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Hi,
We have in Spain the pretty unusual Talgo train, which far from being standard is formed by really short cars (depending on the series, between 11 and 15 m, much less than the usual passenger car), and each car could carry between 20 something or 30 something people, depending on the class.
The cars are articulated, that is, one 'rests' on the next one, having only two sets of wheels between them. The newest generation of Talgo trains can go as fast as 330 km/h, even though because of signaling thew only reach 300 km/h.
Talgo trains work in Spain, Germany, USA, Italy, Switzerland, France and Kazajstan, if I'm not wrong. They can change gauges on the move, and they do so in regular passengers services between Spain and France, Italy and Switzerland (from Madrid and Barcelona and Paris, and from Barcelona to Milan and Zurich). They also change gauges in domestic services in Spain, using the international 1435 mm gauge on the high-speed lines and the Spanish 1668 mm gauge on the rest of the network.
This shows you that even if there are some standard principles are useful, when you have a 'strange' thing in some cases, as is the Spanish gauge, you can always find a solution!
I don't know if there are smaller cars than the Talgo ones running, though.
Kind regards,
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