The four apocalyptic horsemen of the German Railways are named
* spring
* summer
* autumn and
* winter
causing delays of several hours.
Agreeable-Weather-89 on
To be fair leaves are a big problem, trains are very low friction (metal on metal), so a further reduction of friction means
1. Takes longer to accelerate
2. Takes longer to break
These combined mean a lower average speed
fruce_ki on
London does feel held together with duct tape and wishful thinking…
pepperomiia on
I remember once on a perfect sunny day trains were delayed due to “sunlight hitting the signal at the wrong angle”. When it comes to reasons for train delays, it seems the list is endless
furniturecats on
Stupid post.
Leaves on rails are like driving on ice. Dangerous.
I”d rather be a bit late than involved in a train crash.
Broad-Part9448 on
A comment from America. If you have trees everywhere you’re gonna have leaves everywhere. Every autumn in my area there are a shit load of leaves everywhere. Like all over the fucking place several inches deep.
We don’t have any trains (lol) but if we did I bet it would fuck them up pretty bad for a little while as they clear shit away.
OllieV_nl on
Trains have that same problem here and around Europe.
Summer: tracks too hot, points expanded
Autumn: leaves on the track make wheels slippery
Winter: tracks too cold, points frozen
Spring: uhm let’s just make something up.
Suikerspin_Ei on
Same with NS (Dutch Railways) in the Netherlands. Leafs, snow (frozen road switches) or heat being the enemy of the railroads.
missionarymechanic on
Wet leaves prevent stopping. Dry leaves catch fire due to arcing. Leaves and trains don’t go together.
Jungletoast-9941 on
Bro nature can’t be helped. It is what it is.
NoResort4946 on
Really so gentle…men 😂🙈
tkyjonathan on
Forget London overground. Southern Rail drivers decide whether to cancel a train by sticking their finger in their mouth and checking for wind. If there is wind, they cancel the train.
sokorsognarf on
This notice is so UK. The excess of litigation-averse and complaint-avoidant signage and announcements is something I really don’t miss
wihannez on
If only there was a way to mitigate the amount of leaves on rails.
THBLD on
My favourite so far in Germany was, train can cannot arrive at station due to a bridge on the track being on fire.
It was during one summer where Germany experienced forest fires for the first “real” time.
Creepy_Assistant7517 on
Londoners, being attacked by freaking CRUISE MISSILES during the Blitz: *”Keep calm and carry on.”*
Londoners today, after seeing two snowflakes: *”OH MY GOD, THE END IS NIGH! STOP ALL TRAVEL IMMEDIATELY!”*
Whooptidooh on
Over here in The Netherlands it’s a hard guarantee that several trains will be late due to fallen foliage on the rails. Every damn year it’s the same.
Matchbreakers on
Tbf, wet autumn leaves have the same function on rails as particularly slippery soap, it makes trains neigh on uncontrollable at speed. It’s such a problem experiments with flamethrowers and lasers to burn away the leave have been tested.
KairraAlpha on
Let’s not forget that London is classified as an ‘Urban Forest’ – it is one of the biggest urban forests in the world. There’s around 8.5 million trees growing across the city. During leaf shedding seasons, there’s a hell of a lot of leaves and they can often cause huge issues across the vast rail network in the city.
It might sound stupid, but it’s legitimately a genuine issue.
Firstpoet on
Leaf mould compacted down over time creates an ice like residue. Can we stop this leaves on the line stuff? There is a solution but it would mean cutting down a few thousand trees.
Tszemix on
Autimn is quite boring in London and the rest of England. The leaves barely change color and just drops when they are halfway green and yellow.
Barto on
Have we seriously never tried putting brushes on the front of trains that clean the tracks like street sweepers?
ackemaster on
Leaves: *Falls on Sunday the 22nd*
Transport For London: Wait no
Demigans on
This isn’t a joke or delicacy. It is a simple fact of trains.
You have a multi-ton high speed vehicle standing on a surface that is designed to minimize friction. Slowing down requires a long distance and time. Now so long as it’s the metal wheels contacting the metal rails it is still reasonable to slow down in a useful time. But leaves mean you lose that metal on metal contact, they SERIOUSLY impact the breaking distance of trains. This problem is exponentially worse on busy traintracks where every train needs a certain distance to one another to make sure they can stop in an emergency, not to mention an overall lowered speed for places with special things like potentially dangerous railway crossings or railway bridges that can be raised.
I mean just look at the teeny tiny surface area of the train wheels, and then think of the massive tonnage of the train cars all having to use that to stop in time, and this is then made worse.
stopredlight on
Network operators across the world know, they can put out all the cleaning trains and equipment but the leaves will still cause issues. Drastic tree management is the only real cure but it’s expensive and can be wrapped in red tape 🙃
28 Comments
And how can then trains stick to their timetable?
Don’t give the Deutsche Bahn any ideas…
The four apocalyptic horsemen of the German Railways are named
* spring
* summer
* autumn and
* winter
causing delays of several hours.
To be fair leaves are a big problem, trains are very low friction (metal on metal), so a further reduction of friction means
1. Takes longer to accelerate
2. Takes longer to break
These combined mean a lower average speed
London does feel held together with duct tape and wishful thinking…
I remember once on a perfect sunny day trains were delayed due to “sunlight hitting the signal at the wrong angle”. When it comes to reasons for train delays, it seems the list is endless
Stupid post.
Leaves on rails are like driving on ice. Dangerous.
I”d rather be a bit late than involved in a train crash.
A comment from America. If you have trees everywhere you’re gonna have leaves everywhere. Every autumn in my area there are a shit load of leaves everywhere. Like all over the fucking place several inches deep.
We don’t have any trains (lol) but if we did I bet it would fuck them up pretty bad for a little while as they clear shit away.
Trains have that same problem here and around Europe.
Summer: tracks too hot, points expanded
Autumn: leaves on the track make wheels slippery
Winter: tracks too cold, points frozen
Spring: uhm let’s just make something up.
Same with NS (Dutch Railways) in the Netherlands. Leafs, snow (frozen road switches) or heat being the enemy of the railroads.
Wet leaves prevent stopping. Dry leaves catch fire due to arcing. Leaves and trains don’t go together.
Bro nature can’t be helped. It is what it is.
Really so gentle…men 😂🙈
Forget London overground. Southern Rail drivers decide whether to cancel a train by sticking their finger in their mouth and checking for wind. If there is wind, they cancel the train.
This notice is so UK. The excess of litigation-averse and complaint-avoidant signage and announcements is something I really don’t miss
If only there was a way to mitigate the amount of leaves on rails.
My favourite so far in Germany was, train can cannot arrive at station due to a bridge on the track being on fire.
It was during one summer where Germany experienced forest fires for the first “real” time.
Londoners, being attacked by freaking CRUISE MISSILES during the Blitz: *”Keep calm and carry on.”*
Londoners today, after seeing two snowflakes: *”OH MY GOD, THE END IS NIGH! STOP ALL TRAVEL IMMEDIATELY!”*
Over here in The Netherlands it’s a hard guarantee that several trains will be late due to fallen foliage on the rails. Every damn year it’s the same.
Tbf, wet autumn leaves have the same function on rails as particularly slippery soap, it makes trains neigh on uncontrollable at speed. It’s such a problem experiments with flamethrowers and lasers to burn away the leave have been tested.
Let’s not forget that London is classified as an ‘Urban Forest’ – it is one of the biggest urban forests in the world. There’s around 8.5 million trees growing across the city. During leaf shedding seasons, there’s a hell of a lot of leaves and they can often cause huge issues across the vast rail network in the city.
It might sound stupid, but it’s legitimately a genuine issue.
Leaf mould compacted down over time creates an ice like residue. Can we stop this leaves on the line stuff? There is a solution but it would mean cutting down a few thousand trees.
Autimn is quite boring in London and the rest of England. The leaves barely change color and just drops when they are halfway green and yellow.
Have we seriously never tried putting brushes on the front of trains that clean the tracks like street sweepers?
Leaves: *Falls on Sunday the 22nd*
Transport For London: Wait no
This isn’t a joke or delicacy. It is a simple fact of trains.
You have a multi-ton high speed vehicle standing on a surface that is designed to minimize friction. Slowing down requires a long distance and time. Now so long as it’s the metal wheels contacting the metal rails it is still reasonable to slow down in a useful time. But leaves mean you lose that metal on metal contact, they SERIOUSLY impact the breaking distance of trains. This problem is exponentially worse on busy traintracks where every train needs a certain distance to one another to make sure they can stop in an emergency, not to mention an overall lowered speed for places with special things like potentially dangerous railway crossings or railway bridges that can be raised.
I mean just look at the teeny tiny surface area of the train wheels, and then think of the massive tonnage of the train cars all having to use that to stop in time, and this is then made worse.
Network operators across the world know, they can put out all the cleaning trains and equipment but the leaves will still cause issues. Drastic tree management is the only real cure but it’s expensive and can be wrapped in red tape 🙃
Kid named RHTT: