• Tak@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Even if we ignore microplastics, steel wheels on rail are significantly more efficient than tires. Rail is just better unless you are going to places not traveled much.

    • glibg10b@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I was gonna argue that rolling resistance doesn’t have a large impact on efficiency, but apparently I was wrong

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_resistance

      An example of a very light high-speed passenger train is the N700 Series Shinkansen, which weighs 715 tonnes and carries 1323 passengers, resulting in a per-passenger weight of about half a tonne. This lighter weight per passenger, combined with the lower rolling resistance of steel wheels on steel rail means that an N700 Shinkansen is much more energy efficient than a typical automobile.