- cross-posted to:
- trains@midwest.social
- cross-posted to:
- trains@midwest.social
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“5.3 m (17 ft 5 in) in the centre” That is indeed very tall. Most trains in Europe are 4.650 m tall or smaller.
Appreciate the conversion to Freedom Units 🫡
What are the engineering factors that lead them to choose that? I assume they don’t have a lot of tunnels. And I guess it would limit high-speed turns, or at least require more banking for the same margin of safety. What advantages do tall trains have compared to long trains? Smaller train station platforms? Must be more than that.
Those are good questions. Crossposted over to !trains@midwest.social to see if anyone over there has answers. The main advantage of tall trains that I know of is the obvious one, you can fit more people into a single car. The Amtrak cars I’ve ridden in in the US are also quite tall. We generally don’t have to worry about banking or tunnels in the midwest, it’s very flat here.
Interestingly, in the US Amtrak is often used by the Amish to get around. That seemed odd to me given their aversion to technology, but what I heard is that it’s not that they’re supposed to completely reject technology, it’s that they’re supposed to use the lowest practical form of technology for a given task. If you’re traveling cross-country, I guess that means you take the train.
