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  • Gieselbrecht@feddit.orgEnglish
    131·
    3 months ago

    It’s funny to read this article painting electric trains as a great novelty, when the majority of trains in western Europe (excluding certain island states) have been electric for decades. But good for california, sounds like a nice improvement!

    • fpslem@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      5·
      3 months ago

      I just loved seeing electric rail referred to in a positive manner, and to see the benefits (speed! quiet! comfort! land use!) highlighted.

    • XeroxCool@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      3 months ago

      Or that the Northeast Corridor (DC>Philly>NYC>Boston) is all electrified and has the fastest passenger train on the continent (Amtrak Acela can do 150mph, soon to be replaced with a 165mph variant that can do like +30 in turns). And that NJ Transit on that line (following US 1 and I-95) is electric along that massive population concentration. But yeah, good for California. I get it, running power is a really expensive project but at least this section goes back at least as far as the GG1 loco days.

    • Repple (she/her)@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      3 months ago

      Yeah, I was really surprised. I would have assumed the vast majority of commuter rail was electric, it’s certainly been true for the rail I’ve taken.

    • ChicoSuave@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      3 months ago

      America is a petrostate that uses diesel and coal for most industrial purposes and trains have usually been used as cargo movers and not people movers, so they usually use diesel.

    • davel [he/him]@lemmy.mlEnglish
      22·
      3 months ago

      Yeah it’s not very impressive, electrifying one commuter line, when China now has 45,000 km of high speed electric lines.

  • Latuga17@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    3 months ago

    So glad that caltrain finally has what would be considered normal in the rest of the world 🙄. But seriously this is a massive improvement and commuter rail systems should see this success and do this instead of trying to have battery powered trains and diesels that run under northeast corridor wires.

    • fpslem@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      2·
      3 months ago

      Agreed! I feel like Americans can’t imagine a future without seeing it somewhere in their home country. They travel to London or to Paris, enjoy the high-speed trains and the frequent metro service, and then come home and keep getting in their cars. So actually experiencing modern electric rail service (albeit not yet high-speed rail) in their own country is a big deal.