Allen Hazen wrote:...
At which point another possibility suggests itself. U.S. rail vehicles are typically over twice the width of the track gauge (a bit over ten feet, versus 56.5 inches), and single-stack trains of standard containers can operate on narrow gauge lines (e.g. the 3.5 foot gauge of Queensland Railways in Australia). So on a super-wide gauge railway you could run cars capable of carrying two shipping containers side-by-side! Giving, with two-deep mounting, the effect of quadruple-stack:
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Try this on for size, Mr. Hazen - a four-truck, 16 container (32 TEU) well car running on two sets of rails
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End view:
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""H====H""
Side view:
[__|__] [__|__]
[__|______|__]
[__|__] [__|__]
[__|______|__]
"o-o"""""""""o-o"
New Panamax container ships already carry more than 15,000 TEUs per voyage. Trains could match that capacity with 32 TEUs per car and 500 cars, meaning 16,000 TEUs per train. It would have a higher average speed, shorter distance and quicker travel time than any current container ship, though much higher fuel costs. Finally, it would have considerably lower personnel costs, since even with 10+ locomotives MUed together you'd only (in theory) need an operating crew of 2-4 people to control it all. Even if you used eight- or twelve-packs to reduce height restrictions, we're still talking about 8-12,000 TEUs per train.
I don't even see why it couldn't be done with off-the-shelf technology and routes. Seriously. Take a two-track grade-separated railroad, upgrade it to 315k loading standard, remove all the center and overhead obstructions (again, eight- or twelve-packs can reduce the immediate height issues), and redo the sidings and interlockings with four evenly-placed tracks. For the new cars, mount the trucks on sliding bolster pads to allow a couple feet of leeway between railheads, and don't fret about slight elevation differences because the truck springs can handle that. Finally, put adapter cars between the well cars and each pair of conventional locomotives. Several hundred million dollars later, you've made the Sunset Route into the new Panama Canal. And, you can still run regular 4' 8 1/2" trains on each track when the land-bridge trains aren't coming through - or 3' 6", or meter-gauge, or 1520mm, or whatever system you have.
I must be off my meds too