Trains (whether its a subway/tube or a regular locomotive) travel very quick, and when approaching a station, they need to slow down to a stop.
Why not have the station be built slightly elevated from the tracks? so as the train approaches, it has to climb an upward slope (and therefore trade kinetic energy for potential energy)?
And then when it leaves the station, it can more quickly accelerate and gain up to its target speed? Wouldn’t this be more efficient?
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In: Engineering
This would potentially save you a little bit of fuel and brake wear over time, but it would also require moving thousands of tones of dirt to make the little hill. I’m sure that there are some train stations built like this, but it isn’t standard because it would increase the complexity and cost of building the train station without getting you much good in exchange. The cost/benefit breakdown just doesn’t favor it.
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