Why The Government Just Threw Down $225 Million On Hybrid Electric Trains

[ashling]

The Illinois Department of Transportation signed a contract to bring a total of 32 hybrid electric-diesel trains to the United States last month. The trains will start running by 2016. And the project, when all is said and done, will cost the United States $225 million — a number that may sound enormous but that will actually save a significant amount of both money and the carbon pollution that drives climate change.
“The Charger locomotives will be used exclusively in passenger service,” a release from Siemens, the company manufacturing the locomotives, says. The trains “will be manufactured in the U.S. by Cummins Inc., headquartered in Columbus, Indiana,” and, will run in Illinois, California, Michigan, Missouri and Washington. Should all go well with the original 32, there’s an option for an additional 225 locomotives down the line. The hybrid electric engines will make the trains more efficient.
A spokesperson for the Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration told ThinkProgress that the locomotives will cost about one million dollars more than the trains currently on the rails, which were designed several decades ago. The new trains are a part of the mandate under the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA), for trains to have “light weight, high acceleration capabilities, ability to operate at sustained speeds of 120mph, compliance with passenger equipment safety standards including crashworthiness, and EPA Tier IV diesel emission standards,” spokesman Warren Flatau explained via email.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/04/07/3422342/hybrid-diesel-electric-trains/

[KamaAina]

1. Caltrain and Metrolink need those badly

the diesels Caltrain uses are so slow to accelerate and decelerate that the 45- or 50-mile trip from SF to San Jose takes over an hour and a half making all local stops, which is essentially all midday and weekend service!

[frazzled]

3. CA is one of the five states getting them under this contract

The article at the link is so poorly written, it's hard to understand. Apparently the $225 million contract is with Siemens, to build the 32 locomotives for five separate states.

The Siemens Rail Systems factory in Sacramento is getting another boost of activity, in the form of a $225 million contract from five state governments for 32 diesel-electric locomotives.

That means Charger locomotives will be built in Sacramento for delivery to five transportation departments in California, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri and Washington, beginning in 2016.

...

Components for the locomotives will be assembled at Siemens plants in the U.S. and then shipped to the Sacramento plan for final assembling. The contract includes an option to build an additional 225 locomotives.

...

Chargers are already being built by Siemens in Sacramento for existing contracts, including one to supply Amtrak in the northeastern U.S. The locomotives will help rail systems comply with federal emissions regulations that take effect next year.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2014/03/18/siemens-lands-225-million-train-contract.html

[pscot]

2. Now if we could just get wind farms

installed along the rail lines we'd be on the way to zero emissions, heavy transport.

[Gore1FL]

4. Misleading title

We've had hybrid trains since the first diesel electric motor started powering them.

[hunter]

5. These are hybrids like a Prius.

Energy is recovered during braking and stored in batteries for use during acceleration.

This allows the diesel engine to be run in a more efficient manner, with lower emissions.