Route between Koln and Mannheim block by a landslide March 15. Rail line probably not open before Easter. Here are a couple links. First link is the actual landslide video and second link has some additional blasting of rock to make the mountain safe. Additional links in second link also show some drilling and blasting. Article says that shippers are upset about the delays . There are some diagrams that show the freight detours.
Freight shippers want passenger trains to be curailed on the detour routes. that is interesting as remember UP requested Amtrak cut some missouri mule trains when UP was detouring freights on the line.
Middle Rhine Valley remains closed for freight traffic till Easter | RailFreight.com
Landslide blocks German Rhine Valley: are freight trains to blame? | RailTech.com
Could be worse. At least a train didn't get wedged sideways in a tunnel......
Cute that they think their freight trains have vibration problems. They'd love the heavy axle loadings, flat wheels and truck hunting that are so common over here.
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-an Articulate Malcontent
SD70DudeCould be worse. At least a train didn't get wedged sideways in a tunnel...... Cute that they think their freight trains have vibration problems. They'd love the heavy axle loadings, flat wheels and truck hunting that are so common over here.
Over the years more than one train has derailed and wedged itself into a tunnel. They all got cleaned up - eventurally!
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
SD70DudeCute that they think their freight trains have vibration problems.
Their proposed solution of slowing the train down is so uncharacteristically German (stupid). I have the same problem with my house and the concrete street out front. Both the pad my house is on as well as the concrete street are very close to the bedrock so every time a heavy truck goes by over a joint in the street the house vibrates (not noticible to me but it shifts the pictures on the wall over time).
The vibrations are transmitted to the face of the bluff because the material between the track and bedrock connecting the roadbed with the face of the bluff is rock. Seems to me all you need some vibration absorbtion engineering here such as rubber pads between the rail and concrete ties or some kind of vibration absorbtion material under the ballast. Maybe mix the ballast with sand.
Why would you slow down all your traffic on a line that you invested so much money into for a higher speed? Not very clever in my view.
The Germans led the world with attempts to build sprung track in the 1920s.
Aside from first cost, there are severe issues with damping (energy absorption one put into the track as vibration or shock) and with deterioration of various parts of the system over time.
It would be interesting to consider whether the Class 9 slab track FRA tested a few years ago could be 'tuned' to produce low moments in the ground (which is kinematically treated as an infinite sink when doing things like preserving top-down line and surface in the rails). I would expect both the Germans and the French to be among the world's most expert at this kind of analysis, once they see the need to make it...
Slowing down aggregate traffic (or slowing down freights in any way that slows other traffic, or the line capability as a whole) would likely be a temporary expedient... assuming the necessary earthwork in 'all the affected places' isn't impossibly expensive for the variety of reasons that might apply. There will certainly be some point where the political issues associated with slower traffic come to outweigh allocating and spending more money to preserve higher speed.
As I am paranoid, I do have to wonder if this 'freight train vibration' is an opening salvo in fibding an excuse or justification to soak private operators for a greater share of the 'remediation' and improvement expenses. But who am I to say that that would be unjust?
From the second link above:
“Specifically, vibrations caused by freight trains seem to be the main reason behind the phenomenon. According to Willi Pusch, chairman of the initiative against railway noise in the Middle Rhine Valley, this is the seventh rock-falling event in the region. His citizen’s initiative has warned multiple times about the consequences of bypassing freight trains that cause tremors to the mountain slopes.”
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I would say that the ever-changing earth crust combined with gravity is the likely cause of landslides. I wonder if the Chairman of the initiative against railway noise in the Middle Rhine Valley might have a bias leading to his conclusion that the trains are causing landslides.
Railroads lines are often built to take advantage of water level routes along rivers. On the side of the track opposite the river, there are often high banks or cliffs created by the cutting of the river over time. This configuration is famous for rock falls fouling the track. They are often protected by slide detectors that signal trains to stop in time to avoid striking a slide.
I wonder how much research, speculation, and concern has been directed over the years to the possibility that the trains themselves are causing these slides and rock falls. Maybe there is a well-established awareness of that connection—or maybe not. Has it been scientifically found that trains threatened by slides actually tend to cause such slides?
With Plate Tectonics - rock solid is not really solid. Everything on Earth is moving.
BaltACD With Plate Tectonics - rock solid is not really solid. Everything on Earth is moving.
Recently saw a map that showed the strongest earthquake ever in each state. And every state had an entry, however small.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Overmod As I am paranoid, I do have to wonder if this 'freight train vibration' is an opening salvo in fibding an excuse or justification to soak private operators for a greater share of the 'remediation' and improvement expenses. But who am I to say that that would be unjust?
Tricky to do that. First the Non-DB operators have access to the European Court of Justice which cannot be counted on to rule in DB Netze favor. Second DB still operates about half of all freight trains in Germany, and rules do not allow DB Netze to grant preferential track access charges to DB Cargo. And third, anything that drives up railfreight's cost versus road freight will cause a cargo shift to road which Germany is trying to reverse. Never the less the costs of this incident will have to be paid by someone.
The main effect a railroad would have on a slope, would have been during construction if they had cut into the slope and steepened it. The slope is always going to be weathering, whether there are vibrations or not.
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