Solar flares could cause delays on the railways
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Solar flares could cause delays on the railways
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Re: Solar flares could cause delays on the railways
#2[deleted]
Re: Solar flares could cause delays on the railways
#3Is there any weather or earth phenomena that doesn't cause trains to delay? Heat, cold, wind, rain, fog, leaves on tracks, COVID, internet attacks ... If it is worthy of talking about it is likely to make the trains late. For all thier size, speed and power, they remain the most delicate of Earth's creatures.
Re: Solar flares could cause delays on the railways
#4No mention of the Carrington Event of 1859?
Re: Solar flares could cause delays on the railways
#5No shit.
Re: Solar flares could cause delays on the railways
#6Is there any weather or earth phenomena that doesn't cause trains to delay? Heat, cold, wind, rain, fog, leaves on tracks, COVID, internet attacks ... If it is worthy of talking about it is likely to make the trains late. For all thier size, speed and power, they remain the most delicate of Earth's creatures.
Bear in mind the trains were delayed, not stopped: your youngest needing a pee, or seeing a horse, can easily cause the same devastating effect.
Re: Solar flares could cause delays on the railways
#7Is there any weather or earth phenomena that doesn't cause trains to delay? Heat, cold, wind, rain, fog, leaves on tracks, COVID, internet attacks ... If it is worthy of talking about it is likely to make the trains late. For all thier size, speed and power, they remain the most delicate of Earth's creatures.
Bear in mind the trains were delayed, not stopped: your youngest needing a pee, or seeing a horse, can easily cause the same devastating effect.
It's the uncertainty of train delays (in the UK) and your powerlessness as a passenger that's really painful. You get at least one of:
- delay announced increasing by 1 minute with every minute that passes
- no time given, just "delayed"
- trains that were delayed cancelled after 20 minutes wait
- except when you find another way, then they turn up
- additional stops, not announced until you're onboard (so useful to nobody)
- skipping stops/terminating early, again not announced
- announcements that the train will terminate early, only for the driver to announce he's heard nothing of the sort and carry on
etc...
Re: Solar flares could cause delays on the railways
#8No mention of the Carrington Event of 1859? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Event
Just for a brief tl;dr:
Before the completion of the Transcontinental RR (~1863), the first transcontinental telegraph was completed in the early 1850's... it's because of the length of conductivity that the morse keys were literally sparking during the Carrington Solar Disturbances (all the collected solar energy caused the relays to self-tap/arc).
More recently, Quebec has had several 201X localized brownouts, largely along their longer-distance, high-voltage lines (which ironically enough gather renewable/hydro energy). During more active times of the solar cycle (a cycle longer than a dozen years), there are still issues / risks of similar events occurring in real time.
Lloyds has a specific insurance that is for solar storm coverage (which could be a potentially trillions-of-dollars global interruption.
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Sweet Dreams
Re: Solar flares could cause delays on the railways
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bear in mind the trains were delayed, not stopped: your youngest needing a pee, or seeing a horse, can easily cause the same devastating effect.
It's the uncertainty of train delays (in the UK) and your powerlessness as a passenger that's really painful. You get at least one of: - delay announced increasing by 1 minute with every minute that passes - no time given, just "delayed" - trains that were delayed cancelled after 20 minutes wait - except when you find another way, then they turn up - additional stops, not announced until you're onboard (so useful to…
I've been on a train twice in the last ten years.
On the one ride, it was hot so it expected to arrive about 45 minutes late. You can't go full speed on hot tracks.
On the same ride, there was construction, so we sat and waited for about 45 minutes in the middle of no where, in the dark. It was long enough they told us to just let our kids run around and brought the snack cart around for free.
That's a lot of delay for a 3.5h ride.
Ontario, Canada.
My in-laws use trains to travel between cities a fair amount. More delayed trips than not.
Re: Solar flares could cause delays on the railways
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's the uncertainty of train delays (in the UK) and your powerlessness as a passenger that's really painful. You get at least one of: - delay announced increasing by 1 minute with every minute that passes - no time given, just "delayed" - trains that were delayed cancelled after 20 minutes wait - except when you find another way, then they turn up - additional stops, not announced until you're onboard (so useful to…
I've been on a train twice in the last ten years. On the one ride, it was hot so it expected to arrive about 45 minutes late. You can't go full speed on hot tracks. On the same ride, there was construction, so we sat and waited for about 45 minutes in the middle of no where, in the dark. It was long enough they told us to just let our kids run around and brought the snack cart around for free. That's a lot of delay f…
I have relatives like that too. They always want us to pick them up at the train station. I have never seen a Canadian passenger train arrive on time.