Transform2942

Incredible videos

I got some very interesting information from someone who seems to be quite experienced in railway matters in another part of this thread.

I have learned that this gap in the rails is much more ‘busy’ then I originally assumed.

Either way I frankly think we should put solar panels just about everywhere. I don’t think the current limiting factor is panel supply, I think it’s instalation bottlenecks but I could be mistaken

Fascinating!

I have seen these hulking machines sitting on the tracks sometimes, I think the manufacturer might be “comaco” - is that what does the tamping/grinding/replacing?

I certainly have never done maintenance on railroad tracks. Do you think that’s more frequent than maintenance that needs to be done on rooftops?

The article mentions reinforcing and also adding “brooms” to the underside of the trains. I don’t know how it will shake out but it’s possible with the brooms they get cleaned more regularly than rooftop ones

I don’t think it’s a slam dunk case. There’s lots of costs associated with installing solar on a roof that may not apply here. I think someone would have to do a comparative lifecycle analysis

I agree we should be putting solar panels on roofs. I disagree that this railway solar idea is impractical. If this article is to be believed they have already demonstrated effective operation at pilot scale. They mentioned some challenges specific to this application, but they also seem to have compensated for them

This idea makes a thousand times more sense because they’re not trying to replace the load-bearing surface with an expanse of expensive and delicate glass, they’re just filling in otherwise unused space