this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2023
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Are trains and railroad solarpunkable? (self.climate)
submitted 1 year ago by francisco to c/climate
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A lot of people point to trains efficiency as a way forward to minimize the environmental impact of the transportation sector. But are trains and railroad solarpunkable? Or is it just another "all eggs in the same basket" industry?

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[–] francisco 1 points 1 year ago

Will look for that city nerd.

Fuel is heavily subsidized, trains are not.

How do these subsidies work, that the rail companies cannot tap into those. The electrified trains have most of their electricity coming from fossil fuels which would benefit from the same subsidies.

I feel that an optimised engine on a low friction track carrying 500-1000 people should be orders of magnitude cheaper than a car.