NJTACL4608 wrote:Is it possible for Septa to go totally push-pull?
Yes.
Is it a good idea? No. SEPTA's average consist is 2.6 cars. Push-pulls are more costly to buy and operate for such short trains.
Now that said, you can make a pretty good case that SEPTA should be buying push-pulls right now instead of this stalled Silverliner V order. The order is for about 100 cars to replace the Silverliner II and III fleets, and allow for a little growth. SEPTA would still be left with enough Silverliner IV cars to run the entire off-peak service as MU, so you could more or less dedicate the push-pulls to peak demand. For longer trains, such as those SEPTA runs in the peak, the economics are much more favorable to push-pulls, in terms of both operating and capital cost. The only drawback is acceleration rate, and new locomotive control and propulsion systems are closing that gap.
Might it make a lot more sense to buy 100 push-pull cars with electric locomotives now, and then buy a new fleet of MUs five or ten years from now instead of buying MUs now and buying a mix of MUs and push-pull later? That's called fleet planning, and I've never seen SEPTA do any of it in twenty years.
Is it possible for septa to go diesle?
Yes, but there would be problems operating in the Center City tunnel. You would need to improve ventilation there to run more than a handful of diesels.
Does Septa have any diesle locomotives?
Yes. Someone might chime in here with the current roster, but there's about a half-dozen used in work train service. You can see some of them at Wayne Electric Car Shop.
Do they still have the former NJT u boats?
I don't think so.
Why dos'nt septa have any passenger diesles?
SEPTA's lack of interest in operating any service beyond the present limits of electrification.
Technically, I think the RL1s count as passenger diesels. They were operated in scheduled revenue service during the 92-93 railroad shutdown.
