First Battery-Powered Trains Arrive In Europe (cnn.com) 47
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: A 20-strong fleet of Hitachi Masaccio trains is now running in Italy, where they are known as "Blues." It's the first phase of a 1.23 billion euros project which will add 135 battery-powered trains to national operator Trenitalia's network, running in Calabria, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Tuscany, and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia. In Calabria, the trains are running on the Ionian Coast, while Sicilian routes include Messina to Palermo and Messina-Catania-Syracuse. Of course, not all the trains on these lines will be the Blues, so it's pot luck which travelers end up on.
The three- and four-carriage, 300-seater trains are hybrid, working on battery, electric and diesel power. "It is the first time that batteries are used as the main energy source on a fleet of trains for commercial use in Europe," Trenitalia said in a statement. The fleet -- made with 93% recyclable materials -- will cut carbon emissions and fuel consumption by 50% versus diesel trains, Hitachi said in a statement. And by running on batteries through urban areas, they can also eliminate emissions and reduce noise pollution. A "driver advisory system" also suggests the optimal speed to reduce energy consumption.
The trains have a short range of up to 15 kilometers (about 10 miles) on battery alone, but can recharge as they go, using the pantograph (the apparatus on top of the train which connects it to a power line) or by braking, meaning it can recharge multiple times during a journey. Maximum speed is 160 kph (100 mph). The next model of the Masaccio is due in two years time. It is predicted to run on batteries only, with a journey range of over 100 kilometers (62 miles). Hitachi also plans to retrofit the trains that have only just debuted.
The three- and four-carriage, 300-seater trains are hybrid, working on battery, electric and diesel power. "It is the first time that batteries are used as the main energy source on a fleet of trains for commercial use in Europe," Trenitalia said in a statement. The fleet -- made with 93% recyclable materials -- will cut carbon emissions and fuel consumption by 50% versus diesel trains, Hitachi said in a statement. And by running on batteries through urban areas, they can also eliminate emissions and reduce noise pollution. A "driver advisory system" also suggests the optimal speed to reduce energy consumption.
The trains have a short range of up to 15 kilometers (about 10 miles) on battery alone, but can recharge as they go, using the pantograph (the apparatus on top of the train which connects it to a power line) or by braking, meaning it can recharge multiple times during a journey. Maximum speed is 160 kph (100 mph). The next model of the Masaccio is due in two years time. It is predicted to run on batteries only, with a journey range of over 100 kilometers (62 miles). Hitachi also plans to retrofit the trains that have only just debuted.
Russian Trolls (Score:2)
I suppose the war is why we have a decrease in Russian trolls promoting this shit? Have the women begun to take over? or did they find a way to get money to their outsourced trolls?
What's the point? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:What's the point? (Score:5, Informative)
All you had to do was read TFA to get the answer. But let me help you:
Some lines face an uphill battle to electrification because of their geography. In Italy alone, there are over 2,500 miles of track that has not yet been electrified â" with Hitachi claiming that the Masaccio line offers âoean immediate solution to help decarbonize European passenger rail.â
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Re:What's the point? (Score:5, Insightful)
2500 miles of track doesn't really seem like that much to me.
If you focus on the number alone it's not much. But not all miles are created equally. One mile on a flat landscape is cheap. One mile through a tunnel may involve completely changing the design of the tunnel.
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Not only that, but if those 2500 miles (which is quite a lot - 3 times Milan to Messina) are on frequently used sections of routes, this could represent a huge chunk of total rail pollution.
Re:What's the point? (Score:5, Informative)
According to Wikipedia,
Looks like 2500 miles of track is a lot to electrify even for the USA after all.
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It seems like a better solution would be to electrify segments of the route where it's easiest to, only needing the battery to cover the gaps, rather than trying to travel long distances on battery.
A bunch of the cost of a fully electric line is taken up by utility headaches in specific areas (far from supply, no place to build substation easily, etc.). If you just create a dense enough patchwork you would only need small batteries.
Re:What's the point? (Score:5, Informative)
It seems like a better solution would be to electrify segments of the route where it's easiest to, only needing the battery to cover the gaps, rather than trying to travel long distances on battery.
... That is precisely what they are doing.
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Are there portions of these lines that are not electrified?
Yes.
Can't help but wonder if it would be more cost-effective to just run more catenary...?
No. Do not underestimate just how difficult it is to run overhead catenaries for train lines in many situations. It's trivial to do near cities, expensive but doable rurally for simple geographies, but outright cost prohibitive or even impossible in some geographies. This is why many intercity / rural trains are still diesel electric hybrids as are most freight trains.
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Yeah, because the people who are spending more than a billion did not make the math ....
Facepalm
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Maybe they didn't, considering the shit show going on with hydrogen power cell trains in Rhein-Main area for the past seven months. It forced me to switch to a car after decades of using trains to go to work.
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The billions spent are spent by a company, with shareholders, meetings etc. bla bla ...
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Until there are catenary-equipped lines everywhere then there's a need for other power alternatives. On some paths where there's a lot of up and down stretches then the batteries can actually also provide supplemental power on uphill parts that can be recovered on downhill parts.
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My guess would be the opposite. Batteries are reducing in price so rapidly that I would guess that it raises the opposite question -- whether the costs of maintaining the catenary are worth while, or whether to reduce it to the key areas -- flat areas, near big grid connections. Once you get to 50-60 miles of range that becomes very possible, and Italy has a lot of difficult terrain. Of course, it depends on how rapidly the batteries can charge, and the many years that it will take to replace the existing s
EU subways running on batteries for over 40 years (Score:3)
So what's all the fuss about?
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Equating a subway with a train is like equating a family sedan with a mining truck.
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A train is a train is a train.
But only between Ferengi!
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Higher speeds, longer distances. Not just battery power, this is a hybrid system that also allows for fossil fuel when required.
steam (Score:2)
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And not the fuel. Most stationary steam engines started with wood boilers and trains started using coal when wood got too heavy to use as a long-range fuel.
Modern diesel-electric trains use diesel fuel to run an engine to turn a generator that produces electricity for the drive motors.
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Early lubricants were based on animal fat among other things, so at least the early steam locomotives were lubricated with it.
Snails have also been used as lubricant for wheel axles back in the 18th century in Sweden.
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No idea if your post is sarcastic or not, as you usually post total non-sense and blatant lies.
Just in case, here is a metal recycling fact sheet [europa.eu]. Copper, Iron, Magnesium, Aluminum are indeed highly recyclable.
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Firebricks, thermal lagging on the boilers and cylinders, etc. were not recyclable. I don't know what the percentages would be, but there were definitely substantial parts that weren't recyclable materials.
Anybody working in the industry? (Score:2)
Not the first (Score:2)
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True. This is actually the same for cars: the first ones were actually electric cars, back in 1830ish. You can see in this history of electric vehicles [wikipedia.org] that they were quite popular until the beginning of the 20th century, where fossil fuels took over because they started to become more convenient to use.
The articles headline is slighty misleading. (Score:2)
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First? Not first for sure (Score:1)
Europe is not the first with this tech (Score:1)
Some Amtrak trains have been battery-powered for years, though this tech has not worked very well for them. In a desperate attempt to improve schedule reliability, Amtrak engineers are considering adding a third D cell to the Texas Eagle locomotives.