Yes, I'm glad this issue is getting some intelligent discussion.

I hope my previous post in an earlier thread made sense. I was typing a bit fast and found some typos later.

In Europe, there is essentially no difference between "passenger" and freight electric locomotives, though some are assigned to one pool or another of motive power and end up being used mostly in one service or another.

On an electric locomotive, you simply have another feed off the transformer to provide the HEP for passenger trains. Considering the total cost of the locomotive, this addition is minimal.

Having this capacity on all electric locomotives leaves open the possibility of feeding power to specialized freight cars, too. You could have all sorts of electrically-operated features on the cars, in addition to climate control (heating/cooling for temperature-sensitive loads).

Well, yes, there are some European electrics specifically designed to haul heavy unit ore trains -- a particular design that would work well in the U.S. -- but I assume that these, too, have the capability to provide HEP power to passenger stock, if needed.



My guess is that for an intial demonstration project you would need at least 300-500 miles of electrified line to make sense. That would include some yards and sidings.

If you started with a mainline that is mostly single track, you would probably want to go to a higher number, perhaps 400-600 miles. You could begin some test operation once you had at least 200 miles electrified.

It's worth noting that in Europe all major electrified stations and yards have at least some diesel switchers. These are used not only to move trains and equipment through areas where the power is cut off due to maintenance or problems, but to work sidings where it is impractical to have overhead wire. These include situations where loads are lifted out of freight cars with an overhead crane. But, even a lot of industrial trackage is electrified. In those situations, as a safety measure, the overhead power can be shut off while cars are being loaded or unloaded.

But, there are even roundhouses, served by a turntable, that are electrified. The turntable has a so-called "spider-web" overhead.


Yes, for lines with passenger traffic, in many cases EMUs would make sense in the future. But, these could be gradually phased in as older rolling stock is replaced. You can run push-pull with electrics just as with diesels, though there are some additional considerations.

(In the Netherlands, there are many small lift bridges where rail lines span small canals. On secondary lines, having continuous electrification over these bridgest would be far too complex. Main line lift bridges do have provisions for continuous wire.

But, on these branch lines, there are simply wayside signs for the engineer to drop the pantograph and to coast through the wireless section. Where operation is with push-pull passenger trains, the engine is always leading outbound and pushing inbound. The signs to drop the pantograph -- and to raise it again -- for the inbound trains are positioned so as to take account of the fact that the engine is at the back of the train. And, of course, the cab control cars have provisions for being able to remotely drop and raise the pantographs.)

-- Ernest