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<p>[quote user="alloboard"]</p> <p>     I see, makes sense. Thanks for the reference link. Why are European trains lighter and shorter? Railroading is more heavy and respected there than here in the US so why would the trains be shorter?</p> <div style="clear:both;"></div> <p>[/quote]</p> <p>There are a number of reasons why trains are shorter in Europe. One of the key reasons is speed. European trains run much faster than the trains in the US, and that´s not only passenger trains, but also freight trains. The speed of a typical intermodal unit train is 85 mph in my country, which puts a limit to its total weight for braking purposes. Another reason is frequency. European main lines see much, much more trains a day than you ever see in the US. I live within ear shot of the main line between Hamburg and Bremen. On this line, we have 300 trains a day. A long, but slow train would limit the line´s capacity considerably. Don´t forget, that passenger trains are priority trains here. No rail traveler would accept his train to be stuck behind a slow moving behemoth. Space is also an issue. Europe is much more populated than the US. If the US had the same population density as Germany, there´d be 3.2 billion folks living there. You just don´t have the space to build yards to accommodate trains 2 or 3 miles long.</p>
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