Robbie

[Robbie @zoqaeski]

@MassJumbo @JRUrbaneNetwork Very steep grades throughout that part of the city, and the rubber tyres give slightly more traction than steel wheels. Chongqing is renowned for its hilly geography.

[Chris Bolton @CcibChris]

Separated by only 30 years. Two true beauties

[Robbie @zoqaeski]

@roodave ETCS will hopefully prevent this kind of occurrence in future by braking the train in advance of the Caution signal. I wonder if there was a loss of braking due to wet weather?

[Robbie @zoqaeski]

@hutcho66 @Urban_Immerser @disco___cat Yes you can, you just need passing loops where freight trains can be overtaken. Germany, Italy and China all run mixed traffic high speed rail lines.

[Robbie @zoqaeski]

@disco___cat @hutcho66 Probably about 7–8 hours, maybe as low as 5–6 if it was realigned and electrified, using 200–250 km/h trains. Not as fast as HSR but close enough to be extremely competitive, and it wouldn't preclude freight between our two largest cities either.

[Robbie @zoqaeski]

@roodave @retrobike_c16 I can't help but feel that tunnelling under the Hawkesbury River is a deliberate attempt to prove once and for all that HSR is too expensive in this country.

[Robbie @zoqaeski]

@theboatend @OperationalInc1 But even if it was a state-owned corporation I still think they'd be this incompetent. They seem to just not want to run trains and are perpetually surprised that people want to catch them.

[Robbie @zoqaeski]

@fictillius Tunnelling under the ridges with a few large viaducts over gorges would permit a fairly straight alignment. The alignment wouldn't need to be more than about 50 m wide, and careful construction could reduce impacts on the national parks.

[Robbie @zoqaeski]

@railmaps The biggest irony is that they said the wires would impact the heritage of the older buildings, even though those same buildings often still have the decorative points where the original wires were attached.

[Robbie @zoqaeski]

@fictillius A reinforced concrete viaduct with slab track would definitely be a lot quieter. You'd need to reinstate the turnback in the abandoned tunnels at St James in order to replace the viaduct though.

[Robbie @zoqaeski]

@TimQMLCNorthVic @hot_rails @aussiewongm @garry_mock The government loses money on roads but roads are seen as a net good for society so we invest in them anyway. Railways are more efficient, cheaper to construct per unit of traffic, and have fewer negative externalities, so should be seen as a net benefit to society as well.

[Robbie @zoqaeski]

@vojtasTS29 @AussieWirraway @aussiewongm Even a noon service would need some track upgrades in NSW to reliably arrive at the destination before midnight

[Robbie @zoqaeski]

@hot_rails @aussiewongm @garry_mock Track upgrades combined with a rolling program to realign the worst sections in NSW will get us a decent medium speed rail line for a fraction of the cost of full 350 km/h HSR, and it won't preclude freight between the two largest cities either.

[Robbie @zoqaeski]

@Ed_of_O @whimsical523456 @OzzyAussieOtty Albury isn't a small town—there's 100,000 people between there and Wodonga. There is no reason for it not to have a decent rail link with both Sydney and Melbourne.

[Robbie @zoqaeski]

@hot_rails Japan has a ridiculous number of level crossings and they've developed various types of obstacle detection that alert the train driver to apply the brakes if necessary. Their crossings also show which direction the train(s) are approaching from, and they close the entire road.

[Robbie @zoqaeski]

@hot_rails It's a cultural thing too. European crossing gates stay down much longer than American ones, and drivers don't tend to attempt to drive around them (but their gates also cross the entire road).

[Robbie @zoqaeski]

@JRUrbaneNetwork Didn't Keikyū paint their trains red in homage to the Pacific Electric "Red Cars"? A lot of Japanese interurbans were directly inspired by American ones.