• Austrailia Solar Powered Train (Byron Bay)

  • General discussion of passenger rail systems not otherwise covered in the specific forums in this category, including high speed rail.
General discussion of passenger rail systems not otherwise covered in the specific forums in this category, including high speed rail.

Moderators: mtuandrew, gprimr1

  by STrRedWolf
 
This came across the wires here:

http://byronbaytrain.com.au/

This... kinda would be technically solar powered. The train itself is more of a light rail vehicle set, the solar panels get a max 6.5kW and the route is two stops on a relatively short distance.

Still... it makes you wonder.
  by electricron
 
10 minutes to travel 3 kilometers. That's just 18 kilometers per hour. That's a streetcar or tram like speed, not the speed of an intercity or commuter train.

FTI = 18 kilometers per hour = 11 miles per hour.
  by typesix
 
The website does say the train is capable of 115 km/hr and the battery set can make 12-15 trips as they are currently used. A diesel is backup.
  by electricron
 
typesix wrote: Wed Jul 03, 2019 10:20 am The website does say the train is capable of 115 km/hr and the battery set can make 12-15 trips as they are currently used. A diesel is backup.
Let’s be generous, 15 trips x 3 kilometers = 45 kilometers. 45 kilometers/18 kilometers/hour = ~2.5 hours.

So this tram on average charges 12 hours per day to charge a battery being used for just 2.5 hours a day. And for backup, still requires a diesel to generate power to run the electric motor(s).
Dallas has been running Brookville built Liberty streetcars about 3 kilometers at a go on batteries for a while across the Houston Street Viaduct over the Trinity River for a while. Where the electricity comes from certainly isn’t solar, but Oncor (TXU) generates power from wind, nuclear, natural gas, and lignite. By connecting to the grid, reliability should be greater.