The British W6 loading gauge -- rather complicated outline and rather small:
UIC-C, the highest international standard of the Europe-centered International Railway Union (with French acronym UIC), according to the majority of normal-gauge European double-deck trains are built:
However, French, Swiss and Italian double-deck trains squeeze people into the smaller, only 4.32 high, though flatter-top UIC-B gauge:
Now for something scary -- the Association of American Railroads (AAR) double-stack loading gauge (for container trains with two levels of containers atop each other):
The first side/roof break point is where French trains have their roof, it's already almost 4600 mm where the profile turns upward, and nearly 6150 at top. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
We knew the Channel Tunnel would be built sooner or later, so closing it and letting it be bulldozed was an act of economic sabotage against the country's future. keep to the Fen Causeway
While I was reading up on this, I found that some businessmen want to raise the 120-year-old idea from the dead: the Central Railway, which would re-use part of the GCR corridor, and which would even be suitable for double-stack containers! *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
http://www.eurotrib.com/comments/2006/11/11/64127/243/2#2
I got an email back just now from the former FD, Alan Stevens, who is now the CEO. "Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky
