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Trains in Switzerland Are Now Running Over Solar Panels in a First-of-Its-Kind Test
(www.zmescience.com)
this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2026
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I mean my city has a metro line that is electric rail. seems like stations having batteries and solar along with solar on the track would make some sense for the elevated areas.
I've always been an advocate of the canopies above train stations having solar panels to help power the local loads and maybe push power back to the grid.
Solar canopies are used in many other places like parking garages/lots and canals, so the technology is there.
I'm starting to wonder if it's the vibrations from the train that makes these installations risky. Those same vibrations would happen to in-track solar PV like what's shown in OP's article. It's certainly possible to design around, as the EU is showing!
yeah I have a hard time believing we lack engineering skills to prevent shaking in structures.
I don't think it's that as much as it is putting modules near trains that have glass prone to micro cracks that can highly accelerate degradation of the panels to the point where they start cannabalizing others.
Still, I think you could probably install modules with polymeric front sheets instead of tempered glass to fix that issue.
No such thing as an impossible problem for engineers! Only impossible costs ;)
Makes me think of that one quote, "Any idiot can build a bridge that stands, but it takes an engineer to build a bridge that barely stands".