The amount of railroad electronics has doubled since the 90's, need more room for LSI racks for Distributed Power, Witronix, Leader, PTC, even the locomotive control are needing more room for power supplies etc. Wide cab gives more space.
A discussion from the past about locomotive cabs and crew safety in collisions.
http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/190807.aspx?page=1
Jeff
Thanks, NorthWest.
Still in training.
Safety is the primary reason as it puts more steel between the engine cab and whatever trains are likely to bump into. It does allow for more space for additional cab amenities such as microwaves or hot plates which Canadian power often has.
North American wide cabs with front platforms all have nose doors.
Is safety the primary or sole reason to have wide-cab (actually, really, wide-nose) engines? Is it simply more protection for the head-end crew?
For a crew member to go onto the front platform while underway, is there always a door in the nose? Or would some models have to stop and have the crewman walk forward on the ground?
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