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The funniest argument and the reason I share this is that since the utilities company that provides the tram service has a ratified goal of becoming CO2-Neutral eventually, they've elected to not buy ACs since they'd consume about 7 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year and ACs aren't sustainable. I assume the 50°C tram is gonna be a big hit as per transportation in the upcoming summers.

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[-] Feed_el_Castro@hexbear.net 34 points 2 hours ago

Sustainable public transit at the expense of comfort is the most uneducated idea. The entire point is to reduce private vehicle use as much as possible, having AC on is worth it because it makes more people want to catch a tram instead of driving their car. Bunch of absolute clowns.

[-] Beaver@hexbear.net 9 points 2 hours ago

This is unlocking memories of riding the school bus in the tropics. The school district was slowly upgrading the fleet to models that had A/C, and the first day riding on one of those on a sweltering September afternoon was like a revelation from God. Then late in the month, one of the old buses showed up, and we ended up riding that one for the rest of the semester. It's hard to put into words how resentful and discouraged everyone felt about that, it sucked so much more after we experienced what a bus ride with A/C felt like.

[-] Nacarbac@hexbear.net 6 points 2 hours ago

Hm... needs largeish 18'C PCM iceblocks that can be slid into trains for passive cooling and then out into underground cooling slots to refreeze.

Just a total redesign of all train carriages and stations, several hundred extra kilos of saltice per carriage, and a few decades of testing. But easy, problem solved!

Or you set up to hand out PCM ice-bottles at stations so passengers can sit with it for the journey and then give them back to refreeze in a big fridge.

PCM iceblock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nqxjfp4Gi0k

I've made one so far, and it works pretty well. Avoids the freezerburn of an actual iceblock, doesn't need a freezer, and it's easy to make.

[-] HexReplyBot@hexbear.net 1 points 2 hours ago

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

[-] Enjoyer_of_Games@hexbear.net 80 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

Germany bringing back their famous Train to Oven experience.

[-] InevitableSwing@hexbear.net 1 points 43 minutes ago* (last edited 32 minutes ago)

Before I saw your comment I was pleased with my idea of making a SaunaTram joke.

[-] darkcalling@hexbear.net 38 points 5 hours ago

gold-communist

Maybe not tagline material but only because it needs the context of a post. Though I guess one could greentext it.

[-] shath@hexbear.net 49 points 5 hours ago

god damn dude

[-] AstroStelar@hexbear.net 26 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

The fact that the municipal utility company (DSW21) has opted against installing air conditioning for these reasons is being criticized by, among others, the Dortmund Green Party, led by their parliamentary group spokesperson Kathrin Lögering. This, in turn, angers the DSW21 operations manager. He argues that, along with other parties in the Dortmund city council, the Greens in particular have consistently pushed for the utility company to become CO2 -neutral "by a certain date ." However, he maintains that installing air conditioning is anything but sustainable.

Meanwhile, earlier in the article the first argument the utility company gives for skipping AC is saving money, which fuels my theory that "systainability" is a fig leaf for the real reason that is infrastructure spending and austerity.

[-] 7bicycles@hexbear.net 19 points 5 hours ago

I think in this specific case it's more the deeply entrenched thought that AC = bad. Cars were always an exception here once AC became a standard thing but the country is still building new hospitals without AC.

[-] ourtimewillcome@hexbear.net 13 points 4 hours ago

the reason this line of thinking is so entrenched is because all major german societal organisations and political parties are so deep in the car industry’s pockets that they might as well be front groups.

[-] chgxvjh@hexbear.net 9 points 5 hours ago

Each article vaguely related to heatwaves has to include a paragraph about someone being surprised that the Green party is favor of ACs and has been for a while.

[-] BettercallMao@hexbear.net 21 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

Germany needs recognizing East Germany central planning was the best model to be followed after reunification. It is the most rational system.

Politicians under neolibetalism do not use public transport so they dont give a fuc% to plebes.

[-] Hexamerous@hexbear.net 4 points 1 hour ago

Some slop-bro billionare must re-invent it first at a TEDx talk.

[-] pongo1231@hexbear.net 12 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

No uh, it was a 1986 orwellian authoritarian stasi tankie commie state capitalist regime that was democratically dismantled fair and square and definitely not annexed. Free market neoliberalism might be insufficient in guaranteeing basic necessities for most of the population despite overproduction and directly lead to the extinction of our species but it's the best system that could ever be conceived in the history of mankind. Now continue to consume and not question the narrative too much, otherwise we might have to revoke your free speech rights and ruin your life.

[-] Lowleekun@hexbear.net 31 points 5 hours ago

"With AC we can only do 3° C less than outside" Well you fucking dingus, the tram does not have outside temperature without AC but up to 10° C more. These clowns should be kept in a hot tram all day without something do drink and standing as well. But I bet this shit head has a nice comfy office.

[-] SkingradGuard@hexbear.net 18 points 4 hours ago

A nice comfy office and a Mercedes that drives them to work with full AC.

[-] SerialExperimentsGay@hexbear.net 52 points 6 hours ago

this is a reduction of comfort, i do not want to minimize that

MFer the heat has already killed 10,000 people in Germany this summer, if you call this "Komforteinbuße" you are already minimizing that you are cooking at risk groups and accept that they may collapse from the heat on your trains.

[-] 7bicycles@hexbear.net 29 points 5 hours ago

The state of Nordrhein-Westfalen, which is where Dortmund is located, has already solved this in the heatwave about a month back: due to passenger safety concerns they've simply suspended all regional trains. Like all of them. Wasn't a train going anymore for a day or so. I think this was mostly based on if people collapse on the trains that's a them problem, if people don't have trains to get on and therefore collapse somewhere in a podunk NRW town that has no shades or benches or anywhere to get water at the train station, it's not

[-] Sam@hexbear.net 26 points 6 hours ago

The closest I've come to heatstroke was on a dinky German tram with no opening windows in 30± degrees heat

[-] 7bicycles@hexbear.net 15 points 5 hours ago

distinctly remembering being stuck on an ICE waggon where the AC was broken, the conductor coming in and telling us we have to move out of there due to passenger safety (which no one did) followed by an announcement to please stop moving around the train as it's full everywhere

[-] Evilsandwichman@hexbear.net 14 points 5 hours ago

They're really cooking with this one

[-] chgxvjh@hexbear.net 20 points 6 hours ago

But I'm sure they will still heat to 30°C in the winter when everyone is wearing jackets anyway.

[-] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 9 points 6 hours ago

"I don't want to catch a cold." - some german drinking a hot soda on a steamy tram

[-] mlatu@moist.catsweat.com 5 points 4 hours ago

while another is sneezing him in the face.. "Gesundheit!"

this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2026
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