Lehmuusa comments on Train hopping only a thing in the US, or Europe too? (A: yes, Europe too but less common.. must dodge A/C power lines)

Train hopping only a thing in the US, or Europe too? (A: yes, Europe too but less common.. must dodge A/C power lines) (www.npr.org)

submitted 7 months ago by activistPnk@slrpnk.net to c/trains@sopuli.xyz

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cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/36305825

Train hopping is still a thing in the US, I suspect because freight trains are slow.

But what about Europe? Even the slow trains are fast. Although I say that only having seen passenger trains. Are there freight trains that are slow enough? What about controls? The article mentions thermal cams being used to spot train hoppers. I might expect Europe’s tendency to push for safety to manifest as rigorous controls.

UPDATE: found this→ https://hitchwiki.org/en/Train_hopping#Europe

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/36305703

Would like to add this to my lifestyle.

“Working remotely as a software engineer, the 25-year-old spends his free time combing through open source railway data and online forums to determine which trains to take, when they'll slow or stop, where to hide in wait and what type of train car to jump into.”

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[–] Lehmuusa@nord.pub 1 point 2 weeks ago*

Different countries in Europe have vastly different electrification systems. Most use either 25 000 V AC or 3 000 V DC, but then there's the 15 000 V AC used by German-speaking countries, Sweden, and Norway. And the French-Dutch 1500 V DC.

And France uses 25 000 V on all of its new lines as well.

Electricity can jump about 1 cm per 1 000 V, so Finnish 25 kV overhead wires can shock you at a distance of 25 cm, south-French 1.5 kV overhead wires need you to be under 1.5 cm away from the line.

Converting to inches and feet: 1.5 kV needs you to be closer than an inch to the overhead wire in order to get electrocuted, while 25 kV can jump almost a foot.

It happens regularly that young people die when they climb atop freight wagons and get too close to the sstructures holding the overhead line. They only know to avoid the line itself, but don't understand how.far electricity can jump nor that it's not only the wire that is "hot", but also all structures up to the isolator.

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