How much does a Canadian weigh?

[bellinghman]

Well, if it's the train, it appears to be

19 cars, at 50 tonnes per car (I assume the 'customary' weight.)
2 engines, at 118 tonnes per engine (EMD F40PH)

Total 1186 tonnes

OK, that's one heavy train.

Comments

[autopope.livejournal.com]

That's nearly twice as fast as the Canadian, though, which has a track speed limit of 70mph.

Feh! Real high speed rail should come with a mach number attached!

It does have the advantage though of somewhat less frontal area per passenger than yon SUV, which drops the air resistance.

And much less rolling resistance; who ever thought that squishy rubber on an abrasive surface was a good technology?

(Scratch that: standards of driving are such that having excellent traction is an essential prerequisite for publicly accessible road transportation. But if you can cope with steel wheel on steel track, you can cut the resistance a lot.)

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

should come with a mach number attached!

Do mach numbers apply in vacuo?

And much less rolling resistance

That's a very good point: deformation of all that tyre rubber isn't something I considered.

I found it interesting that the Montréal Métro uses rubber wheels, as per Paris, while the Vancouver SkyTrain uses steel wheels. For something passing over people's heads, the SkyTrain is remarkably quiet, lacking the screeching I'm so used to with the London Underground.