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Re: FRA may allow Euro trainsets in 2015; Article is very biased
Author: mook
Date: 11-02-2013 - 19:23
Your points about politics (n., derived from poly="many" and ticks="a small bloodsucking insect") are actually pretty mainstream. How many of us, in any election vote FOR somebody? It's almost always who to vote AGAINST, or at best who is not as bad as the other, possibly.
Your point about usage of passenger trains is proven by the Capital Corridor. When the number of daily trains passed 8 or so - meaning there were enough that you had a reasonable choice of times to go and come - their ridership exploded. They're now up to 11 or 12 on weekdays, and most are noticeably full for the main part of the trip. Those aren't even the really nice cars - Cal Cars are glorified commute cars, but still the seating is comfortable enough for a 2-3 hour trip and is far better than the average airline.
I don't think the 100mph+ wrecks in Europe are the model for crashworthiness. Frankly, without seatbelts and airbags and rollbars, a full-stop wreck at anything over 60-70 mph is probably not survivable for at least some of the people present. To do better than that, you need a full-race setup (major safety-cage structure and full harness for each person). The Metrolink crashes were with compliant cars of the time, as strong as any passenger cars of the late 20th century, and actually didn't perform too badly away from the first car that hit - but the closing speeds (accounting for both trains and last-minute braking) were much less than 100 mph. A full-stop crash at the speeds of the German ICE train wrecks with US equipment of ANY design would be equally disastrous.
Your point about usage of passenger trains is proven by the Capital Corridor. When the number of daily trains passed 8 or so - meaning there were enough that you had a reasonable choice of times to go and come - their ridership exploded. They're now up to 11 or 12 on weekdays, and most are noticeably full for the main part of the trip. Those aren't even the really nice cars - Cal Cars are glorified commute cars, but still the seating is comfortable enough for a 2-3 hour trip and is far better than the average airline.
I don't think the 100mph+ wrecks in Europe are the model for crashworthiness. Frankly, without seatbelts and airbags and rollbars, a full-stop wreck at anything over 60-70 mph is probably not survivable for at least some of the people present. To do better than that, you need a full-race setup (major safety-cage structure and full harness for each person). The Metrolink crashes were with compliant cars of the time, as strong as any passenger cars of the late 20th century, and actually didn't perform too badly away from the first car that hit - but the closing speeds (accounting for both trains and last-minute braking) were much less than 100 mph. A full-stop crash at the speeds of the German ICE train wrecks with US equipment of ANY design would be equally disastrous.
