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The article describes trends in the technical development of fixing devices for containers, called a "fitting retainer". Containers have gradually conquered the transportation market in the USA, Europe and Asia. And each means of transport: road, marine and railway one needed devices to fix containers, because all participants of the transportation process are responsible for the safety of goods. In the period of the appearance of container transportations, commercial agreements between operators and transport companies played an important role, influencing the unification of overall dimensions and weights of containers and transported goods, which was a prerequisite to create fittings for containers and, as a result, fitting retainers for all means of transport. The domestic regulatory framework also required updating, monitoring a large number of flat wagon manufacturers and taking into account severe operating conditions of containers throughout the entire railway network. With the rapid development of the container transportation market on long routes from China to Europe and the transition to the technology of accelerated container train sets based on high-speed flat wagons, it becomes necessary to solve the issue of wind protection of empty containers and low loaded containers, taking into account the speed of up to 140 km/h. Well-known technical solutions from different manufacturers to fix containers in retainers of special shapes and with additional fixing through a retainer hole have been analyzed. An original technical solution of the fixing device is proposed, performed in the flat wagon opposite each fitting to install the container. By turning this device using man power, each corner of the container can be fixed to prevent empty containers from falling (tippling) from flat wagons when exposed to wind loads, which meets requirements of safety, operation and reliability of fixing the container in the flat wagon.

Modern requirements for the organization of the transportation process depend on technological and infrastructural aspects. Traditional approaches to regulating car flows, including using methods to minimize empty runs of rolling stock, lead to the loss of profitable options for JSC Russian Railways to interact with customers in terms of organizing exports and imports with subsequent sale of these goods (products) in Russia. The technology of transporting coal in «Open Top» containers with back loading with imported cargo has advantages arising from foreign and domestic experience in implementing such transportation. This article focuses on the economic aspects of the technology under consideration, including reflecting the specifics and prospects for the development of container transportation of coal. A comparative analysis of economic indicators for several options for transporting coal is performed. For customers of railway transport and JSC Russian Railways, the feasibility of organizing freight transportation in «Open Top» containers with the formation of closed routes with back loading with imported cargo to an intermediate station is substantiated. It is noted that the savings of the closed ring route of coal and anhydrous calcium chloride in containers reach from 30% to 65% compared to the use of universal gondola cars. Given the current conditions of congestion of the railway infrastructure, the use of «Open Top» containers for the transportation of various goods is a key advantage of ring routes. This is important to consider when developing export-import relations with friendly countries.