THE SOLAR RAILWAY

The entry below was filed on 25 December 2097. It looks back to the 2070s, when the Solar Railway was still one track pair. The route followed the ore: mines in the Caloris Region and the Catullus Region, and the haul points that sat between them on the equator. Russia had already carried a line through the cold on the Northern Railway, and that experience came south with the heat.

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A Brief History I: Beginnings (2070s). Created: 25/12/2097It was called the 8th wonder of the world - though once we look beyond Earth, that count of wonders jumps pretty damn fast. Due to the location of mining sites (Caloris, Catullus) and haul destinations, the equatorial route was the most feasible option. Neither nuclear nor fuel-based solutions were sustainable long-term, so ROSATOM opted for EM propulsion powered by solar panels. They combined auto-controlled wagons powered by electromagnetic thrusters into a permanent magnet-based InduTrack system. Russia had overcome the cold obstacles on the Northern Railway project; here they faced equatorial heat instead. The SolarRail MAGLEV began as a single track pair. Its greatest enemy: extreme temperature fluctuation along Mercury's equator.

ROSATOM chose electromagnetic thrusters and solar panels for the wagons, and locked them to a permanent-magnet InduTrack. The same entry already names the standing problem of that first track pair: the heat swing along the equator.