Posted on 03/15/2018 9:22:54 AM PDT by rktman
No one disputes this Australian state’s need to upgrade its rail-transit fleet after 40 years of service.
The New South Wales regional train system in and around Sydney operates with a variety of trains, the oldest rolling stock – called V-sets – and newer XPT longer-distance carriers. After four decades, purchasing 512 new carriages at a cost of $2.3 billion had become a necessity. And with the purchase, commuters can look forward to mobile-phone charging stations, accessible toilets and more space for bike racks and luggage.
All good … except for one rather major problem.
The new trains are too wide for existing tunnels, reports News.com.au.
Whereas Transport for NSW’s current trains are 114.17 inches wide, the replacement trains on order are 122.05 inches in width. Because trains sway and tilt, particularly when rounding curves, TfNSW set a minimum clearance, or “kinematic envelope,” of 7.88 inches around the current rolling stock. That, coincidentally, is only one-hundreth of an inch wider than the increased width of the new trains. New trains tilting inside tunnels are expected to experience scraping on portions of the roof and base as they make contact with the rock walls.
“It takes a special type of incompetence to buy trains that don’t fit through the tunnels,” said state opposition leader Luke Foley.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
This is why they took away everyone’s guns.
After a few trips thru the tunnel they should be down to the appropriate size........
We had a hospital addition built here, and the room door openings were too small for the beds.
This kind of thing probably happens more often than we know.
You left off : “....that’ll leave a mahk!”. Using yer best Aussie accent of course.
At first glance I thought it said Austrian. I nearly gave myself a heart attack.
Similar to Seattle’s transit tunnels. They were going to get ahead of the game and construct a tunnel system for both buses and light rail, even though the rail system was several years out. Wouldn’t you know it, the rail authority chose a different size railcar and track width then what had been constructed...
Apply KY jelly to the taxpayers...
Too much Starbucks?
More like too much buck$
If so, it explains everything.
When government does it, they just raise taxes on the people. If a business does it, it loses money or goes bankrupt. Why government should not run things.
By some strange coincidence, those odd looking imperial measurements have metric equivalents that happen to be fairly close to “round numbers”:
114.17 inches = 2899.918 mm or 2.9 meters
122.05 inches = 3100.07 mm or 3.1 meters
It’s almost as if the trains and their tunnels were designed based on the metric system. /s
"The ship's flightdecks, it became clear, were too short to accommodate the American Hawkeye radar aircraft that France had bought for the vessel. In addition, the decks had been painted with a substance that eroded the arrest wires used to slow the aircraft as they landed."
Well no wonder they screwed it up. As mrs. rktman would say, “Sure that looks like a foot.” As she rolls her eyes at me measuring something.
A foot?? Braggart. ;=)
Common Core math.
It's not a metric vs. imperial issue really. The numbers they used are what they are. The real question that hasn't been asked or answered in any of the articles I've read on this issue is "How wide are the tunnels"? The safety envelope was based on the old trains. They assumed x for sway, so they needed y for safety, but they don't say how much room they actually have in any of the articles.
Are they just sitting on their butts saying the new trains are too wide based on the old safety envelopes, or do they actually know the tunnels in question are too narrow. The safety envelope and the tunnel width are two separate deals. That would also imply track separation between trains, not just side-to-side/ceiling clearance within the tunnel walls.
Also, does it affect every line, or only certain lines? These things matter.
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