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I don't think you take the possibility of corrosive dust on the rails seriously enough.
If you are referring to this study:
http://www.whatsnextnetwork.com/technol … eroxide_sn
First, these results make a lot of "what if" conclusions that haven't been verified independently.
Second, the study is about the effects on organic matter, not iron rails.
Third, if it really does “rain” hydrogen peroxide then corroding rails will be the least of the worries for mars explorers.
Yours going to want the build tunnels over them, to keep the dust from getting all over the rails.
Do to the thin atmosphere on mars, dust/sand storms are not very powerful. Dust and or sand dunes will not be even a minor problem for railroads on mars.
Aluminum is VERY energy intensive to smelt. That is why they tend to place aluminum production in places where power is cheap, like the Pacific Northwest U.S. where Hydro power is cheap.
K eep I t S imple S tupid
All this talk of Maglev trains and autonomous vehicle convoys etc.. is not very useful. Any significant transportation system used on Mars will need to be produced largely IN SITU. A simple big, heavy and ugly Steam locomotive and its rolling stock can be produced almost 100% out of abundant local resources (Iron, Silicon, water).
Rails: Steel(iron)
Fuel: Silane (SiH4)*
Boiler: Steel(iron)
Working Fluid: Water
Wheel sets: Steel(iron)
Rolling Stock Super stucture: Steel(iron)
Ties: Reinforced Mars Concrete (the only mildly tricky part)
*Burns in Mars Air
Electric Trains would be more efficient to operate but then you need mass quantities of copper for wiring. In addition you would need 24hr power so you could run at night.
What exactly do you mean by areal ropeways? (Mind you, I'm a historian not an engineer.)
Also, has anything useful ever been made out of "carbon nanotubes enforced polymers"? I've heard the term floated, but is it still a speculative technology? By extension will they be producable on Mars? Ten km long cables seem pretty fantastic, even under Mars gravity. That's a lot of tensile strength.
Check out the new show about loggers on the History Channel (37 in Spokane). They use something similar to move logs up the mountain.
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