In order to increase the safety of freight transported in box wagons, it is proposed that sandwich panels be used as flooring. To substantiate the proposed solution, mathematic modelling of the dynamic loads on the box wagon in the vertical plane has been carried out. It has been taken into account that the wagon is loaded with conditional freight at the full payload capacity. The results of the modelling have demonstrated that the use of the sandwich-panel floor can reduce the accelerations acting on the freight by 11.5% compared to those at a typical loading diagram. The thickness of a sandwich panel has been determined with the Bubnov-Galorkin method. The article also presents the results of determining the strength of the sandwich panels placed in the box wagon body. The calculation has been implemented by the finite element method in SolidWorks Simulation. It has been found that the maximum stresses in the sandwich panels are about 118 MPa, that is, they are lower than the permissible ones almost twice. The maximum displacements occur in the sandwich panels located in the centre of the wagon body and they are equal to 2.97 mm.

The results of the study will contribute to the development of recommendations for improving the operational efficiency of box wagons and can also be used for designing their modern structures.