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California’s new electric train makes for a shockingly better trip—we tried it
(www.fastcompany.com)
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this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2024
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It's funny to read this article painting electric trains as a great novelty, when the majority of trains in western Europe (excluding certain island states) have been electric for decades. But good for california, sounds like a nice improvement!
I just loved seeing electric rail referred to in a positive manner, and to see the benefits (speed! quiet! comfort! land use!) highlighted.
Or that the Northeast Corridor (DC>Philly>NYC>Boston) is all electrified and has the fastest passenger train on the continent (Amtrak Acela can do 150mph, soon to be replaced with a 165mph variant that can do like +30 in turns). And that NJ Transit on that line (following US 1 and I-95) is electric along that massive population concentration. But yeah, good for California. I get it, running power is a really expensive project but at least this section goes back at least as far as the GG1 loco days.
America is a petrostate that uses diesel and coal for most industrial purposes and trains have usually been used as cargo movers and not people movers, so they usually use diesel.
Yeah it’s not very impressive, electrifying one commuter line, when China now has 45,000 km of high speed electric lines.
Yeah, I was really surprised. I would have assumed the vast majority of commuter rail was electric, it’s certainly been true for the rail I’ve taken.