By Stefan Fassbinder / Published on Tue, 2010-01-26 13:52
When you look inside an AC locomotive, you may notice that there is a transformer in it. You may figure out that the rating of said transformer is ≈5 MVA, its efficiency is ≈95% and the mass ≈10 tons. A utility transformer of comparable rating (same frequency – the odd 16.7 Hz in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway and Sweden) would have a mass of 50 t and an efficiency of 99%.
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By Stefan Fassbinder / Published on Fri, 2008-05-02 11:47
When you are lucky enough to have the insight into the interior technical details of a German ICE 2 high-speed railcar, you may realize that the main transformer has 7 output windings. Next to 4 windings with a 1 MVA output for the 4 inverter drives, you will find 3 windings for ancillary supplies, among them one for the carriage heating with an output rating of 500 kW!
But also without such opportunities, you only need to look around at the railway stations, and you will find quite a number of connection points for train pre-heating. Since most passenger trains in Germany are either operated electrically or they come as railcars with integrated diesel engines, these connection points are mostly no longer in use today (as the label tells you here for example). But note that the voltage ratings are 1500 V, 2000 V or 3000 V! This is not done for fun but because the heating of (especially old) trains guzzles tremendous lots of energy. This remains to be included into considerations about how to make railway transportation even more energy efficient, which despite all it already is, but there are still significant potentials left.
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Mon, 2007-06-11 07:00
Trains have changed tremendously over the years and are well prepared to take up the fight at least with short-haul flights. One of the reasons is the energy efficiency and the fact that they have the advantage of their propulsion being totally carbon-free - something the airline industry can only dream about.
Modern trains (whiiizz) are 40-50% faster than the old loco-pulled variations and still use 30% less energy, and the industry is planning for more.
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