Railway Engineering Thread

[#Metro]

A thread about railway engineering and systems 

[#Metro]

Railway Electrification

At the most superficial level, the electrification system includes the power supply system which includes several components such as transformers, catenary, contact wire, pantograph, and others, which we all discussed and explained in the video. Lets not forget the rail track which is used as a return connection needed to complete the electrical circuit and allow current to flow.

It is possible to classify electrification systems according to several criteria. Most importantly, regarding voltages, European and international standards recognize six standard systems, where the division is made according to the nominal voltage and its characteristics (such as 25 kV, 50 Hz AC, 1,5 kV DC, etc).

Basic gist - the higher voltage ones only require substations to be built every 50-60 km or so. At lower voltages you need a lot more substations to maintain power to the trains.

[verbatim9]

More reason to electrify to Wellcamp. Electrifying interstate would require dual voltage locomotives to successfully run in the metropolitan areas of Sydney and Melbourne. Some European areas have dual voltage trains.

[HappyTrainGuy]

Doesn't mean operators will go electric. What about operator costs which is the issue we have here where freight providers refuse to go electric. Victoria and NSW have the same problem. The problem I'm referring to is track access fees eg the DTT access fee is lower than the ETT access fee between Gladstone and Rocky because the ETT gets slogged with an OHLE access charge from Aurizon.  Then you have issues relating to freight depots etc etc.