5 ms·

I think you can ”upgrade” the tracks to use three rails so you can handle both track widths. Also there are trains with adjustabe axle widths.

cluckindan 1y ago
Not possible here because the widths are too close together to install a third rail.
- pjerem 1y ago
  Given the small difference, maybe the easiest option is to "just" update the wheel axles of the entire fleet in the same time and at the same speed as the tracks. Wheels are anyway wearing parts and are to be changed periodically. BTW, I'm just speculating out loud.
Sharlin 1y ago
You’d need four rails, a 9 cm separation isn’t enough to fit two side by side. This solution has been ruled out as technically infeasible (I don’t even want to think about what the switches would look like…) Adjustable-gauge rolling stock has also been ruled out as incompatible with the Finnish climate. The most (only?) feasible way to do it is to “simply” build entirely new standard-gauge track next to existing track (and then possibly start upgrading the latter too at some point in the future).
- greatpatton 1y ago
  Adjustable-gauge are used in Switzerland for a mountain line (Montreux-Interlaken) all through the year. I have never seen temperature issue mentioned. https://www.gpx.swiss/en/stories/technology https://www.gpx.swiss/en/stories/technology (the video is rather cool)
  - janfoeh 1y ago
    That is cool, thanks for posting!
  - Sharlin 1y ago
    Nevertheless that’s what the initial feasibility studies showed. I don’t think the amount of complexity involved in that Swiss system would scale at all.
- vincnetas 1y ago
  This reminded me about a joke. When engineers asked should we do the rails same width like in europe or wider, the answer they got from tzar was "Нахуй шире" literal translation "wider by length of dick, but meaning "why the fuck we need wider" - В Европе ширина колеи 1435 миллиметров. Нам делать так же или шире? - Нахуй шире, - ответил император.
  - alexey-salmin 1y ago
    Sounds like a variation on the "Tsar's finger" anecdote https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/580-the-legend-of-the-tsars-finger/ https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/580-the-legend-of-the-tsar...
nottorp 1y ago
Wikipedia says 1435 and 1524 are too close for triple rail, you have to do quadruple.
Stevvo 1y ago
Part of the motivation is removing the Russian gauge rails such that they can't be used in the case of invasion, so I don't think dual-gauge is really an option here.

cluckindan 1y ago

Not possible here because the widths are too close together to install a third rail.

pjerem 1y ago
Given the small difference, maybe the easiest option is to "just" update the wheel axles of the entire fleet in the same time and at the same speed as the tracks. Wheels are anyway wearing parts and are to be changed periodically. BTW, I'm just speculating out loud.

Sharlin 1y ago

You’d need four rails, a 9 cm separation isn’t enough to fit two side by side. This solution has been ruled out as technically infeasible (I don’t even want to think about what the switches would look like…) Adjustable-gauge rolling stock has also been ruled out as incompatible with the Finnish climate. The most (only?) feasible way to do it is to “simply” build entirely new standard-gauge track next to existing track (and then possibly start upgrading the latter too at some point in the future).

greatpatton 1y ago
Adjustable-gauge are used in Switzerland for a mountain line (Montreux-Interlaken) all through the year. I have never seen temperature issue mentioned. https://www.gpx.swiss/en/stories/technology https://www.gpx.swiss/en/stories/technology (the video is rather cool)
- janfoeh 1y ago
  That is cool, thanks for posting!
- Sharlin 1y ago
  Nevertheless that’s what the initial feasibility studies showed. I don’t think the amount of complexity involved in that Swiss system would scale at all.
vincnetas 1y ago
This reminded me about a joke. When engineers asked should we do the rails same width like in europe or wider, the answer they got from tzar was "Нахуй шире" literal translation "wider by length of dick, but meaning "why the fuck we need wider" - В Европе ширина колеи 1435 миллиметров. Нам делать так же или шире? - Нахуй шире, - ответил император.
- alexey-salmin 1y ago
  Sounds like a variation on the "Tsar's finger" anecdote https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/580-the-legend-of-the-tsars-finger/ https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/580-the-legend-of-the-tsar...

nottorp 1y ago

Wikipedia says 1435 and 1524 are too close for triple rail, you have to do quadruple.

Stevvo 1y ago

Part of the motivation is removing the Russian gauge rails such that they can't be used in the case of invasion, so I don't think dual-gauge is really an option here.