This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
"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. "
They must not be counting light rail which is electric.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/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.
You’d think with current battery tech we wouldn’t need the overhead wire anymore.
Batteries are heavy and expensive. A wired power source is so much more efficient for rail it’s barely worth discussing.
And have a much shorter lifespan than catenary wire or third rail.
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.
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.
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.
I'm Portland, the biggest problem light rail has are assholes parking on the tracks.
Or driving in front of the train!
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!"
Sounds like the trains need a cow catcher to help clear the tracks.
Canada isn’t even on the podium :P
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.
I can't wait for the US to finally have decent public transport, I hate having to drive for everything
What are you going to do?
Well if we get good transport, I'm going to ride it duh
Are you immortal?
Yes
I live in a big city with public transport. It's great.
I’m always conflicted because I happen to have an LA Metro train close to me, but riding it is always scary because there are violent people, tweakers, creeps everywhere.
When I was in Mexico City recently the trains there weren’t as pretty and they were packed with people, but I didn’t see people tweaking out left and right. I actually very much enjoyed using their transit system while there.
Yeah, LA transit sucks, but it can be better. I wish I lived close to a line in my area (SLC), because every time I end up riding it, I enjoy it.
No. The answer is always No.
The propaganda does not land, wake me up when we have a semblance of decent rail.
I hope your name is Rumplestiltskin, because it gonna be awhile.
Today on Nightline, is Janice from makeup going to respond favorably to my persistent battery of raunchy pickup lines?
We actually have more light rail systems than any other country in the world. Those are all electric, but yeah heavy rail is all diesel still.
No. We're not even on board with trains as a concept outside of the context of heavy freight shipping. The people are. But big oil spends a lot of bribe money to make sure you can't easily ride a train across the country.
I wouldn’t doubt Big Airline spends as well.
Big freight train spends a lot on bribing too, to avoid needing to spend even more from being required to improve their services.
If an article title is posed as a question, the answer is always no.
I wish. The US is endlessly far behind on public transportation.
Talking to my own family members around the US, they only have eyes for their enormous gas guzzler pickup trucks that they use to run to the grocery store down the street.
We don't need public transportation, we have something better, personal transportation... We also have a robust network for air travel that will take you anywhere in the country in a few hours.
You can have both. Europe has a great mix. So awesome to have the option to take the train or bus. They also have awesome road infrastructure in most places. Try comparing an American freeway to a German freeway. You feel like you're in a third world country when you come back to the roads in the States.
Careful, Godwin's Law might hear you 😂
Lol
On the one hand, I hear the arguments that Europe has a higher population density, more hubs and smaller cities that make trains effective, but the same efficiencies and cost cuts can't be achieved in the US.
On the other hand, I played railroad tycoon and saw how trains and trams were extremely successful to quickly connect and develop a sparse US through efficient public intercity and in-city transport and feel disappointed with the lack of imagination 🥲
Europe as a whole is not a lot smaller than the US, so I think many of the same efficiencies can be achieved. China has also been able to do it very efficiently, which is basically the same size as the US. Granted, they have a much larger population and more potential customers, but it can definitely be done.
Personal transportation is extremely inefficient. You need to pay a bunch of money for something, in order to get around, and it is always space inefficient, bad for the environment and encouraged parking lot creation over housing.
People driving around in personal tanks is not "something better".
It's dumb, privileged, unsustainable, unhealthy, violent, and literally destroying the planet.
Now that the US doesn't rely on auto manufacturing as it's main industry, people are coming around on trains.
But, what's that rule about headlines ending in a question mark? 🤔
I don't understand this article. It talks as if these trains in California are the US' first electric trains.
Our light rail here in Portland OR is electric.
And it's better implemented than LA's. Our system has stations in the middle of barren areas in many places. NIMBYism is a cancer in California.
There's only one solution for the US. The world's fastest bullet train network. Anything less will not do.
