Articulated Rail Cars – Transit 101

So boys and girls, lesson for today; what is an articulated car?

I ask this because a TransLink type said that the new Mk.5 SkyTrain cars are articulated, which they are not.

Definition:

Articulated cars are rail vehicles which consist of a number of cars which are semi-permanently attached to each other and share common Jacobs bogies or axles and/or have car elements without axles suspended by the neighbouring car elements. They are much longer than single passenger cars. Because of the difficulty and cost of separating each car from the next, they are operated as a single unit, often called a trainset.

The difference between an articulated tram and a Bombardier ART Innovia 300/Movia car is that on an articulated tram, one truck or bogie supports two bodies. With the ART Innovia/Movia cars, one body is supported by two trucks.

Another version of an articulated tram, where one body section is supported by the two adjacent body sections, with their own trucks or bogies.

The non articulated Innovia/Movia light metro car. Notice that each body section is supported by two truck or bogies. The Innovia 300 trains (the real name of the MK.5 cars), have coaches with open vestibules at both ends, semi permanently coupled into 5-car train-sets.