6 ms·
...But could you match a platform to a slipcoach's velocity?
by 5DFractalTetris 8y ago
...But could you match a platform to a slipcoach's velocity?
- mirimir 8y agoSure, at zero :) And I'm reminded of the various whip devices in Stephenson's Seveneves.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- Digory 8y agoReminds me of the moving platform idea a few years back. Essentially, platform trains would run on a loop, connecting to high speed express trains. It sounded unsafe, but maybe not more dangerous than a slip coach. https://io9.gizmodo.com/5863484/moving-platforms-let-you-get-on-high-speed-train-while-its-still-moving https://io9.gizmodo.com/5863484/moving-platforms-let-you-get...
- cup-of-tea 8y agoI remember reading a proposal for a system where a high speed train would travel non-stop for the entire length of its route. In halfway towns a shuttle would be sent out to match the train's speed, interface with it to exchange passengers then detach to return to the halfway town platform. It sounds unbelievable, but remember it was once considered insane to consider building a railway between Liverpool and Manchester.
- jakobegger 8y agoOn most rail routes in Austria we have high speed trains and low speed trains on the same routes. When you need to go to a smaller station, you get off at the closest major station and switch to the slow train. It would be awesome if you could just switch directly to the low speed train whenever the high speed train passed it... (Then you don't even need to have shuttles going back and forth) This would be awesome.
- hansjorg 8y agoThis one? https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/12/this-proposed-chinese-train-picks-up-passengers-without-stopping/282598/ https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/12/this-propo...
- lgregg 8y agoIn theory it could work. I think one big problem would be the erosion of the rails, slowly drifting apart.
- jakobegger 8y agoYou could just link all four rails to prevent that.
- lgregg 8y agoIt would also be tricky because you'd have to get everyone transferred in time. Those stretches would have to be pretty long.
- bobthepanda 8y agoThe problem would be the scheduling. Even at the best of times railways rarely run on the kind of precision that these kinds of operations would demand. Plus it’d require a lot of duplicate railway since presumably it would take distance for shuttles to accelerate and decelerate, and the shuttles would need to get back to the original stations in time for the next trains.
- colejohnson66 8y ago> The problem would be the scheduling. Not in Japan.
- xxxdarrenxxx 8y agoI believe this to be also in great part a cultural feat not a technical one. Very often my train has to wait because the door is blocked either by choice or because cramped train pushes someone's body slightly in front of the door sensors. This kind of egocentricity is unlikely to occur with current typical displayed social behavior in Japan. Where there seems to be a bigger focus on being aware of other's space. Perhaps a minimal variable, but scheduling can be made to mathematical perfection if you can build with freedom. Where I live the soil is weak for mass tunnels and for political/financial reasons, the route is heavily influenced by surrounding infrastructure, creating inefficiencies in routing.
- Merad 8y agoSeems extremely cost prohibitive. In addition to the extra rails and control systems, you’d need a high speed locomotive and several cars for every single station along the route.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoYour question makes me think of how some airplanes refuel in flight, which blows my mind.