Welcome to European Tribune. It's gone a bit quiet around here these days, but it's still going.
Display:
Why are electric trains failing? | 39 comments (39 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Why are electric trains failing? (4.00 / 3)
Yay, Malmbanan on the first pic! The busiest piece of railroad in Sweden, far north of the arctic circle, with the most powerful locomotives in the world. Sometimes people joke that it works so well because it's not run by the state railroad, but by the mining company LKAB...

For the last 15 years Swedish infrastrucuture has been under attack from neoliberalism, and the accumulated lack of maintenance is becoming clearer for every passing year: last winter the rail system was in shambles, and this year it's close to collapse. There have been considerable issues with the power grid as well this year. Granted that this winter and the last were the snowiest and coldest for decades.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

by Starvid on Sun Dec 5th, 2010 at 09:19:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Why are electric trains failing? (4.00 / 3)
For the last 15 years Swedish infrastrucuture has been under attack from neoliberalism, and the accumulated lack of maintenance is becoming clearer for every passing year: last winter the rail system was in shambles, and this year it's close to collapse

Allow me to snigger: you have no idea what's close to collapse :-) Here, cost-saving on maintenance is much more 'advanced', and we get the cold weather catenary ruptures (not one, but a couple in a row) already in autumn. So you still have a lot of neolib destruction ahead of you :-)

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Sun Dec 5th, 2010 at 02:02:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Why are electric trains failing? (none / 1)
Ah, just wait until you get to USA (#1) style maintenance and operating practices! Even though things have improved markedly from the dark days of the 1970's-80's when even cars parked in yards would derail, we still have a long, long way to go to approach European levels of service quality.
by Jace on Mon Dec 6th, 2010 at 03:26:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Why are electric trains failing? (none / 0)
One of my favorite railways; the Malmbanan was so comfortable with catenary and snow that they used one of the very few overhead powered rotary snowplows.
by Jace on Mon Dec 6th, 2010 at 04:33:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Why are electric trains failing? | 39 comments (39 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Display: