>>2060626>The payoff time for electrification could be close to a century, assuming there is one at allProbably more like 20 years, but that is a time frame that is too long for most investors.
>The price of electricity in the US is increasing and demand is rising faster than utilities can add capacity.Electric railways can use regeneration, which can -20% off primary electric supply needs. In some areas railways can become net generators. It's a trade off between road vs mechanical maintenance, but the total maintenance will probably be lower.
>The railroad will need to hire specialists to buy electricity and manage contracts with many different energy producers. That won't be much different from the diesel supply contracts that already exist.
You do bring up good points and I definitely agree that any program would not be a simple exercise. However, a lot of these issues have been solved on other railways around the globe, like the Sishen-Saldanha and Trans-Siberian railway line, both of which run through remote regions similar to west of the Mississippi.
>>2060683Coaches/cars/wagons come from old road travel vehicles like stagecoaches, carriages, etc.
In the UK coaches and carriages generally refer to passenger vehicles and wagons to goods vehicles.
In the US, is 'car' used for everything and you specify what it is?
>>206072750 kV AC. Which is why the insulators (white disc stacks) on the locomotive and masts are so large. You do not want 50 kV of energy in an arc or short circuit.
>>2060768>>2060775Most of the passenger miles (~80%) in the UK use electric trains. It's a great statistic but reflects just how dominant London and the South East are in terms of demand. More investment needs to be made on routes with latent demand and diesel islands need to be eliminated to get network effects and better asset utilisation.
We've become experts at sweating assets but resilience and spare capacity are desperately needed.
