Retarder (railroad)

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Classification bowl of Kornwestheim classification yard (near Stuttgart, Germany). Two retarders are visible in this photo.

In rail transport, a retarder is a device installed in a classification yard used to slow the speed of freight cars as they are sorted into trains. Each retarder consists of a series of stationary brakes surrounding a short section of each rail on the track that grip and slow the cars' wheels through friction as they roll through them. Modern retarders are computer controlled to apply a precise amount of pressure on the wheels so that cars rolling down a yard's hump are slowed to a safe speed for coupling with cars already standing on the yard's tracks.

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