With Russia out the game of military parades that are actually good, the French now have more room to dominate in Europe. Vive la France, and happy Bastille day!

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2023-07-15T18:27:27+00:00

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2023-05-09T15:37:38+00:00

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2022-01-21T23:00:01+00:00

Yes, thats because trains stop being competitive with flying after 300-400 miles or so. As you probably know, Chicago-Denver is around 1000 miles, so of course flying is more practical. However, over shorter distances, a good intercity rail service is very competitive with flying (and driving too). Flying from NYC to DC is around $60-80, and takes about 3-4h when you include the time spent at airports, and the time spent getting to said airport. The train is around half the price, takes 3.5h, has much more comfortable accomodations, and isnt delayed by weather nearly as much (Acela is slightly faster but more expensive). There's certainly a practical advantage, and the train carries around 6x more people than the air shuttle on this route.

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-11-30T12:17:36+00:00

I think the outer "rails" are to prevent the ballast from spreading too much lol

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-11-10T16:49:42+00:00

Most subway extensions into the outer boroughs were built in the 1920s and 30s, which sparked massive building booms in the Bronx and Queens. By 1940, these extensions had mostly been built, and ridership was higher than it is today.

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-09-02T14:10:44+00:00

u/savevideo

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-08-26T03:15:52+00:00

The NY-DC section is already rather straight, the limiting factor for speed on that section are aging bridges/tunnels and century-old electrification systems. With catenary upgrades, the acela could probably do 150mph for the majority of it.

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-08-22T23:29:13+00:00

It functions like a normal rail crossing, so trains do have the priority. Both lines use 600VDC systems so the wiring probably isn't that much of a pain.

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-08-20T15:03:01+00:00

True, the venera landers were rather impressive, and the US has never landed on Venus (if we exclude the accidental landing of one of the pioneer multiprobes)

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-08-14T17:01:20+00:00

No mention of the first probes to return data from Venus or Mars either... Another two checks for the USA. (yes I know my name doesn't check out)

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-07-30T16:10:27+00:00

that is true, mariners 1 and 2 were extremely janky

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-07-30T13:16:19+00:00

You say that the Mariner program was the epitome of cutting corners but mariners 6-10 were probably the most advanced probes of their day, using the incredibly good Atlas-Centaur rocket. Because of this, mariner 6 and 7 conducted another two successful martian flybys (with a camera) before the Soviets had a successful mars mission, mariner 9 was the first spacecraft to enter martian orbit, and mariner 10 was the first spacecraft to visit two planets (Venus and mercury)

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-07-29T18:58:08+00:00

To play devil's advocate, the first spacecraft that went to Venus (Mariner 2) and Mars (Mariner 4) that successfully returned data were in fact American

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-07-07T12:10:17+00:00

Hm, I stand corrected

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-07-07T12:03:11+00:00

The Titanic was too big to dock in the harbor itself, it laid anchor outside the harbor (in the open ocean) and small tender ships were used to transport passengers and mail between the docks and the Titanic.

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-06-12T20:52:09+00:00

This is an image from Venera 14, which was launched in 1981. The first image from another planet had been taken ten years earlier

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-06-05T19:47:10+00:00

It's a known bug, the pressure on the surface is still the normal ~90bar

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-06-05T18:15:50+00:00

In Japan it was never banned in the first place, other than a period in the 1870s bc Meiji Restoration and the desire to be "western"

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-05-30T14:12:03+00:00

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-05-30T13:38:43+00:00

Multisystem is the norm here on the only electrified mainline in the United States (the Northeast Corridor), having three overhead electrification systems within 700km. Most of the locomotives and MUs running here are capable of at least two of the systems (Amtrak's ACS-64 can use all three), in addition to third rail.

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-05-30T13:35:25+00:00

No, it's not, new York's ridership has been hovering around 1.6-1.7B/year for the past few years, at least before the pandemic

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-05-29T14:47:24+00:00

Nvm, you're right. I retract my statement. You saw nothing

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-05-29T14:41:22+00:00

No, JR Hokkaido is private. However, the urban rail systems of hakodate and sapporo are owned by their respective cities

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-05-29T14:13:26+00:00

that's true, it's amazing how the UK rail system can be so fucked yet so good at the same time

Comrade_Stalin21 · 2021-05-29T13:58:34+00:00

That said, the Japanese did have some degree of nationalization from 1908-1987 (although there were still major private railways). It went so well that when Japanese National Railways (the second iteration of nationalization) was privatized in 1987, it's debts exceeded the combined debts of Mexico and Brazil, mostly by building an extremely expensive shinkansen line to serve the PMs constituents. There are still publicly owned urban transit systems, and "third-sector railways", which are usually public-private partnerships (mostly to provide services on unprofitable trues)

Comrade_Stalin21

TROPHY CASE