I’m curious as to why a railroad would build electric engines and overhead lines to use over a great distance isn’t the cost of building and maintaining the infrastructure huge ? What are the advantages. I live outside of Lancaster PA on the Philly to Hburg Electrified line. The seem to maintain it, but I have NEVER seen Amtrack run electric on this line.
Thans, Dave
Unfortunately, I can’t speak with authority on eastern roads’ electrification, though
I believe that there it had a lot to do with steam locomotive pollution and the public’s
aversion to it. Out West, however, the Great Northern Railway electrified its
Cascade Division in 1909 to eleiminate exhaust fumes in the 2.63 mile long
Cascade Tunnel. When the railroad abandoned that route and replaced it with the
new 7.79 mile long new Cascade Tunnel in 1929, they continued electrification
for the same reason. Economically, though, it was a financial burden and when
technology progressed to the point where the GN could eliminate electrification,
they did (in 1956) without hesitation. Although this is only partly answering your
question, I hope it helps you at least a little.
Equipment and systems to make eliftrication of railroads feasible was developed in the mid to late 1890’s.
The original impetus for electrification in both the east and west was the elimination of smoke in tunnels. The smoke was hindering operations. Crews were becomming ill and even dying in smoke filled tunnels.
Anti smoke ordinances were also a factor in the east. For instance, both tunnels and smoke ordinance were the reason for the electification of the Grand Central Terminal in New York.
Electrification beyond the immediate area if the tunnels provided better equipment utilization and reduced the need for steam fueling/maintenance facilities.
Electrics had less down time for service and required less land for service facilities.
The operating charistics and regenerativew braking of electrics proved to be advantages.
For high tonage lines (particuarly in mountinous areas) it was found that electrics could haul heavy trains at higher speeds and with lower fuel (energy) costs. The lower energy cost were primairly, but not exclusively, in areas where electricity was generated by hydro power.
There would have been a lot more electification in America if not for the diesel electric becoming a viable alternative in the 1940’s. The diesel provides many of the advantages of the electric without the electrical supply infrastructure. While diesel emisions to hinder operations through tunnels, the problem is far less severe than for steam.
Advocates of electrification, often present it as a means of reducing air pollution. Electricty can be generate by non-air polluting sources (hydro, wind, solar, nuclear) and the arqument is also made that emisions can be better controlled at a central plant using polluting sources (coal, oil) than on individual locosmotives.
The issues are complicated and “experts” disagree on the advantages and disadvantages. Just as in the past electrification may make sense i
Another major factor not mentioned yet is performance.
Electrification allows for almost unlimited power to be distributed to the trains, allowing for incredible performance in acceleration and top speed. For example, in the diesel world, 2000 Hp was considered good for one loco in the 1950’s (PA-1’s, etc.). At the same time, electrics were available that could produce over 4000 Hp per loco.
This is why all the highspeed passenger train networks are all electrified…they need the power to get to 150mph and only overhead wire can deliver it.
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
Other than a (very) few isolated examples, ALL of todays RRs are pulled by electric locomotives. Most are pulled by diesel electrics which are basically elctric locomotives that carry their own power plant . Where overhead wires are used (straight electrics) a substantial traffic density is required to justify the costly infrastructure (NE Corridor). The reason you don’t see Amtrak w/ electric power via Harrisburg is that there are no wires west of there and it would require an engine change (which is what the PRR did when it ran there). On the Corridor, the traffic densisty is sufficient to justify wires from Boston to DC, hence straight electric power. There’s also the polution factor as mentioned above, but not to the extent when steam was king.
Electrified railways sprung up during the 1900’s-1930’s, it was THE way to travel, because the automobile was really nil to the effect of travel till after then.
So you will find various networks of streetcar and interurban lines popping up everywhere, some successful, some soso.
Most small and major lines did carry freight in some form, serving industries.
The last real interurban to survive all this is the South Shore, running electrified passenger and diesel frieght.
Electric freight was just as important, if not more so, than passengers–many electric lines stopped carrying passengers during the Depression but made money moving freight. In the West, lines like Sacramento Northern and Pacific Electric operated very much like steam freight lines–unlike eastern carriers which used special interurban freight equipment, they used the more common styles of 40-foot boxcars, etcetera. Often, though, freight trains took a different route through towns than the passenger lines! The SN continued its life in northern California as a diesel freight carrier until the 1980s, and its neighbor the Central California Traction still carries freight today in Stockton, although it stopped shipping to Sacramento in the Nineties.
Electric railroading has many advantages. Traction is fantastic (the SN ran up 4% grades in the Bay Area) and high average speeds are possible. Plus, with electric transmission you NEVER need to stop to refuel or add water! (Water was a big limitation for steam engines–you might only need to add coal or oil every hundred miles or so, but often steam engines had to add water every 10-20 miles!)
Infrastructure costs aren’t that much higher–you’re already maintaining roadbed and track. Long-range transmission was done by relatively-efficient high-tension AC lines, which were transformed at local substations to DC from 600-1500 volts depending on the line. Portable substations were used to increase potential power in temporary high-traffic zones.