I was wondering what, if any, advantages trains powered by electricity had over diesel fueled trains. I ask because I was reading in a recent Vancouver B.C. newspaper that it’s proposed to electricfy trains from super ports to Abbotsford.
It sounds as if they want to minimize heavy truck and train traffic through densely populated areas in the Lower Mainland of B.C. It was said that electrified rail is quieter and doesn’t pollute.
This plan is based on a project in the Netherlands, where a 160 kilometer double track electrified rail line is being built to connect Rotterdam to Germany,.
Another goal of this project in the Lower Mainland was to minimize the impace on people and make a committment to put the interests of people first.
Another concern was the paving over of farmland, impact on enviromental sensitive areas and if it forces hundreds of residents and businesses to move. How much would a major rail yard in a large urban center increase truck and rail traffic through regional residential and town centers?
Source: Vancouver Province newspaper 07/10/07 issue
Electric Locomotives have a number of advantages over diesels.
They are quieter, Cheaper to build, More economical to run, Last longer, and Quicker off the mark from a standing start. They also do not run on imported fuel.
I have driven Steam, Diesel Electric, Diesel Hydraulic and Electric Locomotives. I would take an Electric Loco every time over any of the others.
The main disadvantage of the electric system is the high cost of the overhead from which the locomotives draw their power. There has to be a high enough traffic density to justify the cost.
Most of the operating advantages of electrics come from the existence of short-term ratings, which is based on the fact that their energy source is much larger than an onboard diesel engine. Disadvantages include the cost of installing and maintaining the catenary and feeder network and the fact that electric locomotives are tied to the catenary.
Electric locomotives aren’t necessarily nonpolluting, they just change the source of pollution from the locomotive to the electric powerplant, if the powerplant burns fossil fuel. There may be advantages to that (I have no technical knowledge), but unless hydroelectric power is used pollution is still generated.