? So, the point i'd like to make is that perhaps eventually, hazmat cargo will be added to the Extended. Gasoline is already a hazmat cargo, oil too, but the point is, it's not "hazmat" yet, it's just a plain cargo. Hence, i present you THIS:
https://mintrans.gov.ru/documents/7/827
A Mintrans rules of hazmat cargo transportation by rail vehicles, straight from 2008. It has a lot of totally 100% Russian PDFs that should be translatable using modern tools, because there's just too many good points about it. I believe in two things - Russia is BIG with humongous government-regulated railways and lots of interesting cargoes, and that it'd be pretty painful, almost unrealistic to implement all of these rules, so it can stay as a reference material. Additionally, it's an amendment, so it doesn't cover all the hazmat goods.
The actual point is - pakset authors should be allowed to set the hazmat class for cargo, the available formation rules, the cargo matrix, the transfer availability, the additional cargo loading ability.
Interesting examples from PDF Правила перевозок опасных грузов по железным дорогам:
- According to paragraph 3.1.14 (of paragraph 3 - Explosives) the transporting of explosive cargo in direct mixed water-rail mode, narrowgauge (mixed standard-narrowgauge mode included), international export rail transport (aside from specific cargoes from table 10.1), rail-owned ISO containers, and in small quantities (aside from case of 3.1.13 - delivery with specialists) is strictly forbidden.
- Needless to say, the following paragraph 3.2 covers the required markings, which could be added as either a sign to existing wagons (which colors itself to specific hazmat class sign according to cargo), or as a separate wagon with aforementioned signs
- Table number 1 shows the minimum number of coverage (non-hazmat or empty) wagons required to be placed in specific places around the explosives. For example, mandatory at least 3 coverage at tail, 3 coverage after the locomotive, etc. Lol, for specific cargo in paragraph 3.9.2 there are actually 5 wagons required after the locomotive if the locomotive is steam powered, 3 for the others
- There's also a PDF Приложение 4, that shows compatibility between different hazmat cargoes in one train, UN identifiers
- Oh, i totally lost the point about the additional cargo loading ability. By that i mean once the cargo was loaded at point A to be delivered to point B, the wagon must not be touched and loaded with additional cargo of different or same type
The rationale for me using Mintrans documents is simple - they are kind of straightforward, you read them and feel all the charred, corroded, smashed, exploded corpses of unfortunate workers that were harmed in the writing of all these precautions. You know what they say here? Accident safety was written in blood. Besides, Russian railways were always owned by government, so nobody has to deal with, for example, a million signal systems.
Also, i'd like to note that, as far as i remember, it is also forbidden to attach long and poorly fixed cargo like pipes, timber, platforms with vehicles and whatever else that can slide out of its respective wagon in an event of a sudden stop to inhabited (passenger) wagons and consists, at least uncovered. Even though i'm sure that the mixed passenger-cargo trains are pretty rare both in game and real life, this makes a lot of sense really
The pakset authors could just mandate that all gasoline cargo vans can only couple with themselves. That would be easy to do.
Quote from: prissi on May 21, 2025, 12:01:35 AMThe pakset authors could just mandate that all gasoline cargo vans can only couple with themselves. That would be easy to do.
That's a half-measure:
- It is limited to cargo, aka pain in the you know what if you need to implement multiple hazmat wagons or universal cargo wagons (in real life some hazmat goods use non-specific vehicles)
- Doesn't exclude the ability to buffer the chained hazmat wagons and attach something else that in real life is forbidden under pretty much any jurisdiction, like long goods or passenger wagons
- Doesn't allow for cargo exclusivity specification
- Doesn't allow for exclusive point to point (excluding the possibility of additional extraneous loading procedures) delivery
- In general is unrealistic, because like i mentioned, in real life some hazmat cargo is delivered using an otherwise regular wagons. For example cisterns get their cargo availability status from additional features, material used in its construction and whether the possible residue from historical delivery can taint the cargo laden. Corrosion-resistant, heated, cryogenic, food-grade, etc.
I see such a system as assigning a specific status to the convoy, that either allows or excludes coupling set of wagons or delivering set of goods. Such a status must be formed from vehicles used and their particular formation (aka passenger, freight, and ughhh... special?), goods allowed (passenger, freight-passenger, freight or mixed-freight, hazmat aka covered) and goods laden (i.e. specific hazmat class once the gasoline/oil/chemical goods were loaded, exclusive hazmat class once the exclusive hazmat goods that forbid the train or specific cargo compartment for extraneous or additional cargo to be loaded (i.e. explosives and explosive chemicals, biohazard, special cargo (currency, diamonds, etc.))
I would like to point out additional need for convoys to have an external "sudden stop" (i.e. event that could caused the convoy to halt with subnormal deceleration rate) status, that could, for example, be used to simulate the loss of fragile cargo (or hazmat goods WITH EXRTEME FINES MUHAHAHAHA) in the case of such an event