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You’d need four rails, a 9 cm separation isn’t enough to fit two side by side. This solution has been ruled out as technically infeasible (I don’t even want to think about what the switches would look like…)

Adjustable-gauge rolling stock has also been ruled out as incompatible with the Finnish climate.

The most (only?) feasible way to do it is to “simply” build entirely new standard-gauge track next to existing track (and then possibly start upgrading the latter too at some point in the future).



This reminded me about a joke.

When engineers asked should we do the rails same width like in europe or wider, the answer they got from tzar was "Нахуй шире"

literal translation "wider by length of dick, but meaning "why the fuck we need wider"

- В Европе ширина колеи 1435 миллиметров. Нам делать так же или шире? - Нахуй шире, - ответил император.


Sounds like a variation on the "Tsar's finger" anecdote

https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/580-the-legend-of-the-tsar...


Adjustable-gauge are used in Switzerland for a mountain line (Montreux-Interlaken) all through the year. I have never seen temperature issue mentioned. https://www.gpx.swiss/en/stories/technology (the video is rather cool)


Nevertheless that’s what the initial feasibility studies showed. I don’t think the amount of complexity involved in that Swiss system would scale at all.


That is cool, thanks for posting!




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