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You could see a train every 3-5 minutes if it was a dedicated track. Trains in Europe are much shorter than the ones in the US (and don't stack containers), but
by dx034 10y ago
You could see a train every 3-5 minutes if it was a dedicated track. Trains in Europe are much shorter than the ones in the US (and don't stack containers), but with the right signalling you can run trains at high frequencies if they're all at similar speeds.
In this case it's not a track at all, more like a schedule that uses different kinds of tracks and is actually run by different companies along the way. The track is also not owned by one company (like in the US), but by a different operator in each country. According to an article, the train set is changed twice for the trains coordinated from Germany.
Eurotunnel is likely not the choke point here (they could just load it on a ferry and only lose 1-2 hours), it's the change of rolling stock along the way, and other traffic it has to share the track with.
- CaliforniaKarl 10y agoI expect this is where all of the infrastructure investment is going. Assuming these trains run in both directions, then to keep speeds steady you'll need either double track, or you'll need appropriately-sized passing sidings. And then, as soon as you have the first slowdown, all that goes to pot.
- dx034 10y agoThe problem will be to get everyone to agree on a plan. The EU and China could probably do so (here's where having the EU is actually an advantage), but getting Belarus, Russia and Mongolia to agree to the same plan without at least one state trying to blackmail favourable terms out of it will be very hard to achieve. A proper, dedicated track could probably bring huge economic benefits for everyone involved, but I don't see that coming. As long as volume is low, none of the states the freight goes through has leverage (could still be shifted back to air/sea) which somehow guarantees that it works.
- stuaxo 10y agoI'm pretty sure most Of The route already is double tracked.
- dx034 10y agoYes, but there's a significant amount of passenger and freight traffic on the route. I don't know about Eastern Europe and Russia, but the rail system in Germany/Belgium/France/UK is mostly very close to capacity. Freight trains often have to wait till night time to get a slot.
- justincormack 10y agoThere is unlikely to be any single track. There are a few potential slowdowns, eg Russia has a different guage.