Status of CR

So I was wondering, which lines are electrified or diesel? Why? What would be the advantage to having them all electrified? How much would it cost?

vanshnookenraggen wrote:So I was wondering, which lines are electrified or diesel? Why?

Only the Attleboro/Providence Line because it is AMTRAK's Northeast Corridor main-line.

vanshnookenraggen wrote:What would be the advantage to having them all electrified? How much would it cost?

The advantages would be faster acceleration and deceleration with electric equipment, less noise & air pollution. As for costs, it would be extremely expensive for the electrification alone, and let's not forget the extremely high cost of purchasing electirc locomotives, which the MBTA doesn't own any.

CSX Conductor wrote:

vanshnookenraggen wrote:So I was wondering, which lines are electrified or diesel? Why?

Only the Attleboro/Providence Line because it is AMTRAK's Northeast Corridor main-line.

vanshnookenraggen wrote:What would be the advantage to having them all electrified? How much would it cost?

The advantages would be faster acceleration and deceleration with electric equipment, less noise & air pollution. As for costs, it would be extremely expensive for the electrification alone, and let's not forget the extremely high cost of purchasing electirc locomotives, which the MBTA doesn't own any.

Are all the tracks on the NEC that the MBTA uses electrified? I haven't been downt ehre recently, but I recall that the third track (western-most, don't recall the number) as well as the station tracks in Attleboro (again , can't recall the track numbers) were not wired by Amtrak in order to save money.

As far as I can tell from my rides to Boston from Attleboro last week, all of the station tracks at Attleboro are now wired, but the third track there ends soon on either side of the station. As for the third track in the Readville area, there are cantiary hangars over the tracks, but they are turned out to the side and have no wire strung on them.

-A

in Attleboro, the third track (outbound track) is only wired to just before the station platform, maybe a couple hundred feet.....all of track 4(inbound) in Attleboro is wired and active (Hebronville - Holden Interlockings)

When I first answered I was referring to the way the question was asked "what lines are electrified?" not which tracks. Since we're getting technical I might as well add that track # 3 is not electrified between Cove interlocking and Transfer interlocking.

CSX Conductor wrote:When I first answered I was referring to the way the question was asked "what lines are electrified?" not which tracks. Since we're getting technical I might as well add that track # 3 is not electrified between Cove interlocking and Transfer interlocking.

Yeah that was just me asking detailed follow ups to a general question.

Its always surprised me that the tracks in Attleboro are wired, but not track 3 through the SW Corridor. Even if that is just a "local track" for commuter moves, it just seems as though it would make sense to have the catenary up there for flexibility. But I guess if the money wasn't there...

octr202 wrote:

CSX Conductor wrote:When I first answered I was referring to the way the question was asked "what lines are electrified?" not which tracks. Since we're getting technical I might as well add that track # 3 is not electrified between Cove interlocking and Transfer interlocking.

Yeah that was just me asking detailed follow ups to a general question.

Its always surprised me that the tracks in Attleboro are wired, but not track 3 through the SW Corridor. Even if that is just a "local track" for commuter moves, it just seems as though it would make sense to have the catenary up there for flexibility. But I guess if the money wasn't there...

Maybe it was.....Balfour/Beatty and the other companies involved in the electrification were raided / sued by Amtrak & the FBI over the cost overuns....IIRC, it was resolved in Amtrak's favor.......doesn't help us much now,though.

I believe BB, etc managed to inflate the costs by a factor of 2 almost. Of course, since the prevailing attitude in the US is 'catenary is obnoxiously expensive", nobody noticed it and it they did, they didn't care...

The Boston electrification is hardly an example of best practice. When you have cost control and oversight, electrification isn't that expensive afterall (no more than building stations or signalling - we don't go around claiming that's too expensive do we?)

In any case - with Septa letting go of their AEM-7 fleet soon, the MBTA could always go get a bargain on some unused (1 trip a day), proven locomotives for at least Providence/Attleboro service. See how the public likes it. Though I suspect a faster, quieter trip would appeal to most people, and you'd have a call for more of these.

Bare in mind, a speed bump from loco-haulled electric trains wouldn't be much. EMU? Ever been on an NJT one? That kind of performance gets you big savings on a line - especially if the stops are close together.