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Finland announces migration of its rail network to international gauge

(yle.fi)
461 points axelfontaine | 3 comments | 20 May 25 07:40 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | 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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Oarch ◴[20 May 25 09:07 UTC] No.44039436[source]▶
We absolutely can. They'd just be deeply uncomfortable.
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ExoticPearTree ◴[20 May 25 09:28 UTC] No.44039576{3}[source]▶
> They'd just be deeply uncomfortable.

I rode these kind of trains in multiple countries and continents and there's nothing uncomfortable about them.

Why do you say that?

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1. pmyteh ◴[20 May 25 14:48 UTC] No.44042265{4}[source]▶
Because of the tight loading gauge in Britain, trying to cram two decks in would make it very small. It's been tried (once[0]) and they weren't able to make it fully double-decker, quick to load/unload, or especially comfortable.

I agree that they're fine in countries with larger bridges and tunnels -- Amtrak's Superliners are palatial in size -- but not for us. (Except probably for the Channel Tunnel rail link, which is built to French gauge).

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR_Class_4DD

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2. ExoticPearTree ◴[20 May 25 17:57 UTC] No.44044150[source]▶
I rode double decker trains in the Netheraland, US, Germany and France and they were very good - same space and I would say headroom as a normal train.

I was not aware that the UK has a different gauge than Europe and US.

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3. pmyteh ◴[20 May 25 18:51 UTC] No.44044647[source]▶
Yes - to a surprising extent. The best diagram I've seen overlays them[0]. The British gauges are the smaller ones starting with W - with W6 being available essentially everywhere and the higher numbers on specially cleared routes to make it easier to move larger freight containers. GA and GB are standard Western European gauges: both taller and wider.

There's a surprising amount of global variation as much of this stuff wasn't standardised until after most railways were built. AIUI that's even true in the US, where the routes in the West can often take double-stacked containers and Amtrak's Superliners, and further East they often can't.

[0]: https://rfg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Loading-Gauge....