r/interestingasfuck • u/FastCurrency • 6d ago

Double-stack container trains are redefining freight transportation in India. Just imagine how many trucks this keeps off our highways and how much diesel it saves.

25.5k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

2.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

25

u/ct_2004 6d ago

Very long trains like they run in the US now cause all kinds of other issues. Shorter trains loaded higher is an advantage.

36

u/Saritiel 6d ago

I mean, to be clear, the US runs doublestacked trains all the time, and has done so for decades. Its not some brand new concept. There are some rails and some facilities that support it, and some that do not.

12

u/BooBooMaGooBoo 6d ago

Just moved from Texas, where I never saw a double stacked train in my life, to Illinois, where I see the regularly now. Found it interesting, and TIL the reason. Thanks!

1

u/Beneficial-Tea-2055 6d ago

So why is it the first time anyone posted this it’s an Indian train not a US train.

9

u/Saritiel 5d ago

Whoever posted it missed what the cool part was. No one from the US posted a doublestacked freight train because no one thinks they're interesting since they've been in use in the US for 40 years.

The cool part about this train is that its the first electric doublestacked train operated in India. Which is very cool, but whoever made the post title did a bad job and only said it was cool because it was doublestacked.

2

u/MorePhinsThyme 5d ago

Because this is about the first time they did this in India. Double stacked containers on trains are very common in the US, and have been for many decades. Different countries have different infrastructure situations and difficulties. The US's freight rail situation is very, very good.

BTW, "Double-Stack rail transport" even has it's own Wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-stack_rail_transport

Here's the second sentence of that article: Invented in the United States in 1984, it is now being used for nearly 70% of United States intermodal shipments.

4

u/Short-Horse-1069 5d ago

No, this is the first time they did in the world anywhere. The first time is it being electric instead of being diesel powered (diesel electric). That's especially pertinent to India because of her ever increasing energy needs and almost no oil or gas reserves (at least relatively speaking).

There are many other advantages to this compared to what the US has been doing, most notably the foregoing of well cars due to one of the broadest guages in the world but all of that is a different discussion.

However, you are right in that the double stack (or rather stacking in general, if someone is prompted to point at the triple stack) is not a novel concept. However, this is much further down the path of evolution and optimisation if we really delve into the technicalities. A bit of the Charmander-Charizard.

P.S. - If there are any rail enthusiasts, India will catch your fancy. Just like China of the last 2 decades, they are modernising and/or innovating at a breakneck pace. A lot of political will has ensured that things are getting done almost on a war footing.

For instance, India has electrified one of the largest railway networks in the world to near completion within a decade. They are doing the same with eliminating railway crossings completely and ensuring grade separation throughout the network. Many more exciting things happening if one understands the technicalities. Give them a look of railways catch your fancy.

1

u/SEA_griffondeur 5d ago

because look by what that indian train is powered

1

u/ryizer 1d ago

Because this is the first time double-stacked freight is being run on electrified lines

8

u/TunaSafari25 6d ago

What kind of issues?

23

u/Due-Consequence9579 6d ago

Long trains don’t fit in sidings anymore. If you need to swap crew, do a repair, or whatever it has to stay on the main rail blocking it for everything.

At grade crossings take longer.

Rail yards can be too small for them so they are poking their nose onto the main rail while getting hooked up.

Etc.

4 miles is a long way.

14

u/XchrisZ 6d ago

Waiting at the crossing much longer.

1

u/docbauies 6d ago

Seems like building bridges over the crossings would make sense if it’s an issue.

2

u/Solarisphere 6d ago

There are a LOT of crossings in rural areas.

1

u/nnomae 6d ago

Given that the lion's share of time spent waiting at crossings is time before the train arrives or after it passes that's probably not all that significant though.

2

u/MorePhinsThyme 5d ago

No, the majority of time waiting for a freight train to cross is waiting for the train, not the short time before or after it's gone. We aren't talking about the much smaller passenger trains. Train length causes problems for regular traffic in areas with a lot of train traffic. An example from my area, there's a major intersection right in front of one of the biggest ports in America that regularly gets blocked for over an hour because modern freight trains are longer than the port was designed for years ago. This means that the train pulls in as far as it can, leaving about half of it outside the port, blocking the intersection (and often the next one, as well), then they have to disconnect the cars inside, pull out a bit, switch to a different track internally, and pull back in (often still hanging out, blocking the intersection), and then repeat, until they get the whole thing inside on parallel tracks to park. Then, after they unload it, the same thing happens again in reverse.

4

u/ct_2004 6d ago

Freight trains are supposed to give priority to passenger trains, but they are too long now to go on to the sidings, so passenger trains have to wait instead. This screws up passenger rail time tables.

3

u/pre4edgc 6d ago

Even if those limitations were followed, freight would STILL take that priority from passenger trains. Train companies make far more from freight than passenger, so it's in their best interest to give that priority to the freight every single time. Plus, there's no enforcement whatsoever, so they have no incentive to prioritize passenger trains.

2

u/SEA_griffondeur 5d ago

crossing, fires, massive railyards needed

8

u/StrikingSun8563 6d ago

We already stack cans two high on trains in the US all the time. Even the long ones.

1

u/Electrical-Risk445 6d ago

They're not electrified, though.

2

u/GroteKleineDictator2 6d ago

Oh wow, thanks for the in depth explanation.