Canada isn’t even on the podium :P
Comment on Is the US finally getting ‘all aboard’ with electric trains?
TheBest@midwest.social 5 weeks ago
"India is on the cusp of electrifying 100 percent of its rail lines, while China is nearing three-quarters of its network. Over 57 percent of the rail system in the European Union is electric. The US, which has historically prioritized personal cars over high-volume passenger trains, now can boast that it has two electric trains — and more on the way. "
Beaver@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
LordPassionFruit@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Maybe we should reanimate John MacDonald. Not to be a politician or give him any legitimate power (for obvious reasons), just give him a bat and make him a CN lobbyist.
Surely we’d get our rail soon.
jordanlund@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
They must not be counting light rail which is electric.
…wikipedia.org/…/Light_rail_in_the_United_States
“The United States, with its 27 systems (as counted by the Light Rail Transit Association), has a much larger number of “true” light rail systems (not including streetcar systems), by far, compared to any other country in the world (the next largest are Germany with 10 and Japan with 9).[1]
According to the American Public Transportation Association, of the roughly 30 cities with light rail systems in the United States, the light rail systems in six of them (Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Portland (Oregon), San Diego, and San Francisco) achieve more than 30 million unlinked passenger transits per year.[2]”
The problem with light rail here is excessive heat makes the overhead wire expand and when that happens, it sags causing the trains to have to slow down. :(
In the winter, the problem is snow and ice blocking the lines and the switches.
altima_neo@lemmy.zip 5 weeks ago
I’m Portland, the biggest problem light rail has are assholes parking on the tracks.
jordanlund@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Or driving in front of the train!
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Just hit the damn car. You’re a god damned TRAIN!!! CHOO CHOO MOTHERFUCKER!!!
It’s like Paul Heyman told Taz. “If anybody gets in your way, get em’ outta your way!”
Passerby6497@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Sounds like the trains need a cow catcher to help clear the tracks.
grue@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Haha cowcatcher goes brrrrrrrrrrrr
amanda@aggregatet.org 4 weeks ago
Sounds like that should be assholes without cars
reddig33@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
You’d think with current battery tech we wouldn’t need the overhead wire anymore.
dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 5 weeks ago
Batteries are heavy and expensive. A wired power source is so much more efficient for rail it’s barely worth discussing.
catloaf@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
And have a much shorter lifespan than catenary wire or third rail.
frezik@midwest.social 5 weeks ago
The best use of a battery on a train is a small one to handle junctions. You disconnect from the wire at the end of one set, go through the junction, and then reconnect at the other side. Saves a lot of ugly spaghetti wiring.
Otherwise, no, just use wires.
catloaf@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
You don’t even need that. Every electric train I know of has pickups on each car, and any break in the catenary or third rail is short enough that it can be bridged naturally by two cars, or sometimes even just one, if it has pickups at both ends.
Iron_Lynx@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
That would mean that instead of an engine, you’re lugging around a battery pack, which is just as heavy while giving you a fraction of the range of an engine. Not to forget that battery cells have only a finite lifespan.
Meanwhile, OHLE gives you infinite range and room for major weight savings. Plus you can keep running the same power system for decades.
zaphod@sopuli.xyz 5 weeks ago
Battery and hydrogen-powered trains exist, they’re mainly used on less frequented lines because it would be more expensive to electrify them.