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Trains in Germany (at least DB) and the Netherlands (NS) are free for Ukrainian refugees showing a passport, according to news sites.

German railfan site Drehscheibe-online.de has in the 'Ausland' part a kind of trip report ('[PL] und in gewisser Weise [UA]: Przemysl in der Nacht vom 25. auf den 26. Feb.') of someone picking up Ukrain family in Poland. You may have to re-click the link on the site and let Google have a try on...

I'd guess one advantage of normal cars is car length to cargo length rate. With bogies under the cargo, you only loose length with buffers/couplers. Every container you can put extra in a siding/train is money. And having the containers closer to each other reduces drag a bit.

I don't know the Siemens Charger and I don't no what failed with "PTC". But I do know the "Siemens reset": Turn it off an on again. The Siemens locomotives I know sometimes have trouble starting up in one go, but even when they need a second try, after that they are very stable. Most of the...

National dispatching could set rules for powering trains and their lengths. It could also help, for example, crossing Chicago; only one office messing with Amtrak's timetables instead of, well, how many railroads? I'm from the Netherlands and am happy with the government owning the tracks and...

I cannot speak for all of Europe and Asia, but in the Netherlands we don't have the open fire type.

On Siemens Vectron and Bombardier Traxx dynamic brakes react as fast as air brakes. They just lack force when below a couple of mph. On Dutch diesel DE6400 the dynamics build up slow, so braking starts with air and after a couple of seconds the dynamycs (ED-brake) blends in. Below about 20 mph...

I'm totally with Thogo. And I totally understand Exvalley. There should be trains enough to provide service to both types of costumers.

Just to ad some confusion: parking brakes on locomotives and EMUs/DMUs (Electric/Diesel Multiple Unit) in Europe (at least the modern German/Swiss built ones) are of the spring type (Federspeicherbremse). Air pressure releases those brakes. They can also be mechanically released, in case of...

If the driver couldn't stop in time, she was driving too fast for the road conditions? The driver should stop driving cars for now. Or at least take training to better grasp the dangers of driving a car. The crossing installation malfunctioned, too little time between activation and train...

I usually don't tip the car attendant, as I make my bed myself and normally don't have to interact with the behind-a-curtain-in-room-1-person, just a hello every now and then. But if I would ask extra things I would pay extra, no problem with that, just hasn't happen yet.(Though I leave a...

Sorry, some late add-ons about the train side, slightly related/as reference: Braking distance for a single German BR203 locomotive out of full power at about 60 mph is about 2350 ft. Cast iron brake shoes, no other active brakes. Passenger trains over here would stop in a shorter distance out...

Interesting. If you look at bagage moving around in the basement of an airport, I can imagine how someone's imagination could see containers moving on their own or in small groups over rails. On of my first objections would be air resistance. As a freight train driver, I really noticed the...

Hihi, and than put all the keys of the about 200 containers in one bag and let the 'Memory Game' begin in Chicago! Or, use just one model key and show it on a YouTube (well, TikTok nowadays) so the key can be 3D-printed as per TSA-instruction... 😉 Well, we had our share of container content...

I (from the Netherlands) book my Amtrak tickets directly on amtrak.com, too. You'll get one e-mail; it's your receipt with your ticket attached. The e-mail says: " Retain this receipt for your records. Print the attached eTicket and carry during your trip. " So, I too have that ticket printed...

If the numbers don't matter, why use them at all? If the numbers do matter, why aren't they checked better by the attendants? And how come my favorite meals are missing when Amtrak has a lot of data to use? Is the answer: "3 times nobody cares?"

Ha, perhaps they should try to precisely schedule their railroad to cope with customers who expect speed, punctuality and reliability. 😉 The literal meaning of PSR works as long as they don't just use the letters as window dressing.

I think, this is a temporary covid thingy.

As an engineer (in the Netherlands) I'm always trying to spot the spotter (and wave or honk depending circumstances). Maybe I should start a website "spotthespotter.com" to post pictures of them... ;)

Well, on the picture PaulM shows, you can see the boilers are mounted 'funny' on the frame to keep tubes ducting the hot fumes under water while riding the rather steep slope. If the water doesn't cover and cool the pipes (making steam as a bi-product, or the other way around...), those tubes...