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Trains in Switzerland are not allowed to have 256 axles

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Re: Trains in Switzerland are not allowed to have 256 axles

#51

Post by wincy »

Razengan wrote: post #35
lordnacho wrote: post #30

The thing is Switzerland is also the only country where I could imagine someone might know such a rule. Say you are working on connecting some trains, and you happen to be one car away from 256 axles. Well, if the org you're working for is SBB/CFF/FFS I could totally imagine the foreman saying "oh wait, there's a rule about this". Any other country, no way. From personal experience people there seem to follow the rul…

I would wager that they might be as meticulous in Japan too.

I’m glad I read an article on HN about pointing and calling[0] in the Japanese rail system as a way of preventing accidents. I take a blood pressure medication and had once or twice taken it a second time in the day, which wiped me out and made it VERY difficult to work (for the record, I don’t take it for blood pressure and it’s a very low dose, so I wasn’t at risk of my heart stopping, just very sleepy). Now I do a specific gesture, point and call out that I’m taking my pill. I haven’t accidentally taken a second one since because it makes taking my pills so much more memorable.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointing_and_calling

Re: Trains in Switzerland are not allowed to have 256 axles

#52

Post by TeMPOraL »

lonelappde wrote: post #42
mannykannot wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"There have been plenty of times where a hardware issue has been covered by a software fix, but only in Switzerland have I seen a bug fixed with a bureaucracy patch." That's an amusing perspective, but it actually looks like it might be a hardware issue that cannot be patched purely with software, as it arises in the trackside devices that detect passing trains. I hope the method for verifying compliance with this ru…

It's also a silly quote because people workaround broken software all the time.

And if you see bureaucracy as software, it's full of bugs and processes that work around those bugs.

Re: Trains in Switzerland are not allowed to have 256 axles

#53

Post by TeMPOraL »

H8crilA wrote: post #33
kijin wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To catch intruders dressed in Vantablack, you'll need one of those devices they use to find exoplanets.

Or, you know, infrared cameras :)

Or just more light, and focus on shooting the dark spots.

Re: Trains in Switzerland are not allowed to have 256 axles

#54

Post by Razengan »

wincy wrote: post #51
Razengan wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would wager that they might be as meticulous in Japan too.

I’m glad I read an article on HN about pointing and calling[0] in the Japanese rail system as a way of preventing accidents. I take a blood pressure medication and had once or twice taken it a second time in the day, which wiped me out and made it VERY difficult to work (for the record, I don’t take it for blood pressure and it’s a very low dose, so I wasn’t at risk of my heart stopping, just very sleepy). Now I do a…

Ah yes, there was a popular discussion about it on HN:

Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things - 959 points: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14011793

Re: Trains in Switzerland are not allowed to have 256 axles

#55

Post by SkyPuncher »

kposehn wrote: post #47
fsh wrote: post #14

This section is not present in the 2015 or 2016 edition of the rulebook: https://www.bav.admin.ch/bav/de/home/rechtliches/rechtsgrund... Seems like overflow detection (or more bits) were added to the counters at some point.

Yep. They routinely run fairly long trains over the Lotschberg and Gotthard lines through the base tunnels that I’m pretty certain are approaching 256 axles, but I have yet to see any with more. Most likely the main transalpine lines now allows >256 axles while other secondary lines have not been upgraded.

Trains longer than 256 aren't the issue as the numbers roll over. The problem is trains with exactly 256 axles (or a multiple of 256), they're seen as zero.

Re: Trains in Switzerland are not allowed to have 256 axles

#56

Post by wincy »

Razengan wrote: post #54
wincy wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m glad I read an article on HN about pointing and calling[0] in the Japanese rail system as a way of preventing accidents. I take a blood pressure medication and had once or twice taken it a second time in the day, which wiped me out and made it VERY difficult to work (for the record, I don’t take it for blood pressure and it’s a very low dose, so I wasn’t at risk of my heart stopping, just very sleepy). Now I do a…

Ah yes, there was a popular discussion about it on HN: Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things - 959 points: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14011793

Thats the one. Thanks!

Re: Trains in Switzerland are not allowed to have 256 axles

#57

Post by anticensor »

jotm wrote: post #17
bob1029 wrote: post #7

Is 256 the upper limit, or is it just a magic number to be avoided? Is a train with 258 axles OK?

A train with 258 axles counts as a handcar: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handcar :D

Even worse, 260 axles and you are still considered "light" engine (light engine is a term of art which means locomotive moving on its own power without hauling anything else).

Re: Trains in Switzerland are not allowed to have 256 axles

#58

Post by jefftk »

Freak_NL wrote: post #49
jefftk wrote: post #24

If the law prohibits 256 axles, it should really prohibit any multiple of 256. A 512-axle train would similarly be erroneously detected as having zero axles.

That would be a freight train consisting of 128 units. Not likely in Europe, where the average freight train has 25 to 30 wagons, and the longest freight train seems to measure 835m, which will put you in the neighbourhood of 40 units. I'm not even sure that one would fit on the Swiss network; it runs or ran between Hamburg and Denmark, a route which features not quite as many elevation differences and tunnels. Consi…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_trains gives 180 cars for the US, and longer for Australia, Brazil, and others. Cars can also have more than four axles; at the extreme you have https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schnabel_car

But yes, this is probably not an issue in Europe.

Re: Trains in Switzerland are not allowed to have 256 axles

#59

Post by reificator »

Bayart wrote: post #37
city41 wrote: post #19

You can carry a maximum of 255 rupees in the original Legend of Zelda, and back in the day magazines commented on the "oddly specific" number.

That reminds me back when WoW was still 32 bits and people discovered the gold cap was 2 147 483 647 copper coins.

So your gold value was signed? Does WoW allow for debt by tracking negative values, or was it just an oversight?

Re: Trains in Switzerland are not allowed to have 256 axles

#60

Post by saalweachter »

reificator wrote: post #59
Bayart wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That reminds me back when WoW was still 32 bits and people discovered the gold cap was 2 147 483 647 copper coins.

So your gold value was signed? Does WoW allow for debt by tracking negative values, or was it just an oversight?

Some people just really, really dislike unsigned ints.
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