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| Re: LIRR DE/DMS Some reasons why (577925) | |||
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Re: LIRR DE/DMS Some reasons why |
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Posted by WillD on Thu Feb 28 13:06:59 2008, in response to Re: LIRR DE/DMS Some reasons why, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Thu Feb 28 11:41:25 2008. Except that the M2s are decried around here as "falling apart" and are equally complicated (at least according to the folks who dismiss an AC/DC locomotive out of hand), yet they achieve an MDBF triple that of the "good" dual modes, and more than 6 times that of the DM30ACs.None of these problems justifies your insane idea to use catenary on the LIRR. How is it insane? AC/DC operation is very common, far more common than diesel/DC operation, which aside from the US really only involves the massively underpowered Class 73s in England and a few DMMUs in France. Compared to the hundreds of multisystem locomotives which are currently roaming across Europe the only thing that changes is the voltage and current, down from 1500vdc for France and Holland to 750vdc with a corresponding rise in current. Beef up the DC bus and the cables connecting it to the third rail shoe to account for that higher current and you're in business. The New Haven ran AC/DC locomotives off third rail for nearly 70 years with far less sophisticated technology. That being said, a catenary electrification of the East End and conversion from the DM30ACs to dual voltage electrics remains by far the cheapest option to extend electrification while not placing the future of the Greenport or Montauk lines in jeopardy. The rolling stock costs are lowest because the smallest possible proportion of equipment is being replaced while the vast majority of equipment goes unchanged. The installed infrastructure costs are lower because we're not building a substation every mile. A piecemeal third rail electrification to some intermediate point on either line will likely result in inflated costs to operate the diesel shuttles and abandonment shortly thereafter. With AC catenary now a few miles of track which wouldn't recieve third rail at the moment would be electrified, but once they're electrified those lines aren't going anywhere and they're cheaper to operate. |
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