The Continenta "Cut"
Page 50
Page 51
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
w West German Vehicle gulations Concerning Nonrrnan Goods and Passenger flicks take Effect on April 1. 's Article Reviews Past and 'sent German Weight and ngth Restrictions and ggests Possible Overall 2ctions Throughout Europe by Eberhard Midler
BRITISH operators concerned with goods transport on the Continent would do well to study the remodified West German Road Transport Law before letting their vehicles enter the Federal Republic after March 31, 1961. It looks as though 60-ft.-long lorry and trailer outfits will no longer be allowed on West German roads after this date-they are just 11 in. too long.
Under the new regulations, which will take effect on April 1, 1961, the maximum length of vehicles with separate trailers is limited to 59 ft. tin. (18 metres), and the gross train weight is restricted to 32 tons gross, although vehicles not licensed in the Federal Republic are to be permitted to run at 40 tons gross.
So far as articulated outfits, rigid goods vehicles and buses and coaches are concerned, these will fall well within the limits of the regulations. Depending on the number of axles. rigid goods and passenger vehicles up to lengths of 36 ft. (11 metres) and 39 ft. (12 metres) may be operated, the permissible length of articulated vehicles being 49 ft. (15 metres).
No Width Worries
As to the permissible overall width of goods and passenger vehicles, the British operator need have no worry in this respect. The new German regulations allow for an overall width of 8 ft. 24 in. (2.5 metres).
With regard to gross vehicle weights and axle loadings, the West German authorities allow up to 16 tons gross for two-axlecl vehicles, 24 tons for three-axled vehicles and 35 tons for articulated outfits. The Sermissible axle loadings are 10 tons per single axle and 16 tons per bogie.
The above vehicle dimensions, gross weights and axle loadings do. however.
(-1/
apply only to vehicles not licensed in the Federal Republic. This decision seems to have been taken in response to an appeal made on the occasion of the Conference of European Ministers of Transport held at The Hague on October 5, 1960.
At this conference, the majority of the Continental Ministers voted in favour of uniform regulations for lorries, road trains and articulated outfits intended for international road transport. It was further agreed that such regulations be worked out on the basis of the remodified West German Road Transport Law, and be brought into force on January 1, 1966.
Need for Adaptation
In consequence, there would seem to be no course left open to British operators concerned with Continental goods transport other than to adapt their vehicles, in due course, to the proposed regulations, or to avoid going on Continental roads at all after the expiry of the transitional period on December 31, 1965.
In view of this, it is worth getting to know the remodified West German Road Transport Law in greater detail. The sections of the law which took effect on January 7. 1960, specified:
Dimensions and Weights I. Single-axle loading must not exceed 8 tons Loading on driven axles must not exceed .. 10 tons 2 Bogie loading may be lIP to .. 14.5 tons but, if the distance between the two axles is more than 50.39 in, (1.3 metres) the loading may he up to 16 tons 3. Permissible gross vehicle weights: Two-axled vehicles . 16 tons
Three-aided vehicles and above 22 tons
Articulated Outfits 32 tons Vehicle-and-trailer outfits .. 32 tons 4 Overall lengths: Two-aided vehicles .. 36 ft.
Threc-axled vehicles and above 39 ft.
Articulated outfits .. 49 ft.
Vehicle-and-trailer outfits .. 54 ft. 2 in.
5. Overall height 13 ft.
6. Overall width 8 ft. 2u2 in.
Transitional Regulations I. Length:
(a) With effect from July 1. 1960. the maximum
length of road trains is limited to 54 ft. 2 in. (16.5 metres), providing that the vehicles and the separate trailers were registered for the first time after January 1. 1958.
(b)With effect from April 1. 1963, the length of road trains of which the towing lorry or the separate trailer have been registered for the first time before January 1, 1958, is restricted to 54 ft. 2 in. (16.5 metres).
(c) Road trains referred to under 1(b) may be operated from July 1. 1960, to April 1, 1961, at lengths of up to 65 ft. 7 in. (20 metres), and from April 2, 1961. to April 1, 1963, up to 59 ft. 1 in. (18 metres).
2. Weights and axle loadings:
(a) With effect from July I, 1960, the new regulations apply to all vehicles registered for the first lime after January I. 1958.
(b)With effect from April I. 1961. the new regulations shall apply to all types of vehicle registered for the first time before January 1, 1958.
(c) All vehicles listed under 2(13) may, until April 1, 1961, feature the following axle loads and dimensions: Axle loads: 1. Single axle 1. Single axle
2. Bogies 1106 tto°nni.
s Permissible VOSS vehicle weights; I. Two-axled vehicles . .. 16 tons 2. Three-axled vehicles and above 24 tons 3. Articulated outfits .. 35 tons 4. Vehicle-and-trailer outfits .. 40 tons 3. Engine output:
(a) With effect from July 1. 1960. the engine output of solo vehicles, articulated outfits and road trains registered for the first time after January I, 1958. have to be according to the new regulations, which call for a ratio of 6 b.h.p. per gross ton.
Os) With effect from January 1, 1963. the engine outputs of the above classes of vehicle registered before January I, 1958, shall likewise meet a ratio of 6 b.h.p. per gross ton.
4, Third brake:
(a) With effect from July I_ 1960. all vehicles registered for the first time after January I. 1968, are to be fitted with third brakes.
(b) The third-brake regulation shall apply to vehicles registered before January I. 1958. with effect from January 1, 1963.
5. Trailer loadings:
(a) The ratio between the gross weights of the towing vehicle and its trailer must be 1-to-1 ii the trailer was registered after January I. 1957 (1t9h5i7s)Taw has been in force since January 1.
(b) If trailers registered before January 1, 1957 art employed. the 1-to-I ratio is compulsory wit!: effect from April 1, 1963. and in any case A ratio of 1-to1.2 must be strictly adhered tc after April I. t961.
Except with respect to vehick lengths, non-German vehicles usinE West German roads do not seem to Ix too badly affected by the remodifiec Road Transport Law. They arc allowed a transitional period-lastinE until December 31, 1965-in which tc adapt their vehicles to the new regulations, whereas German hauliers art given a maximum period of two year ine months to cope with the new ituation.
Obviously, West German operators o not like the prospect of German oad-traffic police using two different t.pe measures—one for their own eople and one for foreigners—after kpril 1, 1963, to make sure that the tw is obeyed.
They consider the Government's eadiness to grant German operators n extension of the transitional period p to December 31, 1965, for vehicles r road trains employed only on interational road transport a mere farce.
■ s a matter of fact, over 80 per cent. f West German haulage companies o not operate more than one or two aad trains, and their budgets are efinitely too small to allow for the peration of two types of road trains, e., one for national and another for Iternational operations.
In the eyes of West German hauliers ieir Minister of Transport has shown
none-too-friendly attitude towards telttrade by giving "definite preferrice to foreign operators."
Dr. Seebohm
The man in question is Dr. Hans hristoph Seebohm, who took over ; Minister of Transport in 1949. iver the course of 12 years in office, Seebohm has made a number C drastic impositions and restricons, the first of which took effect on pril 1, 1953, when the 73-ft. 10-in.ing two-trailer road trains—which ld been permitted since 1934—were armed from German roads. This, in Ira, led to the introduction of the )-ton road train, which consisted of rigid vehicle towing a three-axled aiter.
With the exception of its 66-ft. 10-in. ngth, this type of train fully cornLied with the specifications laid down by the Economic Commission for Europe on September 16, 1950. These specifications were mainly based on the 1949 Geneva Convention, and were drawn up with the intention of standardizing vehicle weights and lengths on the Continent, but were not ratified by the Federal Republic.
Firmly convinced that heavy road trains were mainly to blame for the poor condition of the roads, the Federal Minister of Transport still favoured the idea of imposing drastic changes, such as doing away with three-axled trailers, reducing axle loadings and gross train weights, and cutting down overall lengths even further.
Despite loud protests from manufacturers and hauliers things developed in the direction desired by Dr. Hans Christoph Seebohm. On March 21, 1956, the "Seebohm train" was born as a means of preserving the road surfaces and giving better traffic flow.
With a total length of a mere 44 ft. 10 in. and a gross train weight of 24 tons, this cut-short road train was legally introduced on January 1, 1958. Hauliers were allowed a transitional period until July 1, 1960, after which date German-registered road trains which did not fit the Minister's tape measure would no longer be allowed on the roads of the Federal Republic.
No Home Demand
With July 1, 1960, lying ahead of them, West German manufacturers could no longer concentrate on the continued development of heavy-duty vehicles because there was no demand for them on the home market. Eventually yielding to the massive protests at home and abroad, the Federal Minister agreed to reconsider vehicle weights, axle loadings and dimensions, and no longer insisted on the introduction of the "Seebohm train."
However, German vehicle manufacturers and hauliers cannot help feeling that they have achieved a Pyrrhic victory. Their suggestion of following the 1949 Geneva Convention by legally introducing the 59-ft. 1-in.-long road train with a combined weight of 32 tons has been turned down and, despite the 13-to-3 vote (Britain abstained, and Holland, Italy and Switzerland voted against) in favour of the rernodified German law, made at the October, 1960, conference of the 17 European Ministers of Transport, further attempts will, no doubt, be made to introduce a "Continental road train" with an overall length of 59 ft. 1 in. and a guaranteed payload capacity of 20 tons.
Main Arguments The 20-ton payload is still one of the main arguments of West German manufacturers and hauliers. They know that the "Continental road train" would be well capable of carrying 20 tons of any kind of goods, whereas the 54-ft. 2-in, train, now legally introduced in the Federal Republic, is just too short to allow 20-ton payload of certain goods.
They have found out that the desired "Continental train " takes only 0.4 sec. longer to overtake than a 54-ft. 2-in.-long road train, and they fail to understand why their 32-ton train is bound to damage the roads more than the 32-ton train now introduced by the Federal Minister of Transport.
Perhaps the answer is this: the standard goods wagons of the Stateowned German Railways are designed for payloads of 20 tons irrespective of the nature of the goods to be transported and, as Federal Minister of Transport, Dr. Hans Christoph Seebohm has a big say in all railway a hairs.
The road-versus-rail fight does not welri to stop at frontiers.