Rather Than More High Speed Rail What About A Rail Down the Middle? - CR4 Discussion Thread

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JE in Chicago Guru Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Chicago Posts: 3990 Good Answers: 144	Rather Than More High Speed Rail What About A Rail Down the Middle? 12/16/2019 2:23 PM
	The middle of what? The middle of the highway of course. Forget about the rail design and imagine the top plate of an I beam flush with the road surface. The idea would be to have a solid wheel/s automaticly deploy from underneath the carriage center of a vehicle or a truck which would displace a high percentage of the load to the solid wheel and a solid track giving advantage of less friction while still maintaining complete control of the load with the regular wheel set. Obviously this would best be done with current technology, lane tracking, automation, etc to deliver best results and highest efficiency. Food for thought. __________________ High Tolerance is Beautiful
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JE in Chicago Guru Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Chicago Posts: 3990 Good Answers: 144	#1 Re: Rather than more high speed rail what about a rail down the middle? 12/17/2019 6:32 AM
	Don't bump into each other running into the USPTO. __________________ High Tolerance is Beautiful
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PWSlack Guru Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: In the bothy, 7 chains down the line from Dodman's Lane level crossing, in the nation formerly known as Great Britain. Kettle's on. Posts: 32175 Good Answers: 839	#2 Re: Rather Than More High Speed Rail What About A Rail Down the Middle? 12/30/2019 4:52 PM
	The wheel/rail interface would be an interesting area of study for such a contraption - especially braking in the wet and speed mismatch between conveyances; how would one overtake a slower or broken-down one would prove to be a challenge. __________________ "Did you get my e-mail?" - "The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place" - George Bernard Shaw, 1856
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JE in Chicago Guru Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Chicago Posts: 3990 Good Answers: 144	#3 In reply to #2 Re: Rather Than More High Speed Rail What About A Rail Down the Middle? 12/31/2019 6:27 AM
	Good points. I imagine the wheel rail interface as a wheel with a solid steel rim? The best diameter, material, design would be hashed out in the real world. A contact area of 1" wide may be fine for a passenger vehicle, but a larger, wider wheel might be better for a truck? One way to deal with the speed issue would be to have the speed regulated and governed by the local speed limit. The other way and probably the simplest considering today's tech would be to have the wheel be completely autonomous. Quickly and gently extending into position when it senses the rail beneath and likewise retracting sufficiently when the brakes are applied or when the vehicle begins to change lanes. (you'd better hit the gas ;) I'd like to propose a test track. __________________ High Tolerance is Beautiful
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