Ok. So many printed and online sources claim the battery buildings but I have not seen any evidence that makes me believe they really existed. I travel on Metro a lot. The blowers, especially in tunnels, seem to always be at full power.
I rather doubt it. Sounds like the Metro traction electronics were similar to BART's. The BART cars used regenerative braking, but if no other trains were on the same third rail block, the control system would start switching in resistors to absorb the regenerated power. The number of resistors switched would increase as the voltage exceeded the nominal 1,000VDC on BART's third rail.
The NYC electrification of Grand Central Terminal had batteries to provide power for peak load times and in case of AC power disruption.
Information on the DC Metro from many sources state that the railcars regenerative braking into the third rail, but given the short (2 or 4 mile) distance between traction power stations, this sounds illogical. A solution they supposedly used were wayside battery stations, but it's unclear if they were ever installed. Did these things ever really exist?
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