Every time I see the title of this thread, I wonder where I can buy a pair of international railroad shorts. I bet they look pretty sharp. Maybe they’re decorated with logos of Santa Fe, Deutsche Bundesbahn, SNCF, etc.
Perhaps the bridge across the Tombigbee collapsed because the Warrior River (former Southern 10-6) was about to cross it?[:)]
Every time I see the title of this thread, I wonder where I can buy a pair of international railroad shorts. I bet they look pretty sharp. Maybe they’re decorated with logos of Santa Fe, Deutsche Bundesbahn, SNCF, etc.
OK I’ll bite. Give me suggestions as to what to re name this thread.
Hey, no reason to re-name the thread. Everyone knows what it means.
I was just making a silly joke.
International hot pants
International short shorts
International Gorts
The list is near endless - imagination rules.[:D]
Austria has holed thru both bores of 32.8 Km of the new Koralm tunnel. 18+ years for when project first exploratory tunnel started. A harbinger of the new Gateway Hudson river tunnel bores ?
https://www.railwaygazette.com/infrastructure/koralm-tunnel-breakthrough/56768.article
This is part of the Koralmbahn project, which is worth reading about. When finished (I think now pushed back to 2027) this will save about 20 minutes of trip time, but I think the greater significance is that it will connect with the (as yet unaddressed here) Semmering Base Tunnel. That gives a combined through route with no more than 0.85% grade … specifically noted as allowing heavy (for Europe) freight trains to run through with one locomotive. This I think is far more significant than the nominal ~35min time saving the SBT will provide.
To those familiar with the history of the Semmering Pass line, these two projects are amazing; I am tempted to say the base tunnel there is still more comparable to Gateway as a major improvement…
This is the only route cleared for double stacks in Europe https://www.railway-technology.com/projects/betuweroute/
China CRRC is delivering a 6 unit freight unit rated at 28.8 MW = 38.6 HP. To pull a 10,000 tonne train ( that is metric tonnes )
This is a 6 section loco. Wonder if it is semi coupled. Cannot believe how it will not pull a drawbar or break a knuckle ?
The indicated horsepower (which is your number x 1000, of course) is not that ‘amazing’ if you treat it as an A-B-B-B-B-A set, which by axle count appears to be what it is (B trucks are visible in some of the pictures). I would presume drawbars and some sharing of components between units, for example access to pantographs, both to save cost and distribute adhesive weight.
There will be the usual constraints on continuous power imposed by the catenary and wayside architecture. My first opinion is that the high horsepower is intended more for higher speeds than for additional peak tractive effort, and my second opinion is that dividing this into smaller units with good DP control, something the Chinese have surely mastered by now, would have been wiser operationally (if not quite as impressive for propaganda).
Will it work ? German city is going to try using trams to deliver freight. This is an expansion of the Dresden delivery of auto parts.
https://www.railjournal.com/passenger/light-rail/freight-tram-trials-planned-in-karslruhe/
Australia completes first section of inland freight line.
https://www.railwaygazette.com/infrastructure/inland-rail-first-phase-completed/57374.article
For those who are not famaliar with the project here is a link to the whole project. Note this will allow feight to go Melborne - Brisbane but will allow freight to bypass Canberra, Sydney and Newcastle.
The latest episode of NHK World Japan Railway Journal mentions that a local shortage of truck drivers (among other things) may divert more freight from truck to JR Freight (they call ‘modal shift’). I’m not up on the latest economics of this, as I thought that JRF was government owned and not technically profitable. Anyone more familiar with this?
The EU finally gets just one overall certification authority (ERA) . Maybe any of the differences of various equipment and other items will start to come together.Maybe finally an automatic coupler for instance ?
https://www.railjournal.com/policy/era-becomes-european-unions-sole-certification-authority/
Swiss Federal Railways(SBB) and German Federal Railways(DB) are not waiting around for the ERA, CER, or UIC to develop an autocoupler. Both have chosen a variant of the Scharfenberg autocoupler, suitably beefed-up, for operational testing in real life condistions. SBB Cargo has equipped 75 freight cars, 6 road locomotives, 4 roadswitchers, and 2 tractors with this coupling systems and are testing it in everyday service, with the only restriction being the cars are used in domestic service only. I think all three Germanic companies, DB, SBB and ÖBB, will begin the conversion process as soon as the durability of the coupler is proven.
Are either of them using the ‘hybrid’ coupler for locomotives, with the built-in winch for the ‘drop coupler’ head that exposes conventional draw hook connection?
Actually, I’m not sure how much these Swiss crossing devices would even help in the U.S. I think that the biggest grade crossing issues in the U.S. are NOT a lack of protection but rather motorists intentionally and willfully disregarding signals.
As a life-long rail enthusiast and rail advocate, I have personally witnessed a lot of near misses at grade crossings and it’s my best guess that most of the other people on this list have as well.
Regards,
Fred M. Cain
Uunconfirmed reports of Russian freight derailment near Ukrain border.
Who would have thunk it? For whatever the reason.
Plus, you know, the part where the lower 48 is 206 times the size of Switzerland.