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A twin unit or twinset is a set of two
A twin unit or twinset is a set of two railroad
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
cars or locomotive
A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...
s which are permanently coupled and treated as if they were a single unit. A twinset of cars or coaches can also be called a twin car. In US passenger railroad parlance, twin units are also known as married pairs.
On passenger railroads, light rail, and monorail
A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and "rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam.
Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, ...
services, married pairs may have machinery necessary for full operation of the cars split between them. Items that are typically shared include transformer
A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...
s, motor controllers, dynamic braking
Dynamic braking is the use of an electric traction motor as a generator when slowing a vehicle such as an electric or diesel-electric locomotive. It is termed " rheostatic" if the generated electrical power is dissipated as heat in brake grid r ...
grids, cabs, current collectors, batteries, and air compressors. This provides significant savings in both cost of equipment and weight, which increases performance and decreases energy consumption. The cost of operating such a pair may be slightly higher when the extra car in such a pair is not needed to meet level-of-service demands at a particular time.
See also
* Cow-calf *Multiple unit
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 contr ...
References
Rolling stock {{rail-transport-stub