Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment

up.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 100 posts

Re: Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment

#31

Post by cwillu »

jordanb wrote: post #20
Animats wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pepe's Towing in Los Angeles reports asphalt collapses where loaded semitrailers are parked with the landing gear down. On hot days the concentrated load of the landing gear sometimes punches through the asphalt.[1] This is why truck dock areas are usually paved with concrete. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBrULmCGJfc

Years ago Chicago started putting concrete pads on the road at bus stops because the busses stopping in the exact same spot repeatedly was carving ruts into the asphalt.

Yeah, my city is currently going through every bus stop in the city, redoing the pavement in concrete. Construction season has been nasty for us this year :p

Re: Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment

#32

Post by defrost »

kelseyfrog wrote: post #26

You can literally buy derailers[1]. People will find away around this, making white paint useless. Engineers need to engineer. 1. https://www.aldonco.com/product-category/derails/

   Do NOT use where speeds exceed 5 m.p.h.
Not sure what you're thinking of, but these widgets you linked won't solve the problem of long rail sections heating up in the sun, buckling, and derailing freight trains travelling at normal speeds.

Re: Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment

#33

Post by edoceo »

pixl97 wrote: post #10
amiga386 wrote: post #9

At least they're doing something. I couldn't believe the state of US railtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X2A2f6E5DI Just go slower! We don't want to pay for maintenance. What's the worst that could happen? You derail and your toxic payload catches fire and poisons the neighbourhood? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Palestine,_Ohio,_train_de...

Maintenance is expensive, profits are now!

I hate that you are both correct.

Re: Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment

#34

Post by edoceo »

LarsAlereon wrote: post #29
dupontcyborg wrote: post #21

this isn’t the point of the story, but is that paint truck driving on the railroad tracks?

Yes, they're called "high-rail" or "road-rail" vehicles. They have rail wheels that can be lowered down to drive on tracks or raised up for road use.

And sometimes the axel is short (narrow), so the tires are on the rail. It's funny to see them on a standard road.

Re: Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment

#36

Post by kmeisthax »

amiga386 wrote: post #9

At least they're doing something. I couldn't believe the state of US railtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X2A2f6E5DI Just go slower! We don't want to pay for maintenance. What's the worst that could happen? You derail and your toxic payload catches fire and poisons the neighbourhood? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Palestine,_Ohio,_train_de...

It's funny you mention that, since I mentally associate Union Pacific with the worst of US rail disinvestment. They're the ones that were patient zero for the "precision scheduled railroading" brainworm that led all our railroads to downgrade track and lengthen trains to insane lengths[1]. Or at the very least, they were at the top of Amtrak's delay-shaming list until a few years ago[0] when they somehow improved???

...anyway, I'm now genuinely wondering how the hell rail in such an awful state can still maintain the correct gauge for trains to run on!?

[0] https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/p...

[1] Salt Lake City is trisected by Union Pacific freight rail. We have some of the largest city blocks in North America, but they're still not long enough to avoid a single stopped Union Pacific train blocking multiple crossings for hours on end. If you want to really, REALLY hate trains, move to the west side of SLC.

Also, talk to your politician about the Rio Grande Plan.

Re: Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment

#37

Post by superb_dev »

jordanb wrote: post #20
Animats wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pepe's Towing in Los Angeles reports asphalt collapses where loaded semitrailers are parked with the landing gear down. On hot days the concentrated load of the landing gear sometimes punches through the asphalt.[1] This is why truck dock areas are usually paved with concrete. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBrULmCGJfc

Years ago Chicago started putting concrete pads on the road at bus stops because the busses stopping in the exact same spot repeatedly was carving ruts into the asphalt.

A city I used to live in did the same thing when they refurbished all the major bus stops. I always wondered why

Re: Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment

#38

Post by bombcar »

superb_dev wrote: post #37
jordanb wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Years ago Chicago started putting concrete pads on the road at bus stops because the busses stopping in the exact same spot repeatedly was carving ruts into the asphalt.

A city I used to live in did the same thing when they refurbished all the major bus stops. I always wondered why

Also if a vehicle is stopped and the driver turns the wheel (with power steering this isn't hard) - it will eventually drill holes in asphalt - you can sometimes see this in house driveways where someone turns around.

Re: Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment

#39

Post by thaumasiotes »

atourgates wrote: post #3

In a somewhat related practice, some roads in the Tour de France this year have been painted with "white shit" (rider Tom Pidcock's words) in order to combat the asphalt melting in the heat, with the unfortunate side-effect that it seems to be slippery and several riders (including Tom Pidcock) crashed going around a corner when the lost traction. Coverage here: https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-racing/tour-de…

> But of course, this was done in response to past serious crashes that occurred because the asphalt melted. So, it's sort of a damned if you do damned if you don't scenario for the organizers.

Well, not entirely. You always have the option of repaving the roads with cobblestone or something.

Re: Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment

#40

Post by hhh »

kelseyfrog wrote: post #26

You can literally buy derailers[1]. People will find away around this, making white paint useless. Engineers need to engineer. 1. https://www.aldonco.com/product-category/derails/

this is tackling regular natural derailment incidents not terrorism
Post reply on HN