Re: Even the heaviest suburban train we have here weights 25 metric tons apiece.
Perhaps he is referring the whole combined tram weight, about six cars, by any chance? 8 metric tons, or a bit over 8000 kg per car, total 50 metric tons, is more on the tram scale of things...
As the problem, from the POV (or rather, lack of view) of an average traffic participant, is the energy present in the moving vehicles involved, the total mass is what matters, hence the 50 tons.
But there are two additional factors: I expect that a tram can and does reach higher velocities than a skateboarding rhino, and as kinetic energy goes up with the square of the speed, a tram at twice the speed of a skateboarding rhino already has four times the energy, so you'd then be up to 120 rhinos. Plus, getting those rhinos to form one near-rigid tram-like entity will be a problem in itself, never mind that rhinos* are somewhat more squishy than trams anyway.
* and other mammals except the wombat, once described to me as a bad-tempered moving furry tree trunk.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
