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What keeps all the tracks from be electrified? If it's just cost, what would make it cheaper to use fuel cells?
by jessriedel 7y ago
What keeps all the tracks from be electrified? If it's just cost, what would make it cheaper to use fuel cells?
- adrianN 7y agoElectrifying rarely used tracks makes little economic sense. There is a huge up-front cost and you have significantly increased maintenance costs. Hydrogen powered trains can be rolled out incrementally.
- jessriedel 7y agoMakes perfect sense, thanks.
- LatteLazy 7y agoElectrication in more rural areas means over head lines. That's so you can use high voltage and not suffer power loss over long distances. Those are hard and expensive to setup and much more likely to break during extreme weather. So they're not really suitable for places with weather or low numbers of trains (as all rail costs are ultimately per passenger).
- stevekemp 7y agoIt has to be said that adding overhead cabling above train-tracks is far from trivial. Back in 1996, or so, I was on a work-placement with British Rail and our project was auditing the bridges and tunnels along various routes. In order to fit overhead cables over the tracks, and over the trains, there were are lot of bridges that had to be raised, adjusted, or replaced to give clearance room.
- tonyedgecombe 7y agoIt is expensive, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21st-century_modernisation_of_the_Great_Western_main_line#Electrification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21st-century_modernisation_of_...
- jessriedel 7y agoThat doesn't answer my question.
- tonyedgecombe 7y agoOh well.