Freight trains in the US don't post schedules or tracking info as far as I know

So jealous 😭

Looking forward to these

Choo chooooo

' / \ '

I knew one of the train people would come and enlighten us 😉

Dupe

https://lemmy.world/c/train

While it's documented that China ended steam locomotive operations by 2024, and thus making it possible for a train driver to have worked steam and then later a modern high-speed electric train set, I cannot find any separate references for SY-2425 (pictured) being worked by the driver in question.

That doesn't mean it isn't him, but simply that this specific photo is uncited and undated. The timeline could still make sense -- if perhaps incredible that steam made it into the 21 Century -- but I have to always be weary of photo comparisons that seem to show up more on Facebook than they do in news articles.

More details and reporting from the local NPR affiliate for Miami-Dade County, on the present financial difficulties for Brightline: https://www.wlrn.org/business/2026-03-16/brightline-financial-troubles-debt-credit

Specifically this:

Trains can still run should Brightline default on its loans. The company’s total debt load is more than $4 billion, spread over different timelines and with different seniority. Revenue bonds issued in 2024 recently traded for 33 cents on the dollar, a clear sign of growing market worries about Brightline’s ability to make its payments on time.

IMO, this just means the rail business is making money, but not quickly enough to pay off the debts on their fixed schedule. Bankruptcy protection would allow restructuring this debt, and no sensible bankruptcy plan would involve cutting the very trains that provide the revenue to pay the debts.

Regarding investor money, I'd think a regional real estate company would be a good investor, since rail service benefits adjacent land, and development adjacent to rail benefits the train service. Though admittedly, commercial real estate currently has its own headwinds to face up against. VC money is a non-starter, because the service is already running and that's not what VCs do. PE firms could also invest, but I think enough people are aware of what happens when private equity touches anything: enshittification and short-term cash extraction, destroying any long-term value.

Image link is busted, I think.

@nutomic@lemmy.ml IDK what the solution is. If someone tried to post an already-proxied URL to a server that's configured to proxy images, and that was the breakage, then IDK, maybe the users just shouldn't do that. But it also might be nice to detect an image proxied URL, de-proxy convert it, and then re-proxy it from the original un-proxied URL. Certainly the nested proxying of suppo.fi trying to proxy an image which lemmy.ml is proxying for Hexbear's proxied image of the original image (which then doesn't work, who knows why) kind of suggests that something has gone wrong in some way that might be worth looking into.

Looks like the upload failed?

Very cool!

Metre gauge is narrow gauge. Standard gauge is 1435mm.

TL;DW: the seats don’t recline, even in first class

The link -- which basically rehashes the press release from KiwiRail, the New Zealand rail network owner, and who also runs many of the freight trains -- notes that recent improvements came from upgrading to more efficient diesel locomotives.

Diesel locos hauling freight would reasonably be expected to produce fewer emissions than diesel road vehicles, and it also means further network upgrades such as electrification could deliver even lower emissions. That said, KiwiRail seems to only have electric infrastructure in major metro areas.

The country's energy mix seems to rely on a lot of imported fossil fuels, so consolidation of electricity generators alongside electrified railways should still yield an improvement. And of course, an electric grid can always introduce more and more renewable sources. Whereas diesel will always have to be imported.

A minor note: in the name Doai-eki (土合駅), the eki (駅) part means "train station". So "Doai eki train station" in English is a tad redundant. Kinda like The La Brea Tar Pits.

By leasing land to data centres? Don't really seeing that as helping after the orange dickhead clawed back 4 billion in loans.

Sounds conceptually similar to how firearm silencers work.

Researchers say installing 100-meter-long porous, soundproof buffers at tunnel entrances, along with a porous coating along the interior, can cut tunnel boom intensity by up to 96 percent. The material works by letting compressed air escape before the train bursts out of the tunnel.

It's quite a sweet rationale for wrecking clocks to be honest.

Also it's always a delight to see the Porte Noire unexpectedly 😍

If I understand correctly, the proposal would:

• terminate the Southwest Chief and Pennsylvanian service
• add a train with mixed consist of passenger cars and flat cars that will transport whole 18-wheelers, cab plus trailer, or charter buses
• will aim to do NYC to LA in 72 hours, or an average speed of at least 40 MPH (64 kph)
• introduce renovated or new bilevel passenger cars
• does not propose where or what facilities would be needed to drive vehicles onto the flat cars
• and somehow this can all be done by May 2026

What planet has this company been inhabiting that they think this is a reasonable proposal?

Just from the freight perspective, surely it would be simpler and easier to send intermodal freight by rail and then have short-haul trucking at the bookends, rather than what seems to be a boneheaded plan to put long-haul trucking on rails.

The shrinking interest in working long-haul truck routes will not be alleviated by spending rest time on a train, since the root complaint about the job is how much time is spent away from home and family. And I can't see why the host railroads would be fine with Amtrak -- aka the National Railroad Passenger Corporation -- carrying freight.

I sense something deeply amiss or even quite possibly scammy about this.