wait wtf why does WMATA use a 1429mm gauge what in the world was the assumed advantage in having all of your tracks and wheelbases 6 millimeters narrower than virtually every other railway in the USA
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Replying to @380kmh
Actually 1435 is an international standard, Great Britain and France used it from the birth of the railway
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Replying to @luppano
it took Britain a while to settle on 1435mm (Brunel was famously opposed to it, insisting on 2140mm), and even today, 1435 (while regarded as Standard Gauge) is only used on about 55% of the world's railways This map shows prevailing gauge by countrypic.twitter.com/ciq0jtEmL3
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Replying to @380kmh
My point was : even if USA are often an international standard, this time it's even more. 55% of the world is way more the just the USA.
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Replying to @luppano
Nothing in my tweet suggested that the USA was the *only* country that uses 1435--it was to emphasize that WMATA can't interoperate with any adjacent railways (which are all, by virtue of geography, American)
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