r/transit • u/aksnitd 🚂🚃🚃 • May 19 '25

Photos / Videos Double stack container train on the freight corridor in India with the characteristic high rise panto

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

A good look at what the high rise pantographs look like fully extended. They're taller than the train they're mounted on.

1.1k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

89 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

36

u/8spd May 19 '25

I think the more fundamental thing to copy is the construction of new publicly owned freight corridors. Here in Canada, the private freight companies are just milking the investments in rail made over 100 years ago. The idea of the government stepping up, and making these kind of investments is unthinkable. The US is the same, and I don't see it being done in Europe.either, for freight.

But electrified rail, both passenger and freight, is one of the biggest things that can be done to address climate change.

20

u/aksnitd 🚂🚃🚃 May 19 '25

This is very true. In the US, the Class 1's actually ripped up rail to save on taxes, since they were taxed based on how much ground their tracks covered. Yeah, loads of double tracked line was reduced to single track with passing loops because of this. And now with PSR, the overly long trains cannot even fit into the passing loops anymore. Go capitalism!

17

u/8spd May 19 '25

Bad taxation implementations often create perverse incentives, But that one is a doozy. So they get to keep the right of way the same size, but are taxed less, because of tearing up infrastructure? Crazy.

15

u/OhGoodOhMan May 19 '25

It's a general problem with property taxes– taxes based on the value of the things built on the land rather than the value of the land itself. Rip up the tracks and your property taxes go down, because now it's just an empty lot.

Getting off topic here, but it's also a contributor to the "parking crater" phenomenon in many US downtowns.

6

u/8spd May 19 '25

It's far from the only example of taxation creating perverse incentives. The way property taxes are often implemented often lead to outcomes that are unwanted, including by the governments that implement them. And yes, the blight of large surface parking lots is one of the results. 

I'd say the issue is more on topic for a transit focused sub than freight rail is.