Slightly curved tracks allow trains to carry triple the weight
Engineers are abandoning perfectly straight lines to revive the Silk Road, using precise geometry to turn a single locomotive into a powerhouse that hauls millions of tons.
While a straight line is the shortest distance between two points, it is rarely the most efficient for a heavy train. On the Trans-Iranian Transport Railway, engineers utilize curvature radii under 4,000 meters to distribute the immense physical stress of 25-ton axles. This specific geometry allows tracks to absorb the weight without buckling, effectively tripling the cargo capacity compared to older Soviet-era designs.
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