First hydrogen locomotive started working in Poland.

    • Seraph@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Guessing that replacing that with a large battery that charges at night is unreasonable due to the torque needed? You’d probably need a battery larger than a train engine to be able to even do a few stops and starts. Which is why electric trains are wired all the time.

      If someone knows for sure I’m super curious!

        • Seraph@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          I mentioned it in my comment that you’re replying to. “wired” could easily refer to above or below, just continuous current is what matters for this discussion. Why do ask?

          Edit: Wait did you think we can electrify all rails? Outside of major cities it’s a maintenance and safety nightmare, and a LOT of our freight moves via rail.

          • Ilovethebomb@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            There are trains available that will run on overhead lines where available, and diesel when they’re not. There’s also passenger trains that have batteries as well.

            It’s doable, especially considering how efficient trains are.

            • barsoap@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              It’s kinda the default actually. Locomotives might lack pantographs if they never see electrified track but diesel locomotives aren’t direct drive but diesel-electric. I’m not that deep into the topic but from what I’ve heard a mechanical transmission would be a nightmare.

              • Ilovethebomb@lemmy.ml
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                1 year ago

                Modern trains are almost exclusively electric final drive, off the top of my head I can’t think of any exceptions. There are so many different voltages of overhead pantographs and drive motors though, there is almost always some type of converter needed to provide the right voltage to the drive motors.

          • uis@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Wait did you think we can electrify all rails?

            You can electrify your rail because that’s what we did.

            Outside of major cities it’s a maintenance and safety nightmare

            No. Also outside of city cost of electrification is much cheaper.

            and a LOT of our freight moves via rail.

            Same for me

      • someguy3@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        Trains are already pulling what 100 cars. It’s easy enough to have a car that’s a battery. But I think overhead lines are the way to go on the vast majority of lines.

      • You999@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        The problem with battery trains is that locomotives hardly sit around long enough to charge unless it’s some sort of switcher or in for maintenance. Really the only use case for battery locomotives outside of switchers is passenger service where it’s fairly common for a train to sit for eight plus hours. Amtrak and Siemens are actually doing this with 15 of the new airo trainsets which will run on the empire line. The trainsets will specifically run on battery while within the new York city tunnels where diesel locomotives are only allowed to operate under emergency.

      • 𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        If I ran the local power grid I’m not sure I’d want cargo trains using line power for traction, unless there was some mandated weight or length limit 🤔

        Without some cargo limit I think sections of the line’s voltage will just collapse under the current being drawn, whenever the cargo train moves off from a complete stop - especially if it’s a multi mile long cargo train that seems common in the US

        • serratur@lemmy.wtf
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          1 year ago

          The Kiruna - Narvik electrified line is operating just fine with LKAB running the heaviest trains in Europe with a mass of 8600 tonnes.

        • BastingChemina@slrpnk.net
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          1 year ago

          90% off the cargo trains are powered with electricity in France and can reach up to 750m.

          I agree It’s not multi mile long but it’s totally possible to have electric cargo trains.

        • roguetrick@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          There’s little chance of that happening, but even if there was, they’d just use batteries for the acceleration phase. That’s what hydrogen fuel cell trains do anyway, because the fuel cell can’t produce enough power on it’s own to accelerate the train from a stop, so they’re used to charge batteries that allow it to do so.

          The reason why there’s little chance of that happening is there are already very many cargo trains powered by overhead lines. We’ve been doing it for 150 years and in continental Europe there are many sections of track that are entirely electrified because it made more economic sense than running a wasteful (compared to a steam power plant) diesel generator to power the already electric engines of the trains.

        • someguy3@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          I really can’t see a train pulling so much that it crashes the entire system. *When you think about it it’s one (moderate size) generators worth.

        • uis@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Without some cargo limit I think sections of the line’s voltage will just collapse

          I think this guy never learned about resistance. Maybe he skipped physics classes, maybe he didn’t even have them yet.

    • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      Even better, we could also put cables above the train and connect them to an even bigger diesel generator located somewhere close to the railway. That would make the locomotive lighter and the energy production more efficient. Better yet, replace the diesel with uranium and you can easily power many trains.

      • QuinceDaPence@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        That would make the locomotive lighter

        That’s not an advantage. You want your loco to be as heavy as possible for traction. If they were switching it to pantograph and it was lighter they’d add iron, or something else to make up the difference

        • uis@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          You want your loco to be as heavy as possible for traction.

          I see you don’t know why Caucasus was electrified. Non-electric locomotives were just too heavy and couldn’t lift as much as mass as electric could.