There was talks of extending the Pennsyvinia Catenary masts and lines to Pittsburg in the 1930’s we should dust off those old plans and extend the lines that way first and then extend the lines south to Pettersburg Virginia. The classic catenary masts have a good plan built into them with their top rows of trassmision wires that would allow them to take on power at a wind farm or a solar farm or a hyro station and ship it to substations along the lines.

There is also something sad to that I noice in Pennsyvinia along the Susahanna River there is a mainline railroad with Pennsyvinia Catenary masts and all the masts are still standing but are stipped off their wires meaning that they don’t run off eletric anymore. Also in Lancaster PA there is a rail line that follows US Route 30 that has catenary masts but they were stipped of their wires. We could easly restore eletric power to these lines by adding new catenary wires to the masts that are missing their wires.

Recently our company completed work for a descendant of Commodore Vanderbilt. All I can tell you about that experience is that the same insanity and substance abuse behind the under-running third rail and all the insanity in the bloodline that followed continues to the present day!

To run on both the Hudson Line electrification and the Penn Station electrification, an Amtrak locomotive would either need “flip-shoes” (simple) or (more complicated, but better long term) both a shoe and a pantograph and both AC and DC transformers. This is frankly a good idea but it’s tied up in failure to order new locomotives for Amtrak.

They will be, when California’s HIgh Speed rail system is built. It would be ….. inefficient to electrify it now, rip it all out and re-electrify it in 5 years.

and Empire Corridors

I’m sure they have been toying with the idea since the line was electrified between Grand Central and Croton a hundred years ago. They even actually talk about it now and then. They never do anything….

Intercity passenger rail should be electrified – higher power to weight ratio and regenerative breaking will make these trains energy efficient and give them better acceleration, making a positive impact on travel times.

The technology has been there for decades. There were big swathes of freight moving with electricity in the US until a few decades ago. There still is some. Lots of freight in Europe.

In an interview outside the North American Rail Shippers Association annual meeting in Chicago last month, NS Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Donald W. Seale said “we’re having some discussion and review” about the potential to at some point electrify some track and trains, but “We at NS don’t see rail electrification in the near term” for freight.

The technology may be there — or close — but not the economics.

Rather than electrifying their long-haul routes, freight railroads may start by electrifying local rail yards.

See http://www.joc.com/node/411794 for more on this and links to a special report on freight rail electrification.

They run three trains a day. Diesels can run under catenary. They would need at least two locomotives, one in service and one at the shop for inspection, maintenance or repairs. Not worth it unless they are electrifying other parts of the freight system. .