4 ms·
> For instance the TGV has to slow down when entering cities (because of the noise) and at some point in the development of the high speed rail network, it migh
by anoncake 7y ago
> For instance the TGV has to slow down when entering cities (because of the noise) and at some point in the development of the high speed rail network, it might become more interesting to dig long tunnels under cities for these trains rather than increasing the train's maximum speed.
It has to slow down anyway if it wants to stop.
- quakeguy 7y agoI laughed, good point.
- seanmcdirmid 7y agoYou could lose a car on the back for departing passengers and pick one up on the front for embarking one’s. Only a bit of loss in kinetic energy needed (to slow down the last car and get the first car up to speed).
- anoncake 7y agoInteresting idea, but there are some issues: - Many modern trains, including the TGV, are not designed to be separated during normal operation. - If you add a car to the front, the train driver can't see anything. If you remove it, you remove their workplace. In a push-pull train, the same applies to the back. A foldable cab like the IC3[1] has might be a solution, but it's far from aerodynamic. - Uncoupling the last cab instead of stopping has been done in the past. But coupling one without stopping sounds very hard. - Instead of one train, you now have three: The car being decoupled, the new one, and the rest. Generally, that means the station needs a higher capacity. Not sure if that's the case here though. Normally what limits a station's capacity is that you can't have two trains using the same track, but that doesn't really apply when you want to couple/uncouple them. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC3 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC3