From a linked page:
"We paint certain parts of the rail white so they absorb less heat – and expand less. Typically, a rail painted white is 5°C to 10°C cooler than one left unpainted."
"We paint certain parts of the rail white so they absorb less heat – and expand less. Typically, a rail painted white is 5°C to 10°C cooler than one left unpainted."
Perhaps you could make a device that rides on one rail while painting the other one. Flip it around and do the other side when you’ve done the first pass.
This is why astronauts use a pen. Sometimes the "cheap and simple" way has side effects that are more harmful than the original problem.
- The paper peeled away is a fire hazard
- The oil and wax writing smudges and is a terrible way of writing
- The floating bits of paper from sharpening the pencils was a mess and since they float, got in people's faces.
Generally those are terrible ideas too, especially compared to a $100 for a pen. It's really not that much compared to every other cost.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-n...
Probably that approach to safety was cause for it.
Meanwhile, I notice that all the replies to the UK video are people complaining about the rail system reducing headcount and mocking the idea that this task could be automated.
And among other things changes like not being paid for their commute when doing overtime(which was paid for previously), at the time when petrol has crossed £2/L around the country.
Painting will obviously have to happen at night (double pay), and is risky work (double pay again). Oh, and we can't do more than 3 hour shifts because it involves bending down. And we'll be needing a minimum crew of 8 - 1 painter, 1 safety expert, 1 signalling expert, 1 electrics expert, 1 spotter, 1 paint quality expert, a foreman to lead the team, and a union rep to check everything is done according to the book. Oh, and wherever the work is being done more than 15 minutes from a toilet, we'll need a mobile toilet booked and installed, as well as a break room. If any of those people are missing or late, we'll cancel the work and retry in 3 months.
BART and Muni are both union shops. I don't know if SMART is but it postdates the HSR proposals.
As someone who lived through Muni's transition to SelTrac (the system that underpins DLR and I think some of the Tube lines) I can say the union was not the problem. The technology was unreliable and eventually abandoned by Alcatel/Thales. GoA 4 stuff is only viable along small, low ridership stretches of track. If you knock the level of automation down a peg or two it's a lot easier to scale up to busier/larger systems.
Hah! Typical free market libertarian approach that cuts corners. You can't just go out and start painting stuff matey! What about the viability study? Someone needs to build a model of the processes, and conduct a pilot time and motion study. People won't just accept white rails without consultation. Where's the perception management and transformation campaign to make sure the new white theme is on message and brand aligned for Railtrack? You'll have to add at least 1 lawyer, 1 community liaison officer, 2 PR people, an advertising account executive...
> we'll need a mobile toilet booked and installed
Toilet? Pfff. You can't just go out and stick up a toilet....
We've had many industrial accidents, from Bhopal's disaster to Boeing Max, thousands of people died, and all of them were caused by management meddling where they shouldn't. none of them were caused by unions
What needs to be painted is the sides of the rail, the top - even if painted in the process - will return to lucid metal as soon as the next few trains pass on them.
Usually small trucks (Unimogs adapted to rail use) or small convoys are used, see:
If you live in the south, it's because people think there isn't good roofing materials that can be lighter colors. Those people are wrong.
But, for example, California is requiring light roofs and other mitigating issues, so there is some progress.
BTW if you do decide to paint your roof (or any other external surface) please use TiO2 paint as the UV from the sun will then cause it to break down pollutants like NOx and greenhouse gases like methane.
I also have a 200 year old stone cottage and when it gets hot it stays hot for a very long time (same for being cold).
In practice, it’s generally better to just have a well insulated house in the first place. (Passivhaus being the attainable ideal.)
My experience was mostly old brick buildings in Dublin (old enough to not be cavity wall) and having all the heat they soaked up during the day radiated back at you at night.
I plan to add retractable awnings over the windows that get a lot of sun at some point too; they can make a big difference.
And, of course, trees! Deciduous trees give you shade in the summer and kindly drop their leaves so you have light in the winter. They're amazing!
It makes totals sense. I also suppose that many people who own single-family houses would not do that, mostly because it looks odd. Looking odd is something that makes people uncomfortable.
When you find a way for a light-colored roof to look cool while also not costing an arm and a leg, people will gladly adopt it. This happened to solar panels when they started to look well and also signal wealth and care of the Earth.