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Bringing the ideas of packet based networking to the world of train based container freight seems interesting. Question is will the gain in time and cost effic
by pintxo 5y ago
Bringing the ideas of packet based networking to the world of train based container freight seems interesting.
Question is will the gain in time and cost efficiency (by having each container move individually more or less fully automated) be bigger then the loss in energy and cost efficiency (each container needing it's own motor and energy storage sounds to be more expensive then one big locomotive)?
- brudgers 5y agoPacket based networks are great where it is possible to route around bottlenecks. The rail network does not have that property. Unfortunately, physics does not allow for packet collisions. --- In terms of practical efficiency of motors: grades and loads and wind vary. A self-powered rail care would need enough oomph to handle maximum load up a steep grade in a front quartering wind...most of that capacity would lie idle most of the time.
- olivermarks 5y agoPacket based networks are not a good analogy because there is typically only one railway line the discrete container units can travel along - the magic of the internet is the multiple routes data can travel along concurrently to destinations.
- brudgers 5y agoNetworks are not packet based, protocols are. The rail network, as my comment, is not a good fit for packet switching protocols. The automotive network generally is. The airline network certainly is.
- olivermarks 5y agoagreed, my comment was responding to @pintxo