BNSF Grade
Author: J
Date: 11-08-2019 - 10:33
It is probably silly to draw too much of a comparison between railroad operations on different continents with different commercial challenges.
My snarky comment was directed to "German railways" observation about flat spots on passenger car wheels. That said, I'll note that the Stack Train in the video clip climbed an approximately 24-mile grade between San Bernardino and Summit (east of Los Angeles) ranging up to at least 2.2% (or up to 3% if the dispatcher routed it on #2 Track).
I believe EU axle loadings are typically 20 US tons (compared to 35.75 US tons in the US. More importantly, vertical clearances here are significantly higher. That stack train is more than 20 feet above the rail (6 meters).