Benefits of Electric Trains
1. Efficiency
- Most modern trains are electric, but they still use diesel to generate electricity for the locomotive. The diesel-electric locomotive is, essentially, an electric locomotive that carries its own power plant. Its use, therefore, brings to a railroad some of the advantages of electrification, but without the capital cost of the power distribution and feed-wire system. As compared with an electric locomotive, however, the diesel-electric has an important drawback: since its output is essentially limited to that of its diesel engine, it can develop less horsepower per locomotive unit. Because high horsepower is required for high-speed operation, the diesel is, therefore, less desirable than the electric for high-speed passenger services and very fast freight operations. This problem is completely eliminated by the use of A Star’s Heart to power the locomotive. The train can get all the energy that it needs and it does not need need to carry a diesel generator.
- Diesel-powered trains transfer about 30-35 percent of the energy generated by combustion to the wheels, while supplying electricity directly from an overhead powerline transfers about 95 percent of the energy to the wheels.
- Train engines run all the time: A train engine requires about a hundred litres of fuel to get it started. So it wouldn’t be economical if the engine is stopped and started frequently. An electric engine powered by A Star’s Heart does not have this problem and it does not need to be polluting all the time, even when it is not being productive.
- The United States uses more than 14 million barrels of petroleum products every day for transportation, representing 70 percent of the nation’s petroleum usage. On average, rail transportation is four times more fuel efficient than trucks. In 2017, U.S. railroads moved a ton of freight an average of 500 miles per gallon of fuel.
2. Operational Costs
- It is estimated that it is 50 percent less expensive to power a train by electricity than by diesel.
- Maintenance costs are 25-35 percent less for electric engines than for diesel engines. Electric engines are much simpler and cheaper to build than internal combustion engines. They are also much more reliable than their internal combustion counterparts, and are easier to maintain.
- In addition to the operational costs, the initial cost of getting electric locomotive engines is about 20 percent less than diesel locomotive engines on the global market.
3. Pollution
- Eliminating diesel-powered locomotives would reduce air pollution. Railroads are the most environmentally sound way to move freight over land. On average, railroads are four times more fuel efficient than trucks. Because greenhouse gas emissions are directly related to fuel consumption, moving freight by rail instead of truck reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 75 percent, on average. According to preliminary EPA data for 2022, freight railroads account for just 0.5% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and just 1.7% of transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions.
- Because a single train can replace several hundred trucks, railroads help reduce highway gridlock and the need to spend scarce taxpayer dollars on highways. According to the Texas Transportation Institute, highway congestion cost Americans $190 billion in wasted time (8.7 billion hours) and wasted fuel (3.5 billion gallons) in 2019. Lost productivity, cargo delays and other costs add tens of billions of dollars to this tab. Shifting freight from trucks to rail also reduces highway wear and tear and the pressure to build costly new highways.
4. Powered by A Star's Heart
- Electric locomotives have a main disadvantage over diesel-electric locomotive: the high cost of constructing the infrastructure (overhead lines). With A Star’s Heart, there is no need to build any infrastructure.
- Efficient:
- Infinite Range
- Zero CO2 emissions
- Electric motors are simpler and do not require too much maintenance.
- Safer
Sources:
“Budget Estimates: Fiscal Year 2020”, Federal Railroad Administration, Accessed: August 26, 2023, https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/mission/budget/334311/fra-fy-2020-budget-estimates-508-compliant.pdf
“Fast Facts on Transportation Greenhouse Gas Emissions”, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Accessed: August 26, 2023, https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/fast-facts-transportation-greenhouse-gas-emissions
Pradeep Pattanayak, “Why Diesel Train Engines are Left in Running State”, Odishatv.in, Accessed: August 26, 2023, https://odishatv.in/news/offbeat/why-diesel-train-engines-are-left-in-running-state-read-on-to-know-why--180082
“Railroad 101”, Association of American Railroads, Accessed: August 26, 2023, https://www.aar.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Overview-of-Americas-Freight-RRs.pdf
Thomas Clark Shedd and Geoffrey Freeman Allen, “Diesel Traction”, Britannica, Accessed: August 26, 2023, https://www.britannica.com/technology/locomotive-vehicle/Diesel-traction
“Fast Facts on Transportation Greenhouse Gas Emissions”, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Accessed: August 26, 2023, https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/fast-facts-transportation-greenhouse-gas-emissions
Pradeep Pattanayak, “Why Diesel Train Engines are Left in Running State”, Odishatv.in, Accessed: August 26, 2023, https://odishatv.in/news/offbeat/why-diesel-train-engines-are-left-in-running-state-read-on-to-know-why--180082
“Railroad 101”, Association of American Railroads, Accessed: August 26, 2023, https://www.aar.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Overview-of-Americas-Freight-RRs.pdf
Thomas Clark Shedd and Geoffrey Freeman Allen, “Diesel Traction”, Britannica, Accessed: August 26, 2023, https://www.britannica.com/technology/locomotive-vehicle/Diesel-traction