page_title: Bilevel rail car
hierarchical_section_title: Bilevel rail car
caption_attribution_description: English: A so-called push-pull-train of Rostock's suburban rail networkDeutsch: Rechts fährt gerade eine S-Bahn aus Warnemünde nach Rostock Hbf. Zur Hansesail war es üblich mit 5 Doppelstockwagen fahren zu lassen weshalb diese S-Bahn so lang ist. Außerdem wurden während der Hansesail die RegionalExpresszüge aus/nach Berlin bis Warnemünde verlängert, weshalb links ein Klimatisierter Zug zu sehen ist.
context_page_description: The bilevel car or double-decker train is a type of railcar that has two levels of passenger accommodation, as opposed to one, increasing passenger capacity. 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, more trains per hour 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. A bilevel car may carry up to about twice as many as a normal car, if structure and loading gauges permit, without requiring double the weight to pull or material to build. However, a bilevel train may take longer to exchange passengers at each station, since more people will enter and exit from each car. The increased dwell time makes them most popular on long-distance routes which make fewer stops.
  Bilevel cars may not be usable in countries or on older railway systems with low loading gauges.
context_section_description: The bilevel car (American English) or double-decker train (British English and Canadian English) is a type of railcar 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. A bilevel car may carry up to about twice as many as a normal car, if structure and loading gauges permit, without requiring double the weight to pull or material to build. However, a bilevel train may take longer to exchange passengers at each station, since more people will enter and exit from each car. The increased dwell time makes them most popular on long-distance routes which make fewer stops (and may be popular with passengers for offering a better view).
  Bilevel cars may not be usable in countries or on older railway systems with low loading gauges. With the exception of Bombardier MultiLevel Coaches, this includes much of the rail network in the Northeastern United States, including the Northeast Corridor, as well as almost the entire British rail network. In some countries such as the UK new lines are built to a higher than the existing structure gauge to allow the use of double-deck trains in future.
caption: Bombardier double-deck rail cars in Germany, used extensively on suburban trains (here: Rostock S-Bahn)
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