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64 pointsgregsadetsky21 comments

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The design differences between the Japanese trains and the American ones is so sad.

The Japanese trains are significantly more aesthetic, let alone their superior function.

I have to say that I fell in love with Finnish trains the first time I saw the Children's Play Areas on-board:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4q6FqYu4AQ

Interesting. I did ride Finnish suburban trains a bit but never saw this. Those were single-floor though.

I was thinking the same thing.

I guess they give the American shit to the interns.. "Here, you gotta do the ones for the gaijin, make it as boring, ugly and 90s as you can."

Constraints on street-running rolling stock basically leads you to one basic design with some slight variations. All around the world they look mostly the same.

What does "street-running" mean in this context? Could you provide some examples?

Street-running means a train or tram that has rails that are "in the street".

Here's an extreme example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tQy49yJyvc

But for transit you often have something like this: https://youtu.be/NpwIc35tqUk?si=zeG5iqiAhROtf6NW&t=191

Something like that needs a much different "locomotive profile" than a train that entirely stays on grade-separated rails. A tram that can be stopped at a stoplight like a bus needs visibility from the cab so that the operator can ensure there isn't a child in front of the train before moving.

This means you end up with a front that ... looks like a bus. Compare to high-speed trains, or even subways (subway operator visibility is often pretty low).

(American rails are separated into "light and heavy" where heavy rails have some very significant requirements due to sharing the lines with freight, etc. And the freight locomotives are designed to protect the engineer in the case of a high-speed grade collision. Something that is not supposed to be possible with euro/Japan style high-speed rail; a ducknose hitting a semi truck would push the truck right into the cab.)

There’s even one that kind of looks like a samurai helmet.

I find the newer Japanese stuff a bit much, honestly. The duck bills are just...ugh. They look good from these sort of angles, but looks pretty dumb from the side.

These duck bills are functional. They make the trains both efficient and quieter.

They're modeled after one of the fastest birds on the planet (which I forgot its name).

Kingfisher I believe.

(or... Duck?)

Yes, it's kingfisher [0].

[0]: https://interestingengineering.com/ie-originals/engineers-mu...

Japan is full of mountains, and these trains need to repeatedly enter tunnels at high speed. You want to make the pressure change as gradual as possible. How else would you do it?

“Kinki” is a name for the Osaka region of Japan.

To be quite exact, it means "near the capital", namely Kyoto/Nara. Osaka is the economic powerhouse of the region but has never been the capital.

These days the more common name is Kansai (west of the toll gate), to contrast with the Kanto region (east of the toll gate), aka greater Tokyo.

There is a university there whose name would directly translate to "Kinki University". They opted to editorialize it a bit before going international (they go by "Kindai University" outside of Japan).

From the makers of the PIN number and the ATM machine, it’s Kinki U. University.

And “sharyo” means rolling stock

“Kinky chariots” isn’t too far off. ;)

I know Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) uses some of their trains but I didn't know the menu was so much broader and more shapely! Thanks.

There are Kinky subway cars in Boston as well. Probably too old to to be listed on their page now. I wish we could have these modern, nice looking ones.

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