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| Introduction
to hybrids and other solutions Railway operators have been in quest for more effeciency from the very beginning. At first the main things under development on the motive power were realibility and speed. Even speed races agaist other iron and real horses were arranged! With reliability improved and speed and capacity ever increasing it was time to concentrate on the efficiency. During the steam era numerous experiments on using the fuel more efficiently were made. Electricity and Dieselization of the motive power brought savings in operations. Electricity, although more more efficient, demanded heavy investments in infrastructure. Diesels proved to be more flexible, and where the real competition existed and the ownership of the infrastructure was private, were the choise for railway operators. Here the roads for Europe and North America diverge. Where the European railway network builders were gradually extending electricity to be the number 1 choise, in North America the direction was mainly to dieselization. After 2000 the price of diesel has increased continuously , driving the operating costs up, so railways have been forced to find new solutions. The main applications have been the entrance of single unit modularization and hybrid locomotives. Even a fuel cell locomotive is going to enter every day service for BNSF in 2008! The word hybrids does not actually translate to mean the same technology as i.e. very common Toyota Prius in cars. The locomotives have so far not been able to charge the braking power to their batteries, but have instead used the the extra energy from diesel engines(s) idling for charging. But this is going to change in 2008 with the introduction of an improved EVO-series locomotive from the General Electric. This locomotive is going to cut fuel consumption with hybrid technology by further 10-15%. Even so, the road is just beginning with numerous improvements in sight within next 10-20 years. This may even mean the current engine technology becoming obsolete and the introduction of fuel cell or other applications in demanding every day use. New solution builders General Electric Rail Power Technologies Corporation NRE - National Railway Equipment More to be added soon. Operators for the new solutions BNSF Railway Union Pacific Railroad More to be added soon.  Updates: 21.9.2007. |
| Timeline 2007 | |
| September 2007: Finland - Russia | Karelia trains to acquire 4 Pendolinos from Alstom |
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A
major step forward forward in traffics development between Finland and
it's neighbor Russia
was the order of 4 units of 7 car Pendolinos and the option of 2 more
such trains.
The order was made for the Karelia trains, which is a joint operation
between the RZD (Russian State Railways) and the Finnish
national operator VR Yhtyma.
According to VR Yhtyma news release all trains will enter the service
in 2010. The sum of the deal is said to be around 120 million
€. The maximum
speed of the new units is a modest 220 km/h, suitable for the cold
climate and trains tilting construction. VR Yhtyma currently has a
small number of Pendolinos for Finlands internal traffic. Currently several traditional passenger trains traffic between the Finnish capital Helsinki and Russian cities of St Petersburg and Moscow. As the traffic has respectable growth figures, the target is to replace the trains to St Petersburg dropping travel times from the current 5,5 hours to 3 hours. The change would include the border inspections abord the trains. The Russians have informed they will be rebuilding their part of the track network by 2008 and the Finnish rebuilding of the track currently under way is to be Finished by year 2011. The Finnish network includes the existing high speed raillink between Lahti and Kerava, which was opened in 200x. (JMcK 13.9.2007) Sources: European Parlament Committee on Transport and Tourism 10.9.2007, other sources |
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