Passenger Trains > Metra Looks to go Green

I’ll just leave this here:
https://metrarail.com/about-metra/newsroom/metra-challenges-industry-create-battery-powered-zero-emission-locomotives

Posted from iPhone

Just my opinion but, where do all these "go green" folks think our country is going to get all this electric power from?

Depends how and where the electricity is generated. For Chicagoland, I have no idea. 

There's no such thing as a "free lunch".

HotWater Wrote:
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> Just my opinion but, where do all these "go green"
> folks think our country is going to get all this
> electric power from?

You hit it on the head.  These greenies have "fossil fuels are bad" ingrained in their heads but haven't the slightest clue where we are going to get our energy from to sustain the everyday comforts they and all of us enjoy.

Coal, natural gas and nuclear. 

Glad the people of Illinois are smart enough to have kept reliable energy instead of wind power. 

I, too, am amused by this trend toward electric autos and other 'green' transportation. This seems to be promoted by the same people who think food is manufactured by the grocery store. 



HotWater Wrote:
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> Just my opinion but, where do all these "go green"
> folks think our country is going to get all this
> electric power from?

---

I get my electric power from my roof...

Much of it will eventually come from roof-mounted solar panels on vehicles.
NASA and a local firm are building an electric-powered aircraft.
The times they are a-changin, as they have since time began.

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

MojaveBill Wrote:
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> I get my electric power from my roof...
>
> Much of it will eventually come from roof-mounted
> solar panels on vehicles.
> NASA and a local firm are building an
> electric-powered aircraft.
> The times they are a-changin, as they have since
> time began.

You get your power from your roof or your panels feed power into the power grid that they are forced to buy?

At least that is the way it works in Illinois.


Bob

stevelv Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> HotWater Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Just my opinion but, where do all these "go
> green"
> > folks think our country is going to get all
> this
> > electric power from?
>
> You hit it on the head.  These greenies have
> "fossil fuels are bad" ingrained in their heads
> but haven't the slightest clue where we are going
> to get our energy from to sustain the everyday
> comforts they and all of us enjoy.

Before typing such caustic commentary, how about doing a little bit research on the topic?  A lot of so called "greenies" have, in fact, thought about sources of electric power when advocating for cleaner transportation.   According to a Union of Concerned Scientists study, electric buses generate lower levels of greenhouse gases than diesel or compressed natural bus-powered transit buses even if the electricity comes from coal-fired plants.

https://blog.ucsusa.org/jimmy-odea/electric-vs-diesel-vs-natural-gas-which-bus-is-best-for-the-climate?_ga=2.226102682.1843563386.1532023761-1843342382.1531829971



 

It's been tried, it didn't work. If they could not make it work on a freight unit that switched cars in the yard, how do they think it will work on a passenger loco?

ST214 Wrote:
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> It's been tried, it didn't work. If they could not
> make it work on a freight unit that switched cars
> in the yard, how do they think it will work on a
> passenger loco?

You are correct; didn't work for freight in a captive environment & now isn't the time to try the "technology" out on the road.  But it is time to spend millions on a study, and many more millions building a doomed to fail experiment, and millions trying to get it to work after it is released, then slap each other on the back for the good job, to watch it disappear from use in a couple of years.

A sad organization attempting to stay relevant 
and in the news after their customer base has evaporated.

Not too worried about pollution while running 8 car,
empty consists, back and forth on the Rock Island to
Joliet all day. Or when adding trains on the North 
Central when only one train shows over single digit
ridership per car.

During the March board meeting one mouthpiece under
questioning stated that a bilevel can actually hold 70
passengers while social distancing.  So in actuality there
is probably no reason to have many consists over 4 cars
and many could do with 2 cars.  Or perhaps Metra has
succeeded in challenging itself on how to pull cars using
only hot air while reducing the CO2 content of the atmosphere.

I'll raise the ante.  I challenge the industry to develop
a rubber band powered locomotive !!!!

And I challenge Metra to publish accurate ridership data.
Not the B.S. they put out on their "dashboard".
When asked, they could not tell me if the people per car
figure was for the entire consist, or just the "open" cars.
Spokesperson told me they don't have the crews report
in that fashion.  There is a difference in showing 20 people
per car if the crew has all 8 cars open or is only working 2
cars.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/21 04:34 by Englewood.

It's really entertaining reading this list.  We'd still be living in trees if the "Wisdom" here ruled.

Same kind of "thinking" in the LIRR looking at battery power thread:  https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,5238714

How many tries did it take for Edison to develop a working light bulb?  Electric battery?

Brian



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/21 05:44 by choodude.

My neighbor has a gas generator so he can plug his Tesla in to charge.

amtrakbill Wrote:
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> My neighbor has a gas generator so he can plug his
> Tesla in to charge.

post of the year.............

66

Stop batching and moaning, at least someone to pretending to care about the next generation of humans.

Posted from Android

Proud Foamer
OAKLEY, CA

"Pretending" being the operative word.

amtrakbill Wrote:
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> My neighbor has a gas generator so he can plug his
> Tesla in to charge.


Staying on the conservative side, that comes out to about 40 mpg. Not stellar, but far better than average.

Englewood Wrote:
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> "Pretending" being the operative word.


Exactly

Posted from Android

goneon66 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> amtrakbill Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > My neighbor has a gas generator so he can plug
> his
> > Tesla in to charge.
>
> post of the year.............
>
> 66

Yes. Totally. Post of the year.
So proud of the green rock stars that are still rubbing sticks together to light it up...