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From a linked page: "We paint certain parts of the rail white so they absorb less heat – and expand less. Typically, a rail painted white is 5°C to 10°C cooler
by linker3000 4y ago
From a linked page:
"We paint certain parts of the rail white so they absorb less heat – and expand less. Typically, a rail painted white is 5°C to 10°C cooler than one left unpainted."
- the_mitsuhiko 4y agoLooks surprisingly laborious if this Twitter video is to trust: https://twitter.com/networkrail/status/1547986150723244032 https://twitter.com/networkrail/status/1547986150723244032
- pimlottc 4y agoYou’d think they could make a robot to paint the rails but then again, the rails on the things that vehicles are supposed to be riding on! Perhaps you could make a device that rides on one rail while painting the other one. Flip it around and do the other side when you’ve done the first pass.
- fl0id 4y agoHow would this be any better then the video? It would also be much more expensive and complex then what they made.
- peterbraden 4y agoor just paint behind the robot
- rayiner 4y agoAnd use a pencil instead of inventing a pen that works in zero gravity.
- happymellon 4y agoThe pencil introduced graphite dust into the air that caused electrical problems. This is why astronauts use a pen. Sometimes the "cheap and simple" way has side effects that are more harmful than the original problem.
- jakear 4y agoOil pencils and wax pencils are a thing too.
- happymellon 4y agoThey are, and the Soviets stopped using them because - The paper peeled away is a fire hazard - The oil and wax writing smudges and is a terrible way of writing - The floating bits of paper from sharpening the pencils was a mess and since they float, got in people's faces. Generally those are terrible ideas too, especially compared to a $100 for a pen. It's really not that much compared to every other cost.
- jakear 4y agoWhat about mechanically advancing wax rods? The question isn’t whether the unit price of a super-pen is less than that of a consumer-waxpencil, but rather the R&D cost of the super-pen vs that of a supposed super-waxpencil.
- happymellon 4y agoNASA didn't spend any R&D on it as it was developed by a third party, so that point is moot as the answer is $0. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-nasa-spen/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-n...
- matkoniecz 4y agoAnd Russian space station (while they had one) was notorious for repeated fires. Probably that approach to safety was cause for it.
- lkbm 4y agoThe GP's video shows them using a spraying train car to do it much, much faster. It still has people riding on it and walking alongside, but sure looks more efficient. Meanwhile, I notice that all the replies to the UK video are people complaining about the rail system reducing headcount and mocking the idea that this task could be automated.
- makomk 4y agoFor context, a bunch of UK rail staff have been striking lately and one of their demands is no efficiency improvements or compulsory redundances. (They also want a substantial pay increase of course.)
- gambiting 4y agoIf you read anything about their demands, you will discover that from this year their contract is changing to require more hours at the same pay, so they are literally being given a paycut. In every other industry that would be illegal, but rail workers are expected to just suck it up and be grateful that they even still have a job, right? They protest compulsory redundancies because they know exactly how the British system works - a lot of people will be fired and the rest expected to just pick up the slack and work more hours, without any improvement like automation. And among other things changes like not being paid for their commute when doing overtime(which was paid for previously), at the time when petrol has crossed £2/L around the country.
- xyzzyz 4y agoAre pay cuts illegal in UK? Wow, that’s insane.
- laumars 4y agoWhy is that insane?
- gambiting 4y agoWhy is it insane? Maybe I should have clarified - your employer cannot cut your pay without a very good reason and you have to agree to it. In general it's a very tricky process legally, just like letting someone go - you need to make sure it's done correctly or you will lose in court. They cannot just say "from next month you will work extra 2 hours a week at same pay". Like....no? That's not in the employment contract we have signed, it binds both sides. And yet that's exactly what is happening to rail workers.
- jaclaz 4y agoOf course that is not a problem. What needs to be painted is the sides of the rail, the top - even if painted in the process - will return to lucid metal as soon as the next few trains pass on them. Usually small trucks (Unimogs adapted to rail use) or small convoys are used, see: https://scalaenne.wordpress.com/2016/07/30/binari-bianchi/ https://scalaenne.wordpress.com/2016/07/30/binari-bianchi/
- Ekaros 4y agoPainting vehicle and robot likely cost pretty much the same. And with vehicle you don't really need to think about all of the nitty gritty details of autonomous operations or regulations.
- laumars 4y agoThis is an easy problem to solve. You just have the paint mechanism at the back of the vehicle so it paints after the wheels have moved over the track. Kind of like the reverse of the plough at the front of the train that some networks (not U.K.) have to clear the track before the wheels pass over it.
- LargoLasskhyfv 4y agoDo it from the back end while it moves forward?
- ajkjk 4y agoIt still blows my mind that the color of something makes such a difference.
- Ekaros 4y agoI suppose you could as well polish them very well, but I think that will last shorter time than paint.
- blibble 4y agoa tricolour dog or cat that's been sitting in the sun is how I discovered this as a child!
- nathancahill 4y agoWait until you hear about how much money we could be saving if roofs were white instead of the typical dark gray. (Locale: en-US)
- picsao 4y ago