4 ms·

I wonder if batteries, motor and third rail connections could be added to the flat cars that carry shipping containers. Skip the engine all together, and make t

by jfoutz 8y ago

I wonder if batteries, motor and third rail connections could be added to the flat cars that carry shipping containers. Skip the engine all together, and make trains fully dynamic. Probably not worth the cost. It would be kinda cool to see a long train split in half , front and back taking different routes.

narag 8y ago
It would be kinda cool to see a long train split in half , front and back taking different routes. That happens all the time here, in Spain. Some trains from Madrid to Andalusia travels to Seville with two locomotives, one in the front, another one in the rear. Then half the train goes on to Cádiz, half to Huelva. Oh, and it's sometimes very long, forty passengers cars + 2 locom. + several restaurant cars. I guess the same happens with other routes. It's all electric, of course. Rail here is cheap, very confortable and fast, 250 km/H in all high-speed network. Edit: actually, now that I come to think about it, it seems most high-speed trains have locomotives in both ends. Maybe so they don't have to turn around? The splitted train could use four then.
- usrusr 8y ago
  Turn around is also solved with a special car that has a driver cockpit for remote control of the locomotive on the other end. But some high speed trains like the Velaro (also running in Spain) don't even have locomotives anymore, they just have cockpits at each end of a multi-car segment, and all the motors, transformers and so on are distributed along the whole length of the train. I think that GP meant with "Skip the engine all together, and make trains fully dynamic" would be something where every single car could be autonomous and they just connect together (on the go?) for slipstream and traffic control. This is both real (segments are joined primarily for traffic control, "cars" already have their own motors etc) as it is far away (the individual cars of a segment are joined together at the factory and form a single articulated unit)
- anonymou2 8y ago
  Fast yes, cheap not at all. Conventional (not high speed) trains in Spain are cheap, but there are fewer and fewer of those. If you want to travel cheaply you mostly have to take a bus. Most trains here are now only for the rich.
  - narag 8y ago
    I guess your definition for "the rich" is "not poor": 57€ for a 700 km travel is cheap compared to a car that will take x2 the time, unless you are OK with burning double the money on fuel and ignoring speed limits, of course risking fines and license suspension. A full car will be cheaper if you ignore the cost of the car itself + maintenance and saved time. Families use to travel by car on holidays only because they need the car for short trips during the holidays, not because it's cheaper. Buses were dirty cheap, I haven't even looked at the prices in the last twenty years, I had enough unconfortable eight hours travels when I had no alternative.
    - anonymou2 8y ago
      I am comparing high speed rail to conventional rail. High speed tickets are at least twice as much. The price of a bus is similar to the conventional train which is disappearing leaving the bus as the only cheap alternative. You are probably not poor.

by jfoutz 8y ago

narag 8y ago

It would be kinda cool to see a long train split in half , front and back taking different routes. That happens all the time here, in Spain. Some trains from Madrid to Andalusia travels to Seville with two locomotives, one in the front, another one in the rear. Then half the train goes on to Cádiz, half to Huelva. Oh, and it's sometimes very long, forty passengers cars + 2 locom. + several restaurant cars. I guess the same happens with other routes. It's all electric, of course. Rail here is cheap, very confortable and fast, 250 km/H in all high-speed network. Edit: actually, now that I come to think about it, it seems most high-speed trains have locomotives in both ends. Maybe so they don't have to turn around? The splitted train could use four then.

usrusr 8y ago
Turn around is also solved with a special car that has a driver cockpit for remote control of the locomotive on the other end. But some high speed trains like the Velaro (also running in Spain) don't even have locomotives anymore, they just have cockpits at each end of a multi-car segment, and all the motors, transformers and so on are distributed along the whole length of the train. I think that GP meant with "Skip the engine all together, and make trains fully dynamic" would be something where every single car could be autonomous and they just connect together (on the go?) for slipstream and traffic control. This is both real (segments are joined primarily for traffic control, "cars" already have their own motors etc) as it is far away (the individual cars of a segment are joined together at the factory and form a single articulated unit)
anonymou2 8y ago
Fast yes, cheap not at all. Conventional (not high speed) trains in Spain are cheap, but there are fewer and fewer of those. If you want to travel cheaply you mostly have to take a bus. Most trains here are now only for the rich.
- narag 8y ago
  I guess your definition for "the rich" is "not poor": 57€ for a 700 km travel is cheap compared to a car that will take x2 the time, unless you are OK with burning double the money on fuel and ignoring speed limits, of course risking fines and license suspension. A full car will be cheaper if you ignore the cost of the car itself + maintenance and saved time. Families use to travel by car on holidays only because they need the car for short trips during the holidays, not because it's cheaper. Buses were dirty cheap, I haven't even looked at the prices in the last twenty years, I had enough unconfortable eight hours travels when I had no alternative.
  - anonymou2 8y ago
    I am comparing high speed rail to conventional rail. High speed tickets are at least twice as much. The price of a bus is similar to the conventional train which is disappearing leaving the bus as the only cheap alternative. You are probably not poor.