Ya true, I guess you are right. I thought trains used turbines because it would just make sense (there's no transmission, so the engines can run at one optimal

Ya true, I guess you are right. I thought trains used turbines because it would just make sense (there's no transmission, so the engines can run at one optimal speed). I'm thinking that maintenance costs/reliability issues make turbines impractical in most cases except aviation and power plants. On that note, I've never been much of a fan of turbines anyway, because they are outrageously complex/expensive. I think a Tesla turbine would be fantastic for applications like this though. For one thing, the disks could be cast out of ceramic. There must be some reason why they aren't being used (especially in hybrid electric systems like this) but I can't think of one.