How do trains save fuel

By reducing the number of freight trucks on the road

stop idling your engine

Man, you have some really fucked-up traffic regulators. That kind of thing isn't common even in poor countries.

Like yeah it's bad. The people who run the train company don't give a fuck about you or the workers who are being held responsible for way more train than is safe for longer than is safe for them to be working. Oh and they always have to be on call 24/7.

It's not the train's fault, it's capitalism. Take the trains back, let the workers run them safely and efficiently, and this won't happen.

I imagine a big part of it is lack of infrastructure spendinf.

• Is there a place to stop for whatever reason they’re stopping?
• Are there always at least two tracks to prevent bottlenecks?
• are sidings big enough to fit any train allowed?
• are there sufficient non-grade crossings?

Or are we just letting freight lines continue to milk century old infrastructure without regard to anyone else?

The premise of the question is wrong. Trains need fuel like every other means of transportation. They can help consumers and logistics operations save on their individual fuel cost if they make use of rail rather than roads. A great passenger network saves fuel over all because people share a large passenger carrier rather than individually driving mostly empty cars, especially SUV tanks with only a driver behind the wheel.

Trains also don't "park" on open lines. There is a reason why it stopped and it's most likely safety. So it doesn't hit another train or runs into rail damage, construction crews, people, a shrub fire, etc. Since you say this happens regularly, It's likely the train infrastructure is old. Maybe it's a combination of those problems with too tight running schedules creating a bottleneck. Bring this to your local political leaders, complain to the train companies.

I don't know how hot it is there. What are the rules on not idling your engine while waiting in traffic jams and at railroad crossings? And if drivers are supposed to turn their engines off, this may be a clusterfuck caused by a train but blame must be disturbed. Even if it was hot (and unless I had infants or infirm folks in the car), I would switch off my engine these days because of your president's adventures in Iran.

I'm not sure why people are down voting you so much.

This shit doesn't happen anywhere else. If a train parked and blocked a crossing 3 times a day for half an hour at a time there would be an uproar.

Well I'm assuming there'd be an uproar, impossible to tell because all our tracks are double tracks to allow passing and trains don't stop for no reason blocking crossings.

We also use bridges a lot.

In my state, train companies are fined if they block a crossing more than 10 minutes during the day or 15 minutes at night. But every so often we have to remind local politicians that those regs need to be upheld.

To answer your question directly, Diesel locomotives are actually Diesel generators that drive electric motors. When they're stopped they cycle down the generators to a minimal count to maintain power. They're more efficient in general because the engines are generally running at their peak efficiency RPMs (to drive gennies instead of the wheels). Unlike trucks that are rarely running at peak efficiency RPMs and will burn extra dirty at idle.

Good luck with this fight. Texas sued for the right of the state to enforce time limits on trains blocking intersections; and the supreme court told them to fuck off.

Edit: Removed the link to bitch ass Gregg Abbot's opinion piece, and now I can't find the one I intended.

You're clearly looking for validation, not explanation. Off you go.

ALL YOU GOT TO DO WAS FOLLOW THE DAMN TRAIN CJ

I don't see the train as the problem in this scenario. Its not wasting gas the cars are. That being said there should be no train crossings they should all have bridges or such.

This is because Prescision Scheduled Railroading is bollocks and leads to super long trains just blocking eachother up..

Its all to reduce the number of crews.

Basically, its capitalism again.

Has anyone ever taught you to turn the engine off while waiting at a railway crossing?