David Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)Apr 11
It sounds as if electric trucks are great for long-range land transport. But they require heavy batteries, so rather than putting them on the road (where they'll damage the road surface), why don't we build special metal tracks for them to go on? And, on long trips, join a bunch of them together so that you only need one motor and driver for a load of them travelling in a convoy? I bet you could make freight transport a lot more efficient if you did that.
Show threadD2

@david_chisnall decades ago, was flabbergasted to learn my first coding job’s employer (a grain co) usually got $30/ton rates for rail shipping across 5 states. Trucking was 6-8 times that, and the inefficiencies of small-lot (not full rail car) really soar from there.

… tell me we couldn’t engineer a way to let folks hook into this: little bins in boxes in pallets in railcars. Matrushka, and a dollar plops something weighty like a pile of books or preserves or etc anywhere across the country.

Apr 11 at 1:16pmWeb
Show threadD2Apr 11
@david_chisnall searching, a couple quick estimates are $70/ton, vs 7 times that for trucking. Crates need standardized, automate measuring mass / density, and zoom… then do it again for passengers.
Show threadThe Penguin of EvilApr 11

@InkomTech @david_chisnall We used to do that in the UK. Our rail companies had parcels services, as did nationalised rail. Then we got a right wing nut job government under Thatcher and they broke it all.

There have been some attempts at doing smaller scale intermodal at stations ("minimodal" the obvious one) but it flopped.

Show threadReddogApr 11
@etchedpixels @InkomTech @david_chisnall Red Star parcels
Show threadPhil Thane ✅Apr 11
@InkomTech @david_chisnall 19th and early 20th century European railways inc UK did stuff like that with chalkboards on each railway wagon detailing what was in the wagon and where it was going. A train would be assembled from all sorts of wagons then would drop some off at a yard someplace and pick up some more to take somewhere else. There were also Mail Trains that did the same sort of thing with letters and parcels. (More)
Show threadPhil Thane ✅Apr 11
@InkomTech @david_chisnall They had sorting offices on board and could pick and drop off mail bags without even stopping.