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| Re: How 3rd Rail Running Commuter Rail Could Have Avoided / Ameliorated Fiery Crash (1340567) | |||
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Re: How 3rd Rail Running Commuter Rail Could Have Avoided / Ameliorated Fiery Crash |
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Posted by ElectricTraction on Wed Feb 18 18:59:38 2015, in response to Re: How 3rd Rail Running Commuter Rail Could Have Avoided / Ameliorated Fiery Crash, posted by j trainloco on Tue Feb 17 21:38:13 2015. That's just the thing. Future electrification will have to be, at least partly, public works projects. There are two things are driving the need for electrification, the mobility crisis, and the climate crisis. We need to get trucks off the road, and we need to cut the use of diesel fuel. Even biodiesel can't replace the current use of diesel fuel one to one, and the biggest way to cut diesel consumption quickly is by electrifying railroads, increasing the use of closed intermodal, and creating an open intermodal service, with both forms sharing electrified rail superhighways with passenger and regular freight traffic.Our highways are heavily subsidized, and that needs to end. The Eisenhower highway system needs to go 100% toll, and force trucks to pay their fair share, which won't be cheap, and on top of the current driver shortage, would likely just about end long-haul trucking, which is an absurd concept that shouldn't exist, and need not exist in a world with electrified 90mph open intermodal. We also can't build our way out of our highway congestion problems, we need rail. This article has it right. Now apply this to a series of rail superhighways criss-crossing the US: http://newamerica.net/publications/special/steel_wheel_interstates_14053 Electrification also didn't make sense when diesel was 50 cents a gallon or something, and no one thought twice about dumping CO2 into the atmosphere. There's also Denver RTD that just built a gorgeous 25kV/60 electrified rail system. Unfortunately, they put POS Stupidliner V's on their system, but the track and electrification itself is pretty impressive. And then there's Shore Line East and MBTA Providence Line, both of which are 15 years behind the ball on their almost-free electrification. They already have all of the power handling equipment, catenary poles, all they need is a little bit more wire to finish electrifying their routes, and some electric locos. There is definitely a place for lighter density services to run DMUs, but the services that need full-sized 3000hp+ push-pull should all be electrifying. Commuter lines have so many reasons to electrify. There's the performance/speed, local pollution, public image, in addition to operating costs and CO2 emissions. For long-haul freight, it's focused more squarely on CO2 emissions and fuel costs, but it would have other benefits, like establishing renewable energy transmission corridors, and getting more capacity out of mainlines with more powerful electric locomotives that can keep speed up hills, and increased tunnel capacity. |
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