[HN Gopher] Groundbreaking new bridge design could transform rai...
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       Groundbreaking new bridge design could transform rail crossings
       across the UK
        
       Author : sefrost
       Score  : 37 points
       Date   : 2021-06-27 07:57 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.railadvent.co.uk)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.railadvent.co.uk)
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | fredley wrote:
       | > Fibre-Reinforced Polymer
       | 
       | So plastic? Might look shiny now, but I wonder how these will
       | look after 20 years of sunlight and other weathering.
        
         | Scene_Cast2 wrote:
         | The white boats and yachts that you see are typically glass-
         | fiber-reinforced epoxy, and they seem to be holding up just
         | fine. "Carbon fiber" products are CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced
         | plastic), where the composite matrix is fibers in epoxy, and
         | those look fine after decades as well.
        
           | nickserv wrote:
           | The amount of work that goes into maintaining a yacht far
           | exceeds the financing available to public infrastructure. Of
           | course, bridges are not normally sitting in salt water.
           | Either way I'm not sure the comparison is very meaningful.
        
           | lugged wrote:
           | Fibreglass boat hulls have constant ongoing maintenance and
           | repair cycles.
           | 
           | Hell, just last week I was watching a video about how abysmal
           | the material has been for the wind turbine industry after it
           | tips apart from hail stones.
           | 
           | Sure, theyre moving at 100 mph but I don't see why people
           | would think building bridges out of this stuff is a good
           | idea.
        
         | Groxx wrote:
         | Paint works pretty well on plastic, like it does for other
         | bridge materials.
        
         | brudgers wrote:
         | Possibly less of an issue than elsewhere as they are for the
         | UK.
        
       | tomc1985 wrote:
       | "Stunning design" it is not, and what if you're approaching from
       | the other direction? Now you've gotta do this awkward S-shaped
       | motion just to cross the bridge
       | 
       | What's stopping this from being incorporated into a more
       | traditional bridge?
        
       | raffraffraff wrote:
       | Ground breaking bridges would be dangerous
        
       | Someone wrote:
       | Using Fibre-Reinforced Polymer for pedestrian bridges isn't new,
       | is it?
       | 
       | A few minutes of googling gives me https://www.fibercore-
       | europe.com/en/projects/, which has dozens of FRP bridges. I doubt
       | that's the only producer in the world. I don't see what's special
       | about this one (but feel free to educate me)
       | 
       | That leaves the shape. I would guess the corners in the road are
       | there to avoid having to use land that isn't owned by the
       | railway. If so, what's left is the specific design. That's nice,
       | but other nice designs are possible.
       | 
       | Now, as to the idea of making a pedestrian bridge over a railway:
       | it's better than no pedestrian connection, but the stairs on such
       | bridges necessarily are fairly high. Train tracks often lie above
       | ground level, and even if they don't, the total height to the top
       | of the overhead line, plus some safety, plus the height of the
       | bridge's deck means you're easily going two floors up and down.
        
         | stuaxo wrote:
         | In the UK pretty much all stations have bridges, so this will
         | mainly be about being able to put them in place much more
         | quickly when you are making changes to a station, or putting a
         | new bridge in somewhere (i.e. there may not be one that's
         | inside the ticket barriers on some smaller stations).
        
           | notahacker wrote:
           | Looks more like a design for footpaths in open countryside or
           | between housing estates. Stations have a lot more to build
           | around and on even if existing bridges need replacing
        
       | aliasEli wrote:
       | These bridges appear nice, but in their current state they
       | wouldn't be used in the Netherlands, because they do not seem to
       | support bicycles.
        
         | LurkersWillLurk wrote:
         | They also don't support wheelchairs, which in the United States
         | would tend to violate the ADA.
        
           | aliasEli wrote:
           | That is a much better argument.
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | themaninthedark wrote:
           | Looks like they are aiming to remedy that:
           | 
           | >The next phase of the project will include a ramped version
           | of the bridge to support those with impaired mobility.
        
       | FridayoLeary wrote:
       | what's wrong with normal bridges?
        
       | snthd wrote:
       | https://flowbridge.co.uk
        
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       (page generated 2021-06-28 23:00 UTC)