Railroad Forums 

  • Back Bay Station Air Quality-Electrics the answer?

  • Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.
Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.

Moderators: sery2831, CRail

 #1458250  by rethcir
 
Getting OT, but hydrogen fuel cell would work great in this application. Typically FCV's have a generator powring electric motors, so you'd have the stop/start ability, but could run clean* fuel for long hauls. I suppose there could be a risk carrying compressed hyrdogen fuel into tunnels, etc though.

*depending on generation/distribution, etc
 #1458266  by CRail
 
charlesriverbranch wrote:With today's technology, I suspect a battery-powered MU trainset could be built to handle of the MBTA's routes.
Today's technology can't successfully get a bus through a day's service without issues. Hybrid technology hasn't even been instituted on trains yet despite them having been electric drive for 70+ years, let alone battery power without a fuel source. I'm not saying we'll never get there, but certainly not with today's technology.
 #1458294  by BostonUrbEx
 
Nice to see progress, but that engine has a top speed of 60mph and a tractive maximum of 2,000 horsepower, and still relies on a diesel engine on top of the battery. The MBTA needs engines capable of at least 79mph and greater than 3,000hp tractive effort (more like 4,000hp).
 #1458359  by millerm277
 
As a bit of a note on this whole topic, while the station ventilation system may be inadequate even if it was working correctly, the reason things are so bad is just utter neglect, to a degree I find astounding.

Almost the entire ventilation system is broken or other otherwise non-functional. This MassDOT presentation: http://www.bostonplans.org/getattachmen ... 4ddcc7f931" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; lays out exactly how broken it was allowed to become.
 #1458509  by typesix
 
BostonUrbEx wrote:My apologies. However you would phrase horsepower dedicated to producing traction, then. For example, the HSP-46's have engines along the lines of 4,600hp, but about 600 of which goes towards providing HEP.
What you stated is one way I have seen. Alternately, have seen: 4,600 HP of which 4000 is available for traction. Tractive effort is usually more talked about for freight trains and is rated in thousands of pounds of force required to overcome train resistance.