Why can't we have double decker trains like they have on the continent?

Question

.......instead of travelling like cattle in nasty, cramped, overcrowded trains

Answer 1

Your bridges are too low!

Answer 2

Every bridge and electric gantrys would have to be raised, it would cost billions.

Answer 3

Well, I'm sure that you don't have them because England has the oldest rail infrastructure in the world, so it would probably be too expensive to upgrade the tunnels to accommodate double decker cars.  Not to mention, most of the electrified lines in the UK use pantographs, so they would need to re-vamp the entire fleet of railroad cars, because they would have to raise the pantograph wires.   Just for your own information, we have double decker cars here in the US, and often, it doesn't make a difference for overcrowding, because the railroad seems to think, "hmmm...our cars can fit twice the amount of people now, so we'll put on half of the cars as a single decker train." And believe me, the do, so it makes no difference in the crowd factor.

Answer 4

Tunnels might have something to do with it!

Answer 5

We have double decker trains -- in the US.

Answer 6

It's probably because they can't even get the ones we have already to work properly.

Answer 7

It would mean overhauling the whole network and widening tunnels etc. All the stock on UK railways is built to a certain size called a loading gauge to ensure it fits all the bridges and tunnels it will encounter.

Answer 8

As others have said, it's all to do with what is called 'the loading gauge - the maximum size of stock etc that will fit under bridges, tunnels etc, pass each other on adjoining tracks without sideswiping, fit against platforms etc. The gauge in the UK is much smaller than in Europe and to change all the infrastructure would be horrendously expensive and not something this Government would pay for. There was a railway built in the 19th century called The Great Central Railway which was constructed to European, or Berne, gauge, which was designed to provide a railway all the way from Manchester, via London, to Paris, but it was pulled up in the 1960s - very shortsighted indeed! We did have a couple of double decked trains which ran for many years after WW2 from Charing Cross into Kent. They weren't very popular as they were uncomfortable to get in and out of and they slowed other trains down because of longer times needed at stations to load and unload.

Answer 9

Sounds like you're in England.

It's all about the clearances... how much room is there from the top of the rail to the bottom of bridges and tunnel roofs.  Obviously that's very, very expensive to change.

In America, the profitable freight business drove upgrades of hundreds of bridges and tunnels for high-wide cars like hi-cube boxcars, tri-level auto racks and double-stack containers.  This was mainly done in the west, where most tunnels were already high-clearance.  Thus, Amtrak's huge Superliners and California cars mainly operate on western trains.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superliner_...

In my experience, double-decking cars isn't necessarily a cure for overcrowding; it really boils down to a decision by the railroad of how many seats worth of train they want to apply to each route.  Passenger railroads in western countries operate at a loss and are subsidized by the government, so decisions about capacity are driven by political, not business decisions.  Very likely, double deck cars will simply lead to overcrowded double-deck cars.

Answer 10

we would want double pay to drive them lol

Answer 11

we do . I know for a fact that the LIRR has had them since the Fifties and Metra in Chicago uses them also