Western Railroad Discussion > OT: The Soo Line returns, sort of

The Wall Street Journal reports that Siemens has purchased a substantial interest in a high capacity electric power line from a subsidiary of Canadian Pacific. The line will carry the about 2,100 megawatts of solar and wind power, equivalent of a nuclear power plant, from the upper midwest to the Chicago area. Underneath tracks owned by CP.  The electric power will be direct current, whiich is said not to interfere with railroad signals. The Chicago end of the connection will allow access to the PJM network, which covers much of the northeast.

Both the use of direct current and burying the power line in a deep trench are unusual in the US. 

Link to Extension Cord article

This is interesting, especially that they can make the DC go a long way.  In a transit book I have, the company generated AC power
to its substations where rotary converters turned it into DC.  The reason stated was that DC would fall off over long distances.  However,
the voltages were considerably less than stated here.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/19 08:32 by ntharalson.

Major lines into SoCal from Bonneville Dam are 600K DC.

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