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[quote user="gabe"] Anyway, when we are talking about electification on here, what exactly are we talking about?  More or less universal electrification, electrification of certain routes wherein all traffic over the line is electric, electrification of certain routes like the Milwaukee Road, wherein you saw a mix of power, and so on? There are several reasons I bring up this disjunctive.  But, one of the more prominent ones, would a partially electrified system impose added expense because of a lack of homogenity (spelling?).  My 10,000 feet-up, novice reading of Trains magazines over the last two decades seems to conclude that railroads have strived for homogenity in their diesel power.  Conversely, would a totally electrified system produce inefficiencies similar to those alleged by some regarding the rapid transition to steam--i.e. taking a railroad that has a well-established stock of good locomotives and replacing them all is a debt-inducing process, the GP-30 should have been the replacement for Northerns, etc. Gabe [/quote] What the Trains article on electrification is proposing is the electrification of 36,000 miles as one plan.  The author cites Alan Drake who proposes going further and electrifying all American intercity routes as another plan.  That mileage is not given.  Alan Drake in his essay on The Oil Drum, lays out his proposal in detail.  He is describes a national energy and transpiration crisis that needs a silver bullet solution.  But he says that it is so vast, all we can muster are several silver BBs, hoping they will total something equivalent to the elusive magic bullet.  Here is one of his silver BBs: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p> Electrify 36,000 miles of mainline railroads <o:p></o:p> Expand railroad capacity and speed by adding double tracks, better signals and more grade separation. <o:p></o:p> New 110 mph tracks for passenger and freight added to existing railroad ROWs as a second step. <o:p></o:p> In many, but not all cases, use the railroad ROW as new electrical transmission line corridors. <o:p></o:p> Promote the use of rail lines, usually spur lines, as wind turbine sites with rail transported cranes and materials. <o:p></o:p> Take advantage of the lower marginal economic costs of railroads, where the more we use it, the less it costs per unit.  A diffuse economic benefit for many sectors of the economy.      <o:p></o:p> -------------------------- <o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p> Mr. Drake believes this is the best silver BB, and he says we can do it within six years.  I would think that such an electrification within that timeframe would indeed render surplus a lot of diesel locomotives.  Those locomotives could be allowed to run under the wires to use up their lives, thus trading the cost of electricity for their asset value.  Using up the diesels would also preserve life in the new electrics.  However, the operating cost of those diesels would be higher than that of the electrics, and their continued use would delay the non-oil transportation energy policy.   However, the Drake and Lothes proposals call for public financing, so funds will presumably be available to cover the loss of value in diesel locomotives should they be retired prematurely for the larger objective of achieving a sustainable rail transportation system that is non-oil, and attracts the majority of truck freight and private vehicle travelers off of the highways.
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