Shunting

Eurostat/ITF/UNECE definition: operation of moving a rail vehicle or set of rail vehicles inside a railway station or other railway installations (depot, workshop, marshalling yard, etc.). General definition: the movement of rail vehicles, usually within a shunting yard or similar, to rearrange them for whatever reason. For example, freight trains that consist of single wagon loads must be made into trains and divided according to their destinations. Thus the cars must be shunted several times along their route (in contrast to a block train, which carries, for example, automobiles from the plant to a port, or coal from a mine to the power plant). This shunting is done partly at the start and end destinations and partly (for long-distance-hauling) in marshalling yards. According to EU legislation, shunting is to be supplied to the Railway Undertaking. Where an Infrastructure Manager offers this service, it shall supply it upon request. One problem here is the definition of 'shunting services', which varies from country to country, is more or less finely differentiated, and may include: access and use of the installations for the formation of trains, train marshalling, shunting engines (both for shunting freight wagons and for reversing passenger trains) and the parking of rolling stock.