Amtrak to roll out high-efficiency trains with regenerative braking
By Jon Fingas, From engadget
Some of us look at electric trains as efficient transportation almost by definition, but that’s not entirely true when they consume a lot of power and give little back.
Amtrak is about to strike a better balance now that it’s close to receiving the first of 70 high-efficiency Siemens ACS-64 trains destined for routes across DC, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania.
Each engine centers on a regenerative braking system that can recover up to 5MW of energy, much of which goes back to the power grid.
The machinery is smarter, too: it can self-diagnose problems and mitigate the impact until repairs are possible.
Commuters won’t immediately notice the difference when ACS-64 trains reach the rails between this fall and 2016, but there should be important behind-the-scenes savings.
Amtrak reckons that the new vehicles could lower energy consumption by 3 billion kilowatts in the long run, which might help both the company’s bottom line and local utilities.
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