• Gellis12@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Not just expensive, downright impossible. The Rockies are volcanic, so boring a level tunnel through the base of the mountains is out of the question. They’re also very steep, which necessitates a lot of switchbacks, sharp curves, and even a pair of spiral tunnels at Kicking Horse Pass. We can and do run normal trains through these lines, but the geography severely limits how fast we can move through the terrain.

    • zephyreks@lemmy.caOP
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      1 year ago

      Nothing stops a conventional sleeper train for Vancouver-Calgary though, right? Sounds like sleeper service would be ideal given the circumstances.

    • Nogami@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Don’t think the Rockies are volcanic. I can’t find any sources to support that.

      From Wikipedia

      The current Rocky Mountains arose in the Laramide orogeny from between 80 and 55 Ma.[11] For the Canadian Rockies, the mountain building is analogous to pushing a rug on a hardwood floor:[12]: 78  the rug bunches up and forms wrinkles (mountains). In Canada, the terranes and subduction are the foot pushing the rug, the ancestral rocks are the rug, and the Canadian Shield in the middle of the continent is the hardwood floor.[12]: 78