Switzerland's solar railway works — and HN's napkin math says 44 km of it moves one locomotive (euronews.com)
Swiss startup Sun-Ways put 18 kWp of panels across 100 m of track in Buttes, producing ~16,000 kWh/year, and the trial went well enough that a permanent install looks likely, with Italian and other partners lining up.
The thread does the arithmetic: 18 kW over 100 m is less than a big house rooftop, you'd need ~44 km of track to power one locomotive — and the reply is that efficiency was never the point.
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