>>1627081Yeah, that service pattern is the one thing in current British rail practice that's IMO most worth copying.
Over here, it's either
- commuter trains mostly between pairs of significant stations, 40-100km apart
- or the exceptions generally take it one station further and stay as commuter for the whole trek
So if you have A-x-B-y-C line pattern, if you want to go from A to y, you either have to transfer at B (thankfully with takt scheduling the waiting times aren't too obnoxious) or go with a commuter the whole way (taking a long time).
>>1627099There's no real point in doing new 3rd rail electrification anymore unless you need it for operational reasons (short line or extension way inside the 3rd rail territory, for example).
AC overhead is more efficient w/r to energy losses (3rd rail has low voltage, meaning high current has to be used - and high current means high losses)
the installation costs are so-so. AC may be cheaper w/r to the catenary and power substations (which you need considerably fewer of), but may run into problems whenever you have to modify track due to clearances
