Six decades after the bullet train first whisked passengers between Tokyo and Osaka, authorities in Japan are planning to do the same for cargo, with the construction of a “conveyor belt road”.
The bullet train is wholly irrelevant here. It does not transport cargo now, does it? Build a fucking freight train line. Every time some tech bro suggests a solution involving pods, a civil engineer has a stroke
Ah - you are correct - they don’t use those lines for freight (I thought they may). Still - Japan has some of the best train networks in the world.
I expect this idea to die. People act like because a thing was suggested or being looked into that it will automatically be done. “Solar Frickin’ Roadways” never went anywhere an this sounds unlikely to as well.
They won’t. Anything on a bullet train line needs to go at a speed of a bullet train. If it goes slower, it slows down the bullet trains on the line.
Cargo does not require bullet train speeds, only passengers do. The added expense does not translate to a better service. Cargo is not time sensitive like people are, so usually freight trains go under 100 km/h. This requires a whole lot less infrastructure and a whole cheaper locomotives and wagon compositions, as locomotives and wagons that go faster are more expensive and require more maintenance.
Tbh i just took it as a chance to talk about trains, not so much with the intent to correct you. Maybe someone would be wondering about it, you know ? I didn’t mean to come off as argumentative with you.
I’m still annoyed that solar frickin’ parking lots (canopies, not panels on the ground) aren’t mandated in all new lots.
With all the mandated parking on the sprawl we could probably solve at least EV charging anxiety. And with some grid storage it would make a perfect use of otherwise wasted land. Plus keep the cars parked underneath cool.
I think it does have some cargo space, but not enough to matter in any significant way. IIRC it’s mostly just mail and parcels, but I might be mis-remembering.
I don’t know why OP is getting downvoted. This comment is correct. The economies of freight on rails are predicated on scale. The bigger the train, the better. It only requires a few locomotives that have the biggest maintenance costs. Cars are unpowered and require less maintenance. A train can transport thousands of tons. An average mid-size train in Europe would carry about 2000 tonnes of freight.
To add an electric motor per ton of cargo transported (as detailed in the article) adds an excessive amount of overhead costs to the cargo transported, in upfront costs, maintenance and environmental impact, making it less competitive than a regular freight line. With the space of the same infrastructure and probably the same investment, you could instead run a freight line, especially considering the distance between Osaka and Tokyo. Over time, the freight line wins out over the individual one ton self-propelled cargo wagons. Remember, every propulsion system breaks down and requires new parts and fixing. The more of them there are, the more complex your transportation system becomes, thus more expensive. An equivalent to a mid sized freight train in pods would require about 2000 electric motors, as opposed to one or two dedicated electrical locomotives.
They should instead improve the trains to be able to run mostly automated. This requires track sensors and advanced signaling.
Build a god damn train
First friggin’ paragraph…
The bullet train is wholly irrelevant here. It does not transport cargo now, does it? Build a fucking freight train line. Every time some tech bro suggests a solution involving pods, a civil engineer has a stroke
Ah - you are correct - they don’t use those lines for freight (I thought they may). Still - Japan has some of the best train networks in the world.
I expect this idea to die. People act like because a thing was suggested or being looked into that it will automatically be done. “Solar Frickin’ Roadways” never went anywhere an this sounds unlikely to as well.
They won’t. Anything on a bullet train line needs to go at a speed of a bullet train. If it goes slower, it slows down the bullet trains on the line.
Cargo does not require bullet train speeds, only passengers do. The added expense does not translate to a better service. Cargo is not time sensitive like people are, so usually freight trains go under 100 km/h. This requires a whole lot less infrastructure and a whole cheaper locomotives and wagon compositions, as locomotives and wagons that go faster are more expensive and require more maintenance.
They won’t what?
They won’t use the bullet train lines for freight.
I know - I thought they did, but admitted that I was wrong.
Tbh i just took it as a chance to talk about trains, not so much with the intent to correct you. Maybe someone would be wondering about it, you know ? I didn’t mean to come off as argumentative with you.
I’m still annoyed that solar frickin’ parking lots (canopies, not panels on the ground) aren’t mandated in all new lots.
With all the mandated parking on the sprawl we could probably solve at least EV charging anxiety. And with some grid storage it would make a perfect use of otherwise wasted land. Plus keep the cars parked underneath cool.
That’s a big upfront cost to add to any parking lot though.
The parking lots themselves are a big cost to the rest of us though. At least they could be offsetting some of the environmental costs of sprawl.
Plus the electricity production should offset it in a few years, especially in the places wheee shaded parking is most desirable.
I think it does have some cargo space, but not enough to matter in any significant way. IIRC it’s mostly just mail and parcels, but I might be mis-remembering.
I like how you think you know better than Japan after skimming a simple article lol
I don’t know why OP is getting downvoted. This comment is correct. The economies of freight on rails are predicated on scale. The bigger the train, the better. It only requires a few locomotives that have the biggest maintenance costs. Cars are unpowered and require less maintenance. A train can transport thousands of tons. An average mid-size train in Europe would carry about 2000 tonnes of freight.
To add an electric motor per ton of cargo transported (as detailed in the article) adds an excessive amount of overhead costs to the cargo transported, in upfront costs, maintenance and environmental impact, making it less competitive than a regular freight line. With the space of the same infrastructure and probably the same investment, you could instead run a freight line, especially considering the distance between Osaka and Tokyo. Over time, the freight line wins out over the individual one ton self-propelled cargo wagons. Remember, every propulsion system breaks down and requires new parts and fixing. The more of them there are, the more complex your transportation system becomes, thus more expensive. An equivalent to a mid sized freight train in pods would require about 2000 electric motors, as opposed to one or two dedicated electrical locomotives.
They should instead improve the trains to be able to run mostly automated. This requires track sensors and advanced signaling.