Insufficient securing of cargo during transports gives a risk for damages to cargo and railway wagons as well as persons, working in the chain of transports or are involved in any other way.

Besides that great values are at stake when cargo is damaged, cargo coming loose can hit other trains, damage tracks and electric wires and lead to severe accidents. Cargo falling out when opening the doors or sliding walls can injure the unloading personnel.

At inspections of railway wagons carried out by the Swedish Railway Inspectorate and the Swedish Coastguard many wagons with insufficiently secured cargo are often found.

At discussions with personnel involved in loading and securing of cargo the defectiveness is often explained by that it is difficult and costly to secure with the equipment present on the railway wagons today.

The regulations are rather unclear and the practical conditions to do a proper work are missing. This is a problem noted among others by representatives for the industry. When the number of cargo transports is increasing the accessibility on the roads is decreasing and the effect on the environment is increasing.

Due to this it is desirable to transfer more cargo from road to railway. One of the obstacles to do so is the damage on cargo occurring when transported on railway.