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Autorack
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===New designs and current usage=== {{Update|section|date=July 2016}} [[File:Articulated auto-rack cars-7.jpg|thumb|[[Articulated car|Articulated]] auto-rack]] [[File:Autoracks in LA 3-22-99.jpg|thumb|Autoracks wait to be unloaded in a [[BNSF Railway]] facility in [[Los Angeles]], [[California]].]] [[File:Autorack terminal handler.jpg|thumb|Autorack terminal handler]] Railroads of today are still grappling with the problem of loading more and larger vehicles onto autoracks. One popular solution is to create a double-length car that is [[Articulated car#Freight cars|articulated]] over a single [[Bogie|middle truck]] so that each half of the car is about the same length as a conventional autorack. These cars, which can be seen in operation on many of the railroads of the western US (but also seen occasionally in the [[Great Lakes]] and [[Southern Ontario]]), are brand named ''AutoMax'' cars. These cars, built by [[The Greenbrier Companies|Gunderson]] (a subsidiary of [[The Greenbrier Companies]]) measure {{convert|145|ft|4|in|m|1|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|20|ft|3|in|m|abbr=on}} tall;<ref name="rack">[https://web.archive.org/web/20111031040725/http://worldtraderef.com/WTR_site/Rail_Cars/Guide_to_Rail_Cars.asp Guide to Railcars]</ref> they feature adjustable interior decks to carry up to 22 [[light truck]]s and [[minivan]]s. Thrall produced a competing articulated two-unit design. For greater flexibility and to improve car utilization, single-unit autoracks are being built that allow the number of loading levels, or decks, to be easily changed between bilevel (two) and trilevel (three), depending on which is in demand at the time. Greenbrier calls their version of this multilevel concept the ''Multi-Max'', while the Union Pacific Railroad builds their own version, called the ''AutoFlex''. The railroads have become the primary long-distance transporter of completed automobiles. Using the enclosed tri-level autoracks, they are able to provide lower costs as well as greater protection from in-transit damage (such as that which may occur due to [[weather]] and [[traffic]] conditions on unenclosed [[Semi-trailer truck|truck]] [[semi-trailer]]s). When the railroad companies went from the open autoracks to the enclosed, they were able to reduce freight damage claims. The enclosed rail cars prevented the autos from getting damaged from falling or thrown rocks, bullets and other forms of vandalism. They also stopped the theft of autos and parts from autos and kept [[hobo]]s from living in the automobiles.
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