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Mike Roebuck · September 1st 04, 03:50 PM posted to uk.transport.london,uk.railway

On 30 Aug 2004 03:11:06 -0700, (Alex Terrell)
wrote:

(Neil Williams) wrote in message ...
On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 23:13:30 +0100, Charlie Pearce
wrote:

Ooh, ooh, Germany!

And, in my experience, the loading gauge is too small for them, making
them cramped and uncomfortable. The seat pitch is also too tight,
mainly due to the fact that builders seem to think that 2x the
capacity of a single-decker coach is something to aim at.

Are you thinking of the ones around Freiburg? I think they're the same
as in Switzerland, and are OK for medium distance routes, where they
don't get over crowded. I would guess the capacity to be 1.5*. They're
certainly not suitable for dense urban networks - like CrossRail.

They are pretty standard new build, and are in service all over the
country (and not only DB operate them, either). I travelled on one
yesterday, from Rostock to Berlin (which was going on to Elsterwerda).

In a country where the generally low platforms mean that extending
platforms is pretty cheap and easy, and there is an abundance of
serviceable older hauled stock, they seem a nonsense.

Which is why you don't see too many of them. I think on the Freiburg -
Titisee route long trains are difficult because of the curves and
gradient.

You see more and more of them. A lot of the old stock has been
withdrawn already. I didn't see a single Silberling last week. What
hasn't been replaced by double-deck hauled stock has been replaced by
new emu's and dmu's.

Freiburg - Titisee is one of the steepest standard gauge non-rack
lines in Europe. It sees at least one long-distance train a day
though, AFAIK. I don't think length is a limiting factor, as long as
the motive power can handle it.

--
Regards

Mike

mikedotroebuckatgmxdotnet