Bilevel Rail Car

Bilevel Rail Car

The bilevel car (North American English) or double-decker coach (British English) is a type of rail car that has two levels of passenger accommodation, as opposed to one, increasing passenger capacity (in example cases of up to 57% per car). In some countries such vehicles are commonly referred to as dostos, derived from the German Doppelstockwagen.

The use of double-decker carriages, where feasible, can resolve capacity problems on a railway, avoiding other options which have an associated infrastructure cost such as longer trains (which require longer station platforms), more trains per hour (which the signalling or safety requirements may not allow) or adding extra tracks besides the existing line.

Bilevel trains are claimed to be more energy efficient, and may have a lower operating cost per passenger.

The height of the cars can limit their use, especially in countries with low loading gauges. In some countries such as the UK new lines are built to a larger than standard gauge to allow the use of double-deck trains in future. The high passenger capacity can create flow and problems at train stations when much larger numbers of passengers try to board or disembark at the same time.