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Adapting trains to very low population density

Compared to Bodø in Norway, Fort Yukon in Alaska is a southernly located town.

"Nordlandsbanan", "the northern land railroad", connects Bodø, a city of 32000, to the major city of Trondheim (140000 inhabitants). "Nordlandsbanan" is 451 miles long, travel time 9 hours, and the biggest towns along the way are Mo i Rana (18000 inhabitants), Mosjøen (10000 inhabitants), and Steinkjer (11000 inhabitants). There are 3 trains per day. Ridership is, of course, limited. Therefore, trains have to shrink in size and costs.

One Amtrak loco with two cars, one articulated DMU with two parts.

The BM 93 is an articulated DMU with active tilting mechanism. It has 80 - 90 seats, a crew of 2 (engineer and conductor), and one underfloor bus engine under each of the parts. In comparison to one unpowered non-tilting Amtrak car without loco, it's price is about 1.5 times as high. Costs of operation are more comparable to 2 buses, than to an Amtrak train.

It has been already explained on page 15, that such DMUs are not compatible with FRA regulations, and that it is not practical, to build such trains for these regulations.

While it is possible, to offer train traffic in areas with very low population density, it is not possible to do this in the USA, unless regulations would be modernized. This isn't assumed for this article.



Unit conversion for text on this page.
451 miles 726 km

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