In a somewhat related practice, some roads in the Tour de France this year have been painted with "white shit" (rider Tom Pidcock's words) in order to combat the asphalt melting in the heat, with the unfortunate side-effect that it seems to be slippery and several riders (including Tom Pidcock) crashed going around a corner when the lost traction.<p>Coverage here: <a href="https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-racing/tour-de-france/tour-de-france-white-crash/?scope=initial" rel="nofollow">https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-racing/tour-de-fran...</a><p>But of course, this was done in response to past serious crashes that occured because the asphalt melted. So, it's sort of a damned if you do damned if you dont scenario for the organizers.
I love a simple solution to billion dollar problems
Reducing derailment by decreasing track movement by painting the does of the track white, to reflect heat absorbed from the sun.
Practical Engineering already explained the correct solution to this problem:<p><a href="https://youtu.be/zqmOSMAtadc?si=UUlmnk9sI-leq0SV" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/zqmOSMAtadc?si=UUlmnk9sI-leq0SV</a><p>But of course, American infrastructure was built on the cheap, and is not maintained correctly. This is why we can't have nice things.
Why couldn't this also help with continuous-welded rail?<p>Your own video points out that it's still prone to trade-offs: rail breaks in the cold are better than buckling in the heat, but what if you could reduce the high point with white paint so you could expand the practical temperature range?
We have like 220,000 miles of railroad. We do have nice things: a working freight railroad system that helps reduce transit costs.