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Finland announces migration of its rail network to international gauge

(yle.fi)
461 points axelfontaine | 1 comments | 20 May 25 07:40 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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radicalbyte ◴[20 May 25 08:42 UTC] No.44039248[source]▶
This is a strategic move: it makes it easier to move weapons within Europe and makes it much harder for Russia should they invade.

Ideally you would want to do this all over Europe.

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pjc50 ◴[20 May 25 08:54 UTC] No.44039341[source]▶
Most of Europe is already on the same track width. I'm not sure whether the loading gauge (allowed size of train to fit under bridges) etc. is also standardized; it wasn't for the UK, which is why we can't have nice things like double decker commuter trains.
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1. jabl ◴[20 May 25 11:51 UTC] No.44040486[source]▶
> I'm not sure whether the loading gauge (allowed size of train to fit under bridges) etc. is also standardized

It sure is standardized; the problem is that there are so many standards to choose from!

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loading_gauge for an overview.

Britain is a bit special, in that as the first country to have extensive rail infrastructure, it also has the smallest loading gauges around. Later built railway networks tend to have bigger loading gauges.