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@straphanger@urbanists.socialI can't think of a better way of pissing off Trump than for #Canada to go ahead with building the proposed Alto high-speed rail project.
A multi-billion high-tech megaproject, that would deliver faster trains than the US has, using Canadian steel + aluminum.
Might even kick off a modern version of the space race.
It's about time we stopped building pipelines, highways, and runways, and got back to the railways that really built this nation.
We're good at trains, and trains—especially the electric variety—are good for the world.
I share the train love in my newsletter. You're welcome on board...
@straphanger wow that will be a really great project!
Hopefully it doesn't go the way of high speed rail down here in California 
The first segment that goes from nowhere to nowhere still isn't even done after 15 years and it'll be another 30 years at the rate it's going before LA and SF get connected.
@douglasvb @straphanger I'm cautiously optimistic, the consortium has major French railway engineering players so hopefully they'll be able to bring that expertise and make the project happen reasonably well
@hlabrande @straphanger the French know trains! That makes me pretty optimistic.
Would be awesome if they could extend it all the way to BC!
@douglasvb @straphanger We do need a Cascadia line!
@tinfoiling @straphanger as a kid I rode the train from Portland to Vancouver and took the 4449 steam train back south. That was so much fun!
It would be great if there was a proper Cascadia high speed rail corridor from Vancouver all the way to at least Eugene. And ideally it would connect to a high speed rail line into California.
Maybe someday...
@straphanger in this cursed timeline the “modern version of the space race” would be Musk building a Hyperloop somewhere in Texas, officially breaking some speed records, ending up with something that doesn’t actually work for passenger transport, but nonetheless enriching himself handsomely off it.
Matthias Wiesmann @straphanger Don't you think it's a bit arrogant to claim to start a space race more than 60 years after the first high speed train ran in Japan…
Canada is dreaming of what Morocco has…
@thias @straphanger I believe they mean a "space race" in terms of spending and investment in public projects.
@straphanger
Without reference to your neighbours, nearly half of whom are mostly fairly nice, those trains seem a good idea to do on their own merits.
Joining BRICS would piss him off more.
@straphanger In the great train shed of Milano Stazione Centrale. The red trainsets are Le Freccerosse, "the red arrows," on which one can zoom through beautiful Italian countryside at 180 mph. Makes me so jealous, because the US used to be pretty good at building railroads as well.
@straphanger Perspective views of train shed of Stazione Centrale from Google Earth
@straphanger time for a train-ing montage
@straphanger Why would the US need high-speed trains? The only citizens here who matter already have private jets.
@straphanger a mere 2 months ago, I thought this idea was dead, because CONSERVATIVE HATE RAIL...and our Conservatives LOVE the oil industry....but thanks to a bunch of black swan events (Trump threatening annexation, Trudeau resigning) it has become far more likely.
@straphanger as a Mexican, I think it would also make sense to start buying more steel from Canada (Mexico is a net steel importer from the US).
@straphanger They had high-speed trains on this route in the 60s/70s. I rode the TurboTrain once before it was decommissioned. It would be nice if they could manage it again, but it feels like a Liberal Hail Mary. Coastal BC or Calgary to Edmonton high-speed trains would be cool.
Focus: #FreePeltier @straphanger please put in a high speed train from coast to coast. A stop in Windsor would be nice.
No reason.
@straphanger @pluralistic Sllllooowww!
Here's the steel-wheel-on-rail speed record setting run from 1994: 574.8 km/h …
@cstross @straphanger @pluralistic
It's very interesting to read up on the preparations and modifications done to both tracks, lines, and train that were needed to make this possible. See "2007" here:
@cstross @straphanger @pluralistic
And I always really enjoy sitting in a TGV at 320km/h and passing an oncoming TGV with the same speed - that's 640km/h relative velocity with only ~2m lateral distance.
@knud @cstross @straphanger @pluralistic Imagine those two bow-waves meeting each other.
@knud @cstross @straphanger @pluralistic Is there a tiny part of your brain that is slightly anxious each time that you are, in fact, on different tracks?
@captainchaos @knud @straphanger @pluralistic Nope. High speed trains use Positive Train Control and other advanced control/signaling systems that *can't* put trains on the same track segment, let alone in opposite direction. (Not doing *that* was a mostly-solved problem by the early 1900s. Of necessity.)
@cstross @knud @straphanger @pluralistic I was just attempting some mild humour. 
@captainchaos @cstross @straphanger @pluralistic
Also, at 640 km/h that isn't really my problem. For a 200m-long train it takes 1.15 seconds to pass.
@cstross
This never gets old (litterally)
The images from the fixed cameras are simply exhilarating
@cstross @straphanger @pluralistic Managing 574.8 km/h in a train is absolutely wild, that's not far short of Mach 0.5!
@rachelplusplus @straphanger @pluralistic Can't safely go over Mach 0.5 in a steel-wheel-on-rail train; any faster and the upper edge of the wheel rims will go supersonic. Why the next-gen Shinkansen in Japan is moving to Maglev.
@cstross @straphanger @pluralistic Oh huh, that makes sense. That means that record is pretty much the physical limit for steel-wheel-on-rail trains then?
@rachelplusplus @straphanger @pluralistic I'm not sure: it might be possible to do something about sonic boom mitigation. (Consider there are turboprop aircraft with propeller blades that go supersonic at the tip. Problem is, they're insanely noisy.) I'd be worried about shock waves affecting the track ballast and overhead conductors, though.
@rachelplusplus @straphanger @pluralistic Another issue IIRC is that it was pretty much impossible to walk around on the record-setting TGV once it was going over 400km/h. Too much vibration. And they had to replace or retension all the overhead conductors after the speed run. Today's TGV Est services, running on the same track, top out at about 320km/h in service (with a glass-smooth ride).
@cstross @rachelplusplus @straphanger according to the signage in the Shanghai Airport -Pudong train, it guys 400kmh every time without noticable vibes.
@pluralistic @rachelplusplus @straphanger Isn't that a maglev line? (If so: that's one of the clear benefits of maglev—stability at very high speeds.)
There are already ballast issues as the train sucks rocks from bottom (maybe solvable with better aerodynamic design). Then there is the so called hunting unstability, solvable with better yaw dampers. The rral difficulties as far as I know are:
- overhead wire to pantograph contact, that requires higher tension (no electrical) but you get more wear
- curve radii limits. Lateral acceleration has soe limit due to confort.
@cstross @rachelplusplus @straphanger @pluralistic
Japan currently deals with the Sonic Boom issue (caused when going into tunnels and stations) - it's the reason the *nose* is shaped as long as it is. Not drag, but the sudden pressure shift in tunnels. Outside of entering tunnels, the drag is irrelevant.
@cstross @rachelplusplus @straphanger @pluralistic the upper wheel could be shielded, I don't think this is the real issue. 575 km/h was reached
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TGV_world_speed_record
Vibrations are much more a concern.
E. g for the test above, the HV line was destroyed in one pass.
@straphanger I can see the world pouring its excess masculinity into high-speed trains. we just can't let em know. then again, they'll sure find a way to enshittify...
@straphanger Cory Doctorow can: cancel IP laws!
"However, there was one part of USMCA that marked a huge departure from NAFTA: the “IP” chapter. USCMA bound Canada and Mexico to implementing brutal new IP laws. For example, Mexico was forced to pass an anti-circumvention law that makes it a crime to tamper with “digital locks.” This means that Mexican mechanics can’t bypass the locks US car companies use to lock-out third party repair. Mexican farmers can’t fix their own tractors. And, of course, Mexican software developers can’t make alternative app stores for games consoles and mobile devices — they must sell their software through US Big Tech companies that take 30% of every sale"
— https://doctorow.medium.com/canada-shouldnt-retaliate-with-us-tariffs-a0e32042fec8
@straphanger You mean a race between Canada and some other country other than US?
You are the expert here, so correct me if I'm wrong, but railway projects require government involvement and that can't really happen in a country that frequenly elects clowns and even when it's not run by a clown it serves the interest of billionaires.
... and has no real interest in trains in general, even though they helped develop the country.
@Brokar @straphanger Public interest is a funny thing. It depends a lot on the media, on how much the rational people can be heard.
@straphanger I’m all for the amenities bidding war for whether California becomes part of the Netherlands, Canada, or Mexico.
@straphanger We built a pipeline, in what 5 years, across 2 provinces costing $34 billion. Start putting our railway system in the next century by using our Canadian creativity. Imagine moving people and goods across the country in exceptional times. There are a lot of transportation corridors in Canada that would see huge benefits. We need to think East - West. We have the materials, the people and now it seems the will.
@straphanger I fell in love with high speed trains the last time I was in Europe.