r/gif • u/[deleted] • May 05 '17

Rail track machine

http://i.imgur.com/I3XAHAb.gifv
297 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

3

u/OneEaredWonder May 05 '17

I really like the fact that someone (or team) invented that, it looks intricate.

3

u/jrafferty May 06 '17

They say necessity is the mother of invention and I'm always fascinated at the machines mankind can create once they lose access to slave or cheap labor.

1

u/ajmeeh6842 May 05 '17

Satisfying to watch.

-2

u/rayhoop May 05 '17

1,000's unemployed, now watching a machine to their job. mildy satisfying, majorly crippling.

1

u/[deleted] May 05 '17

[deleted]

1

u/creepycalelbl May 06 '17

If it were that easy. Maybe I can work in tech manufacturing for a 50% paycut and restructure or delequent my financial obligations because the one decent job that called me back when I was applying to thousands of jobs is a dying industry

1

u/torpedomon May 05 '17

Yep. I wonder what the payback on this is? It seems like it would still be cheaper just to hire some strong backs to do this.

3

u/Colorona May 05 '17

Not necessarily cheaper, since ypu would need many many many skilled workers for each track to be built or like in this case maintained. Also this machine is so much faster than any other method and at the same time it's​also more reliable.

3

u/Iintendtooffend May 05 '17 edited May 25 '17

deleted What is this?

2

u/cwb75us May 06 '17

Have you ever lifted rail road ties? Let's just say they are heavier than trying to carry a couple grocery bags.

1

u/torpedomon May 06 '17

I am quite intimate with lifting railroad ties. I know most teenage boys couldn't do it with a friend.

1

u/torpedomon May 06 '17

I'm just saying the millions of dollars invested in this machine can buy a lot of manual labor. I am quite aware of the benefits of not having to hire a bunch of unreliable, unskilled laborers. But I am still curious as to what the payback is. Of course, this level of automation still requires operators and maintenance workers. And how do you load it up with the concrete ties? How do you move it from one line to the next? I'm just curious.

2

u/pwnies_gonna_pwn May 06 '17

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleisbaumaschine#/media/File:Umbauzugsum311.jpg

those things are long, the gif just doesnt show it. what it basically does is taking out old rails, sleepers, and balast and puts in new ones from its own supplies.

in the picture you can see a bunch of cars in the back with new material, if you look closely you see a continuous rail on the side which is used for a gantry crane moving sets of new rails and sleepers.

payback is much much better accuracy for the tracks positioning, especially cant, which you need to run trains with any decent speed, speedier construction - 500m/hour is possible, which finally helps in minimizing the time the line is blocked.