A Locomotive or an Airliner – What’s Heavier?

Here’s an interesting question that recently popped up with an answer that surprised me. What is heavier, a locomotive or an A320 airliner? Before you read on, think about it for a second.

According to the description on Wikipedia of the DB-101 electric locomotive that is in use in Germany today, it’s weight is around 84 tons. And that’s only the locomotive, the cars and passengers are extra.

So what’s the weight of an Airbus A320? It depends on the number of people and cargo on board and the distance to be flown. Let’s make a practical example: With 160 passengers on board including fuel for a flight from Cologne to Vienna: A mere 65 tons, and that already includes the weight of the passengers, plus 2.4 tons of cargo, plus 6 tons of fuel. Empty, i.e. no fuel, no passengers and no cargo and the plane’s weight comes down to 42 tons, exactly half of that electric locomotive.

I would not have expected that!