3 ms·

Far worse in what sense? More tracks, sure the US rail network is about 1.5 times the size of the European network for the same landmass. But then, I don't thi

Far worse in what sense? More tracks, sure the US rail network is about 1.5 times the size of the European network for the same landmass. But then, I don't think quality wise I don't think you'd encounter a track like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X2A2f6E5DI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X2A2f6E5DI anywhere in Europe. Or the comparison of high speed tracks 9600km in Europe vs 70 km in the US. The reason for this is obviously the completely different priorities US is freight, Europe is passenger. So I don't think you can really compare the two networks and say one is clearly better.

dylan604 1y ago
> track like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X2A2f6E5DI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X2A2f6E5DI I can't believe that the train can actually travel down that track. If I had just come upon that track, there's no way I would have ever thought that it was still an operational track. I'm sure the engineers navigating that track have a lot of colorful opinions about it as well
- LargoLasskhyfv 1y ago
  While certainly suboptimal track, much of that seems to be https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspective_distortion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspective_distortion due to extreme telezooming.
- jazzyjackson 1y ago
  There's a great video from 1944 of how much rail you have to knock out before derailing a train. Pretty humorous voice over too. Train Wreck: Experiments To Derail Trains https://youtu.be/Xplxx0Fc4ew https://youtu.be/Xplxx0Fc4ew
  - dylan604 1y ago
    that VO sounds much more modern than the footage. I was hoping for authentic 1940s voice over like from Newsreel type of footage.
    - em-bee 1y ago
      here is a different voice-over: https://youtu.be/RK8cWY7MOtU https://youtu.be/RK8cWY7MOtU also not original, but an explanation in the description: The quality of the audio was poor in the copy of the film we obtained. Some audio restoration was attempted, but the results are less than ideal. i guess the original audio will remain lost. here is a related video with some original voice (first original is half a minute in): https://youtu.be/Zz0dadJoyzc?t=36 https://youtu.be/Zz0dadJoyzc?t=36
      - jazzyjackson 1y ago
        cool! thanks for digging
holowoodman 1y ago
The European network is far more fragmented than it seems. There are differences in power supply, track width, station and tunnel width and signalling such that you cannot easily cross borders in a train. There are lots of trains that are equipped for multiple signalling standards and have variable axles. But in general, you can only go to the immediate neigbouring countries, as soon as you cross another border you have to change trains. In some countries, like France, you even have concurring standards within the same network. A hypothetical Lisbon-Moscow connection would need to change trains at least 2, maybe 3 times. I don't think, therefore, that "total track length" has any useful meaning in Europe. Here is some maps to illustrate my point: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Europe_rail_electrification_en.svg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Europe_rail_electrif... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_gauge_in_Europe#/media/File:Rail_gauge_world.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_gauge_in_Europe#/media/F...
- jazzyjackson 1y ago
  Throwing in Moscow with Europe is a choice. Spain and Portugal are doing their own thing according to your rail gauge map, true, but there are many city pairs crossing multiple borders that are accessible nonstop, see the route map for the Austrian sleep railroad, nightjet. https://www.nightjet.com/en/dam/jcr:6a8041cb-0131-4ad3-84fd-25154548e5dd/nightjet-streckennetz.pdf https://www.nightjet.com/en/dam/jcr:6a8041cb-0131-4ad3-84fd-...
  - holowoodman 1y ago
    Yes. But if you look at the electricity system map, you'll see that those are mostly north-south connections through easy transitions. They skip the south of France, east of Poland. Some of those routes use different locomotives than all the others. And the number of border crossings is limited for that reason.
bluGill 1y ago
picking a worst example isn't inditative of the state of things. The us uses our rail a lot more for freight traffic.

dylan604 1y ago

> track like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X2A2f6E5DI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X2A2f6E5DI I can't believe that the train can actually travel down that track. If I had just come upon that track, there's no way I would have ever thought that it was still an operational track. I'm sure the engineers navigating that track have a lot of colorful opinions about it as well

LargoLasskhyfv 1y ago
While certainly suboptimal track, much of that seems to be https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspective_distortion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspective_distortion due to extreme telezooming.
jazzyjackson 1y ago
There's a great video from 1944 of how much rail you have to knock out before derailing a train. Pretty humorous voice over too. Train Wreck: Experiments To Derail Trains https://youtu.be/Xplxx0Fc4ew https://youtu.be/Xplxx0Fc4ew
- dylan604 1y ago
  that VO sounds much more modern than the footage. I was hoping for authentic 1940s voice over like from Newsreel type of footage.
  - em-bee 1y ago
    here is a different voice-over: https://youtu.be/RK8cWY7MOtU https://youtu.be/RK8cWY7MOtU also not original, but an explanation in the description: The quality of the audio was poor in the copy of the film we obtained. Some audio restoration was attempted, but the results are less than ideal. i guess the original audio will remain lost. here is a related video with some original voice (first original is half a minute in): https://youtu.be/Zz0dadJoyzc?t=36 https://youtu.be/Zz0dadJoyzc?t=36
    - jazzyjackson 1y ago
      cool! thanks for digging

holowoodman 1y ago

The European network is far more fragmented than it seems. There are differences in power supply, track width, station and tunnel width and signalling such that you cannot easily cross borders in a train. There are lots of trains that are equipped for multiple signalling standards and have variable axles. But in general, you can only go to the immediate neigbouring countries, as soon as you cross another border you have to change trains. In some countries, like France, you even have concurring standards within the same network. A hypothetical Lisbon-Moscow connection would need to change trains at least 2, maybe 3 times. I don't think, therefore, that "total track length" has any useful meaning in Europe. Here is some maps to illustrate my point: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Europe_rail_electrification_en.svg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Europe_rail_electrif... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_gauge_in_Europe#/media/File:Rail_gauge_world.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_gauge_in_Europe#/media/F...

jazzyjackson 1y ago
Throwing in Moscow with Europe is a choice. Spain and Portugal are doing their own thing according to your rail gauge map, true, but there are many city pairs crossing multiple borders that are accessible nonstop, see the route map for the Austrian sleep railroad, nightjet. https://www.nightjet.com/en/dam/jcr:6a8041cb-0131-4ad3-84fd-25154548e5dd/nightjet-streckennetz.pdf https://www.nightjet.com/en/dam/jcr:6a8041cb-0131-4ad3-84fd-...
- holowoodman 1y ago
  Yes. But if you look at the electricity system map, you'll see that those are mostly north-south connections through easy transitions. They skip the south of France, east of Poland. Some of those routes use different locomotives than all the others. And the number of border crossings is limited for that reason.

bluGill 1y ago

picking a worst example isn't inditative of the state of things. The us uses our rail a lot more for freight traffic.