CHI-MKE electrification

[norfolkwesternhenry]

How long does it take to start up a P42, SC-44, F40PH (and all Metra variations), and the other Metra engines from cold?

If the engines are cold...especially Chicago cold...they very well may not start at all. Sure you want to go there in a busy terminal?
There's a reason that many railroads and heavy equipment operators in the cold country run their Diesel engines 24/7, except for maintenance.

I've seen ads in TRAINS magazine for block heaters so you can shut down the prime mover when it's cold.

 

[grover5995]

You may want to remove your address from the letter, and I don't think the sprinters will be declared "surplus" in the amount you would need. Good luck!

There are plenty of older AEM7 electric units available that were replaced by the Sprinters.  Once the new NEC electric trainsets start arriving, some of the older Acelas could be used here since they are designed for bi-directional operation.  Installing catenary on less than 100 miles shouldn't take too long.

 

[west point]

just how long do you think it took to electrify New haven  -   BOS ?

 

[ehbowen]

just how long do you think it took to electrify New haven  -   BOS ?

Four years; ground was broken December 1995 and the system was in use by January 2000. And that was 155 miles with a lot of movable bridges.

 

[cpotisch]

There are plenty of older AEM7 electric units available that were replaced by the Sprinters.  Once the new NEC electric trainsets start arriving, some of the older Acelas could be used here since they are designed for bi-directional operation.  Installing catenary on less than 100 miles shouldn't take too long.

They are not going to put the AEM-7s back in service for this. They just won't. And installing high voltage electric overhead wire on a near 100 mile stretch of trackage can take a LONG time. Even putting aside the actual time it takes to put up the catenary itself, that's still 100 miles of zoning requirements and permissions. It's just not fast or easy.

 

[jis]

Stringing catenary on a 100 mile railroad executed competently should not take more than a couple of years. The key word is “competently”. Key assumption is that the project is adequately funded in a timely manner.

 

[PRR 60]

Railroad electrification has a lot of elements. Besides the foundations, structures (about 25-30 per mile) and the various wires. there is also:

• Having the local utilities establish adequate service points. Trains draw a lot of power, so that could require some build on the utility side of the fence.
  
• Building substations to convert the three-phase utility power to single phase power at the correct voltage. 25kV (modern catenary voltage) is not a standard utility voltage. One every 8 miles or so.
  
• Establishing an electric protection and control system including a power dispatch center and fiber optic data communications lines tying it all together.  Lots of sophisticated electronics to design, manufacture, install and test.
  
• Likely rebuilding or replacing the existing railroad signal system due to voltage and current induced into the rails by the catenary and feeders that can disrupt standard signals used in non-electrified territory.
  

Is some respects, the overhead wires are just the tip of the iceberg.

 

[jis]

Funnily, the primary culprit for the hopeless delay and budget overruns on the Great Western electrification in the UK is supposedly because of their inability to dig holes in the ground and install posts as fast as they thought they could. It finally led to scaling back of the project in CP-5 excluding electrification for the time being of the segments Chipenham - Bath Spa - Bristol Temple Meads, Bristol Temple Meads - Bristol Parkway and Cardiff- Swansea.

They have been having ongoing issues with Class 80x's interfering with signal circuits not only in the newly electrified areas but also on the previously electrified areas, like on ECML, and Hitachi is working overtime to reduce the dirty electromagnetic footprint of their trains, while NR is working overtime for replacing parts of the signaling systems that are inadequately shielded. So electromagnetic issues can affect long existing electrified areas too, as new technology (specially trains with a whole bunch of inverters) are introduced, apparently.

BTW, three phase is seldom converted to single phase when the electrification use standard frequency. They just alternate phases for feeds to different segments of the catenary. But they do supply the power in center tapped 50kV feeders in typical modern 2x25 configuration of power supply to increase the distance between feeder posts. But then there are booster auto transformers installed in between as needed to maintain line voltage.

 

[neroden]

The only really hard part is the civil engineering -- lots of structural work making sure the poles won't sink, relocating buried utilities, raising bridges, lowering or widening cuts, etc.  This often requires slewing the track as well, and you want to optimize the geometry while you're doing it.  The rest of it is really pretty quick.  The Great Western electrification is a classic example.

Putting up the wires and replacing the entire signal system is sort of expensive, but it's easy.  The civil engineering is the painful part.