The prices are really quite good for a country where everything is so expensive. Only 3000 for an aluminium rail car. Probably the scrap metal value is higher than 3000, although you could spend far more than 3000 transporting it to the scrap yard.
Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway
71–80 of 119 posts
Re: Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway
#72Holy fuck, they do have a bridge to sell you. Although it's only available from 2027-04-01. April fools?
Do you think the Swiss have time for April fools?
Reminds me of this classic: https://youtu.be/tVo_wkxH9dU
Re: Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway
#73I just want the clocks. Mondaine tries, but they aren't the same. That 58.5 second rotation then pause is quite clever. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_railway_clock
I remember when Apple just went and stole the Swiss railway clocks. See: https://www.techmonitor.ai/technology/apple-pays-21mn-to-swi...
Re: Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah some overnight trains can adjust their gauge on the France/Spain border. On the China/Mongolia border on the other hand they disassemble the train, lift the train cars up one by one (with passengers inside), switch out the boogies and then reassemble. 3 hour process, you can fully sleep through it and not notice.
If it’s taking 3 hours on a passenger train, a 5-10 minute transfer seems vastly more efficient.
Yes, but most people can't sleep through a train transfer
Re: Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah some overnight trains can adjust their gauge on the France/Spain border. On the China/Mongolia border on the other hand they disassemble the train, lift the train cars up one by one (with passengers inside), switch out the boogies and then reassemble. 3 hour process, you can fully sleep through it and not notice.
If it’s taking 3 hours on a passenger train, a 5-10 minute transfer seems vastly more efficient.
On a night train such as the Transsib that takes several days to get from A to B anyway, being able to sleep through it and not needing to lug your stuff around is usually considered more important.
(Although in some cases you are woken up for border formalities.)
Re: Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not sure if it directly helps here, but multi gaage railway cars are a thing. Iirc on some European lines, the trains switch their gauge.
Yeah some overnight trains can adjust their gauge on the France/Spain border. On the China/Mongolia border on the other hand they disassemble the train, lift the train cars up one by one (with passengers inside), switch out the boogies and then reassemble. 3 hour process, you can fully sleep through it and not notice.
For day trains as well, more often within Spain than on the border with France.
Re: Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s possible in The Netherlands to charter a private train. I have seen large companies do this for a company retreat. It’s not even that expensive. I remember it being €5000/hour which isn’t a bad way to move 300 employees to the other side of the country.
All European railway operators are legally required to offer this, by the way: it's an open market, so (provided there is physical space) they have to allow anyone to run their own train. Normally this means freight trains, but it also means companies like FlixTrain can attempt to compete with the large national train operators - and of course it allows for one-off charters. The only downside is that preference is gi…
The infrastructure operators have to allow anyone with a train operating license on their tracks, and such license is very nontrivial to acquire.
Usually you would hire a train from a train operating company, and those companies are not required to rent out their trains - although several have been set up explicitly with that goal, of course.
Re: Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway
#78If I was rich I’d go to a small town in a developing country and create a monorail. I’d buy up a 4km by 4km plot of land and create a car free city ( aside from emergency vehicles). Free public transport, bikes and shoes for everyone
Mumbai has a Monorail. How has that worked out?
They don’t scale.
The Disneyland one is nice.
Re: Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway
#79They are selling a bridge?? https://sbbresale.ch/offers/6a19702ea15ad61283c952ae
Why not? I'm pretty sure they know roundabout what it would cost to tear it down, so why not see if someone is willing to buy it because they think they can get the work done cheaper and make a profit off the raw material.
Re: Buy a train, bridge or tracks from the Swiss Railway
#80The prices are really quite good for a country where everything is so expensive. Only 3000 for an aluminium rail car. Probably the scrap metal value is higher than 3000, although you could spend far more than 3000 transporting it to the scrap yard.
3000 is the address not the price, which is "upon request".