In the past decade there has been a significant increase in moving municipal solid waste (MSW) on railroads. One of the vehicles commonly seen in this service is the 20’ MSW container.
The more commonly seen ISO 20’ intermodal containers are used for transporting new-products from country-to-country. The 20’ MSW intermodal container differs greatly from its ISO 20’ relative by being much taller and having a top lid. The 20’ MSW containers are 12 foot tall (compared to 8.5’ tall on the ISO 20’s).
20’ MSW containers usually travel in large blocks or solid trains on 80- and 89-foot flat cars. There have been no reported cases of double stacking as this would probably exceed most railroad height restrictions.
The MSW container design is based on a steel frame incorporating ISO components for interchangeability. Each container is equipped with fork lift pockets for loading, unloading and moving around transfer facilities. Each container is also equipped a fire port on one side.
