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The Swiss railway has a (DE/FR/IT only) page at [0] to explain what they do. - Start adjusting the tension on tracks starting in March when it gets warmer - U

The Swiss railway has a (DE/FR/IT only) page at [0] to explain what they do. - Start adjusting the tension on tracks starting in March when it gets warmer - Use more expensive concrete sleepers where high forces appear (as TFA mentions) - Cool exceptionally problematic parts of the track with water from tank cars So in summary: - spend money - spend money - spend money That could explain why Network Rail isn't keen on doing any of that. [0] https://company.sbb.ch/de/medien/dossier-medienschaffende/sommerdienst-sbb.html https://company.sbb.ch/de/medien/dossier-medienschaffende/so...

Sharlin 4y ago
It’s amazing how many problems are solvable simply by spending money.
- ThePadawan 4y ago
  A very Swiss attitude. Like that time in 2016 when a Swiss town paid a 290k CHF fine rather than house Syrian refugees [0]! [0] https://lenews.ch/2016/06/16/swiss-town-pays-instead-of-taking-refugees/ https://lenews.ch/2016/06/16/swiss-town-pays-instead-of-taki...
  - jeffrallen 4y ago
    Yes that's shameful behavior. Good thing there are 5000 other communes that take their social responsibilities seriously.
  - sofixa 4y ago
    Similarly in France there's a minimum percentage of social housing cities larger than X have to have, and some rich cities prefer paying the fine to actually building the required amounts of social housing.
- jeffrallen 4y ago
  It's amazing how many problems are solvable when a society chooses to solve them.
  - ThePadawan 4y ago
    Note that the Swiss railway is charged fines for lateness to be paid to the state - so while I wouldn't say it's impossible that they just went and decided to take these measures to prevent rail buckling proactively, it's just as likely that they did the cost vs. payoff math. So yes, society did solve this problem by electing officials who put those clauses into the railway's operating license - but there are a lot of steps in there that shouldn't be overlooked.
gsnedders 4y ago
> - Start adjusting the tension on tracks starting in March when it gets warmer And of course this also implies adjusting the tension on the tracks starting in October or so, too!
WithinReason 4y ago
Despite saving all that money, the UK has the most expensive train ticket prices in Europe: https://www.vouchercloud.com/resources/train-prices-across-europe https://www.vouchercloud.com/resources/train-prices-across-e...
- benbristow 4y ago
  And most of that money (apart from the recently nationalised operators like Northern, ScotRail and LNER) goes back to the foreign-ran railways (Abellio/Netherlands, Amey/Keolis/France, Arriva/Germany). It's ace!
- willyt 4y ago
  And the least generous seat pitch and the slowest journey times on trunk routes.

Sharlin 4y ago

It’s amazing how many problems are solvable simply by spending money.

ThePadawan 4y ago
A very Swiss attitude. Like that time in 2016 when a Swiss town paid a 290k CHF fine rather than house Syrian refugees [0]! [0] https://lenews.ch/2016/06/16/swiss-town-pays-instead-of-taking-refugees/ https://lenews.ch/2016/06/16/swiss-town-pays-instead-of-taki...
- jeffrallen 4y ago
  Yes that's shameful behavior. Good thing there are 5000 other communes that take their social responsibilities seriously.
- sofixa 4y ago
  Similarly in France there's a minimum percentage of social housing cities larger than X have to have, and some rich cities prefer paying the fine to actually building the required amounts of social housing.
jeffrallen 4y ago
It's amazing how many problems are solvable when a society chooses to solve them.
- ThePadawan 4y ago
  Note that the Swiss railway is charged fines for lateness to be paid to the state - so while I wouldn't say it's impossible that they just went and decided to take these measures to prevent rail buckling proactively, it's just as likely that they did the cost vs. payoff math. So yes, society did solve this problem by electing officials who put those clauses into the railway's operating license - but there are a lot of steps in there that shouldn't be overlooked.

gsnedders 4y ago

> - Start adjusting the tension on tracks starting in March when it gets warmer And of course this also implies adjusting the tension on the tracks starting in October or so, too!

WithinReason 4y ago

Despite saving all that money, the UK has the most expensive train ticket prices in Europe: https://www.vouchercloud.com/resources/train-prices-across-europe https://www.vouchercloud.com/resources/train-prices-across-e...

benbristow 4y ago
And most of that money (apart from the recently nationalised operators like Northern, ScotRail and LNER) goes back to the foreign-ran railways (Abellio/Netherlands, Amey/Keolis/France, Arriva/Germany). It's ace!
willyt 4y ago
And the least generous seat pitch and the slowest journey times on trunk routes.