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RU 800 S Is a Monster That Replaces 2 Kilometers of Track Each Day

Rail travel remains one of the fastest, safest forms of transportation in the world. Sure, you might not have the same freedom as with an automobile, but the time that would have been spent behind the wheel can be used to read or even do business.
RU 800 S Is a Monster That Replaces 2 Kilometers of Track Each Day 1 photo
Photo: screenshot from Youtube
Europe's aging rail network could be a problem for some countries, but we found a machine that soles and looks about as menacing as the Death Star. It's called the RU 800 S and has been designed to do all the heavy labor automatically.

The machine was developed by Austrian Plasser und Theurer, together with the construction company Swietelsky. They are the ones to upload this video to Youtube, and we are glad they did, because over a million people watched it.

The RU 800 S is one of the largest moving machines we've ever seen. From one end to the other, it's 177 meters long (580 feet). That makes it longer than the Great Pyramid of Giza is tall. When filled with ballast and girders, the train weighs about 650 tons, or approximately 300 times more than a Mercedes G-Wagon.

Working like a well oiled machine, it removes the old track, changes the concrete sleepers, adds extra ballast and even bolts everything together. Most of the work is done automatically, which is just as well, considering how dangerous this job is.

Every hour, 200 meters (656 feet) of new track can be replaced and it usually does 2 whole kilometers (6560 feet) per day before needing to be resupplied. That means that if one machine works for 365 days, it can probably fix the line between Paris and Brussels.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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