A barrier vehicle (BV), barrier wagon, match wagon or translator coach is used to convert between non-matching

railway coupler A coupling (or a coupler) is a mechanism typically placed at each end of a railway vehicle that connects them together to form a train. A variety of coupler types have been developed over the course of railway history. Key issues in their desig ...

types. This allows locomotives to pull railway vehicles or parts of a train with a different type of coupler. A match wagon has an identical

dual coupling Different types of railroad rolling stock have different couplers depending on the purpose and type of equipment being used and its intended destination. European rolling stock tend to use buffers and chain couplers while American rolling stock use ...

at both ends.

Use

They are often found on

empty coaching stock Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United St ...

moves where freight locomotives need to transport coaching stock fitted with

Scharfenberg coupler The Scharfenberg coupler (german: Scharfenbergkupplung, abbreviated ''Schaku'') is a commonly used type of fully automatic railway coupling. Designed in 1903 by Karl Scharfenberg in Königsberg, Germany (today Kaliningrad, Russia), the coupler ...

s and other automatic couplers. The use of barrier coaches has evolved with a general move from conventional passenger trains consisting of locomotive-hauled coaches, to trains consisting of

multiple units A multiple-unit train or simply multiple unit (MU) is a self-propelled train composed of one or more carriages joined together, which when coupled to another multiple unit can be controlled by a single driver, with multiple-unit train contro ...

Liveries

These vehicles tend to be neutrally liveried or in some cases are painted with the livery of a particular

rolling stock company A rolling stock company (ROSCO) or rolling stock leasing company owns and maintains railway engines and carriages which are leased to train operating companies who operate the trains. Africa * Sheltam Grindrod * Swifambo Rail Leasing Austral ...

. For example,

Porterbrook Porterbrook is a British rolling stock company (ROSCO), created as part of the privatisation of British Rail. Together with Angel Trains and Eversholt Rail Group, it is one of the three original ROSCOs. Porterbrook was established in March 199 ...

use corporately-liveried examples for delivery of rolling stock and for transfers for refurbishment and maintenance.

Gallery

File:Bounds Green Carriages 3.JPG,

Bounds Green TMD Bounds Green TMD (also known as Bounds Green Train Maintenance Centre) is a traction maintenance depot situated in Bounds Green, North London. The depot is to the immediate north of Alexandra Palace railway station. It is presently operated by ...

, London: windowless barrier coaches for moving Mk4 passenger stock fitted without buffer and chain couplers File:York Road Match Wagon.jpg, A barrier vehicle at

NI Railways NI Railways, also known as Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) ( ga, Iarnród Thuaisceart Éireann); and for a brief period Ulster Transport Railways (UTR), is the railway operator in Northern Ireland. NIR is a subsidiary of Translink, whose parent ...

' York Road yard. It has an

instanter Buffers and chain couplers (also known as "buffers and screw", "screw", "screwlink", and "English" couplers) are the de facto International Union of Railways, UIC standard Railway coupling, railway stock coupling used in the EU and UK, and on som ...

coupler and buffers at one end for use by 111 Class or 201 Class diesel locomotives and

Dellner coupler Dellner Couplers AB is a Swedish original equipment manufacturer of train connection systems as couplers, gangway systems and dampers. The headquarter of the company is located in Vika in the Falun Municipality. Dellner is owned by the investm ...

s at the other end for use with DeDietrich carriages.

References

Railway coaches of the United Kingdom {{rail-transport-stub

Use

Liveries

Gallery

See also

References