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One interesting thing about the Swiss system is they've prioritized reliable connectivity and frequent service over high-speed service. They do have some higher
by nhf 6y ago
One interesting thing about the Swiss system is they've prioritized reliable connectivity and frequent service over high-speed service. They do have some higher speed rail, but nothing even as fast as their neighbors in France or Germany. I feel like we have a thing for high speed rail here in the US as an aspirational goal, but maybe we should be aiming for reliable regional connectivity as a first step. Austin to San Antonio, Dallas to OKC, an electrified/more frequent SF to Sacramento - all of that could make a huge dent in local travel patterns.
- est31 6y agoTBH considering their mountainous terrain, already the lower speeds they achieve are quite a feat of engineering. Meanwhile a small storm upends most of Germany's rail network for a long time because they let trees grow close to the rails...
- bserge 6y agoLeaves on the tracks is no joke, I found those Network Rail posters pretty amusing :) https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/leaves-on-the-line-its-no-joke https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/leaves-on-the-...
- Multicomp 6y agoI am now imagining some description of brush extensions on the front of cow catchers that just take a wire brush and scrub the fire out of the track in front of the train to get leaves off the track and scrub of some of the crushed wet leaves off of it as the train goes along.
- Symbiote 6y agoI think the brushes would wear out pretty quickly. They use high pressure (1500 Bar!) water jets instead, and apply sand to the rails: https://www.networkrail.co.uk/stories/leaf-busting-trains-prepare-for-autumn/ https://www.networkrail.co.uk/stories/leaf-busting-trains-pr...
- codethief 6y agoIt took me a minute to realize that you are talking about train speeds, not network speeds haha.
- lukeqsee 6y agoSwitzerland is also very small, as countries go. The longest train route is IC 1 (St. Gallen <-> Geneva) going from the (almost) easternmost point to the westernmost point, and it’s 4 hours (it does have a few higher speed sections close to Bern). They simply don’t need much speed if they run frequent and reliable trains.
- teclordphrack2 6y agoSize is never the reason.
- ajmurmann 6y agoNot sure if your "never" statement is true, but it seems that more frequently than size, it's density or lack of it that makes the difference
- icebraining 6y agoPeople in Europe travel between countries a lot. Luxembourg has high-speed rail with a single stop!
- Ichthypresbyter 6y agoAnd the Swiss railways operate high-speed trains for those links with neighbouring countries- their routes to Milan, Venice and Frankfurt use trains capable of 250 km/h (ETR610 or Giruno), though they only travel at 200 km/h within Switzerland.
- RajuVarghese 6y agoI hope that the Swiss will stay level-headed and not get into high-speed trains. Reliable connections are far better for more people. The opposite example I would like to present is the high-speed Berlin-Munich train line. It has gobbled up a lot of the railway budget. According to Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin%E2%80%93Munich_high-speed_railway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin%E2%80%93Munich_high-spe...] this was the most expensive transportation project in Germany. In my opinion it would have been better to bring the rest of the infrastructure up to a higher standard.