Comment on Expand North! So much room up there.
TheSaddestMan@lemmy.zip 2 weeks agoIt’s not just that. Trains don’t run as well or brake as efficiently in cold weather, they have slippery metal rails for a reason. That’s why we switched to cars and trucks too readily, and as sad as that is, I think we might need electric cars more than Americans ever needed any cars.
(That said, electric cars should be thanks to electrified smartroads, not stuffing the car itself full of computer hardware.)
trains are the most reliable mode of transport in winter conditions, the fact that they’re so monstrously heavy and have tiny points of contact with the rails means they will simply squeeze out snow and crush ice, no plowing needed.
go ahead and try to drive a car through 20cm of slushy snow, it ain’t happening.
You’re right, except in British Columbia where all the most expensive highways were built. Not better, but affordable because Vancouver, Victoria and Kelowna dgaf about the rest of the province.
FireRetardant@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Do you have a source for this? Our cargo trains run through some pretty frigid winters. Many European countries have a similar climate and they have trains. Aren’t the swiss famous for sending trains through snowy mountains?
Snowpix@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
They certainly are. They have some of the steepest adhesion railways in the world on those mountains.
TheSaddestMan@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Yes, and tunnels too. The issue’s not just the temperature but the altitude, at least on the west coast, and lack of adhesion rail or deep bore passenger train tunnels on Canadian mountain routes. On the flat lands eastwards it’s mostly that passenger engines are built differently than freight locomotives that makes the difference.
The problem can be fixed, but is it worth it? Maybe. Sadly, no politicians here seem too interested in building rail services in BC, unless it’s to feed the KelVicVanSeaTac metro-economic machine.