electricron wrote: ↑Sat Oct 19, 2019 10:06 pm
Just thinking slightly out of the box of a potential solution for NEC trains being extended toward Vermont, New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania services. Use the Siemens Sprinter on the NEC, and use a diesel electric power van immediately behind to provide the electric power vs the catenary. Stadler FLIRTs do this, but the power van is kind of small. What would be so wrong using a larger power van car based upon a Siemens intercity car?
You're still hauling another car's weight, which means more power usage. In non-caternary areas, you're hauling dead weight in essentially a cab car. In electric areas, you're hauling a heavy cut-out engine, IE dead weight. Thus you have to spend the electricity/diesel fuel to haul useless equipment around. That costs money, and isn't Amtrak supposed to not waste money?
The FLIRTs are whole-consist connected trains, like the Tailgos, but with engines on both ends. You can see an example of them on HinduCowGirl's Youtube channel. You could have one end electric and another end diesel, but you still have the same problem as above, and you'll get new problems: If one car in the middle breaks, the whole train's out of service. Plus, they're incompatible with the existing fleet, and you can't extend the train (easily).