I have never heard of 105mm artillery being used for avalanche control... Hmmmm that might be fun to watch. They could used proximity rounds, so there isn't much in the way of duds... Can they use DPICM? or is that available in a small caliber like 105mm? (in the US Military, 105mm is considered "light" artillery, 155mm is "medium"... and heavy is the MLRS)
I know DPICM is used as an anti-armor, and area denial, or anti-personnel, but couldn't the charges be altered so they aren't flinging fragments everywhere??? Oh, well.... just food for thought..
Yes, the BNSF wants to lob 105mm howitzer shells onto the mountains above the rail lines. Yes, there are snow sheds in the area but some have burned down and others removed by derailments and have not been replaced. Avalanches in the area are an annual occurance. The explosives would be used to trigger smaller avalanches so they do not build to massive volumes of unstable snow.
One problem with the idea is unexploded ordinance laying around the National Park. Sometimes the snow provides enough of a cushion to prevent the shell from exploding. I suppose proximity fuses could be used to trigger from the nearness to the rocks but still there are duds. If the shells do go off you get shrapnel left on the wilderness grounds.
What the BNSF wants to avoid is the $110 million expense to build snow sheds which may fall when a train derails inside. I would also note many ski areas and highway departments which use explosives are getting away from artillary and going to helicopter drops of satchel explosives. Having loose 105mm cannons and recoilless rifles standing around seems to upset many people as well..
I just read about this story in this morning's Chicago Tribune (tried to find it online and paste it but couldn't find it) and it looks like a really dumb idea.
Let me see if I've got this straight... We're going to bomb one of our own national parks? Even better, our own government (read: taxpayer) is going to pay for it! BRILLIANT!! The shelling creates an avalance. So where does the avalance/snow go after the shelling? My first, and only, guess says that gravity will pull the snow (and maybe a couple of goats and a sleeping grizzly bear) down on to the track(s). Maybe I'm not completely understanding this because I thought that the object was to keep snow off of the tracks.
CC
In a rather limited area of the park, the most they'rer concerned about is waking up some Grizzlies? The RRs been there 100+ years w/o snow sheds. I'll bet the avalanche risk is only great on rare years. If so, snow sheds would be an unwarranted expense.
I think they should let those who protest be the ones to do the survey after the shelling and see exactly how many grouchy, hungry Grizzlies have been awoken! BNSF might even be willing to pick up their tab......
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
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