The window glass that is always attached to the train cars that you ride in. Did you know there are various types?
AGC glass is indispensable for ensuring the safety and comfort of trains.
Question1What kind of glass is used in railway vehicles?
The type of glass used is determined by the location of the window in the railway vehicle and the specific characteristics required for that location.
For the front of the lead car, specifically the glass in front of the driver’s cabin, the most important aspect is ensuring the safety of the driver. The glass should be hard to break even if a stone hits it, and even if it does break, the stone should not penetrate the glass. It is also important that the glass does not shatter into fragments. If the driver were to get hurt by broken glass, it would be a disaster.
That is why the glass used in the driver's seat is AGC's laminated glass Lamisafe™.
A special film is placed between two sheets of glass to prevent the glass from breaking or shattering. Furthermore, in the case of high-speed trains, the impact of a stone collision is greater due to the high speed, so there are also cases where “laminated glass” with three or more layers of glass is used.
Additionally, having a clear forward view at all times is crucial for safe driving.
Have you ever seen the windows of your house fog up in cold weather or when the humidity is high? If this happened to the glass in front of the driver's cabin, it would be difficult to see the road ahead and it would be difficult to drive safely. The glass that prevents this fogging up of the windows is the Heatlight™ W electric heating anti-fogging glass, which incorporates a heating function into laminated glass.
This glass has the following features: “hard to break, and even if it does break, it does not shatter”, and “does not fog up at any time”. This type of glass is used in the driver's cabin of railway vehicles.
Question2What kind of glass is used in the windows of the passenger cars?
The most important requirement for passenger car windows is the safety of the passengers.
AGC's tempered glass Temperlite™ is more than three times stronger than ordinary glass, and even if it breaks, the fragments become small grains, protecting the passengers from serious injury.
Recently, more trains are designed without curtains or blinds on the windows to create a cleaner look inside the car. However, without curtains, sunlight can enter directly and make the interior very hot.
This is where AGC's heat-absorbing glass comes in. By adding heat-absorbing components to the raw materials and coloring the glass green or gray, it absorbs infrared rays that cause temperature increases, helping to maintain a consistent interior temperature. Nowadays, this type of glass is used in most railway vehicles, including commuter trains.
Furthermore, UV-blocking glass and the dimmable glass Digital Curtain™, which allows passengers to adjust the external light according to their preferences, also contribute to creating a comfortable interior environment.
Question3What types of railway vehicles use AGC glass?
AGC’s glass is used in both the "Hokuriku Shinkansen" and the “Seven Stars in Kyushu” luxury train.
Did you know that most windows have a mark in the bottom right corner?
If you see the letters “AGC” there, it means it’s an AGC product.
Check it out!
