Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment
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Re: Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment
#2Reducing derailment by decreasing track movement by painting the does of the track white, to reflect heat absorbed from the sun.
Re: Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment
#3In 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-fran...
But of course, this was done in response to past serious crashes that occured because the asphalt melted. So, it's sort of a damned if you do damned if you dont scenario for the organizers.
Re: Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment
#4Practical Engineering already explained the correct solution to this problem:
https://youtu.be/zqmOSMAtadc?si=UUlmnk9sI-leq0SV
But of course, American infrastructure was built on the cheap, and is not maintained correctly. This is why we can't have nice things.
Re: Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment
#5In 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…
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.
Re: Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment
#6I love a simple solution to billion dollar problems
Re: Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment
#7Practical Engineering already explained the correct solution to this problem: https://youtu.be/zqmOSMAtadc?si=UUlmnk9sI-leq0SV But of course, American infrastructure was built on the cheap, and is not maintained correctly. This is why we can't have nice things.
We have like 220,000 miles of railroad. We do have nice things: a working freight railroad system that helps reduce transit costs.
Re: Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment
#8Practical Engineering already explained the correct solution to this problem: https://youtu.be/zqmOSMAtadc?si=UUlmnk9sI-leq0SV But of course, American infrastructure was built on the cheap, and is not maintained correctly. This is why we can't have nice things.
Why couldn't this also help with continuous-welded rail?
Your own video points out that it's still prone to trade-offs: rail breaks in the cold are better than buckling in the heat, but what if you could reduce the high point with white paint so you could expand the practical temperature range?
Re: Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment
#9At 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...
Re: Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment
#10At 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!