Amused at the thought of a tram on the road between Windermere and Bowness.
But laying a thinner cable for less current is only a bit cheaper, as most of the cost is in the cable route and logistics rather than the cable itself. And Kettering to Market Harborough suggests that laying an extension lead costs about the same as providing proper OLE.
Depends on the costs of civils and structural works, but on the whole yes, I’d agree.
It's something I've pondered, as considering a steel wheel is so much more efficient a train ought to be able to go further than a bus on the same amount of battery (as a proportion of mass). I think the answer is that actually there isn't much space for batteries on board a train without taking up passenger space, the only option being underfloor in cars with no traction equipment fitted. A bus can be made a bit bigger (particularly higher) without major problems.Though personally I don't see why the unit would need to charge at both ends. We've got battery buses now that can last for most of a day of service before going back to base to charge, and there is far more room for batteries (both weight and bulk) on a 24m EMU vehicle than a 12m bus.
What sort of current would be drawn from the DNO though. I imagine that pulling that sort of current in rural Windermere is a somewhat different proposition from Doncaster a fairly ex industrial town.
At a guess, the power drawn would be in the hundreds of kilowatts. Traditionally a kilowatt is presented as a one-bar electric fire and is very approximately the average consumption of a household (but probably one which doesn't use electric heating). My guess is that several hundred houses worth of extra consumption in a smallish place like Windermere could be significant for the local DNO.About the same sort of current that the train would draw if it was connected to the OLE.
The other option is to have a battery at the charging site, being charged continuously at a fairly low power but able to discharge quickly into the train when needed. But with two sets of batteries involved, the amount of power that actually ends up doing something useful is starting to look a bit small.
If you could make Lancaster - BIF battery powered as well, you could run with the trains splitting at Lancaster.
I agree, and goodness knows. It's a really cheap one to do.
...which means that it is less timetable-dependant. There'll be another along soon.I don't see what's amusing about it? There is a very frequent bus service.
At a guess, the power drawn would be in the hundreds of kilowatts. Traditionally a kilowatt is presented as a one-bar electric fire and is very approximately the average consumption of a household (but probably one which doesn't use electric heating). My guess is that several hundred houses worth of extra consumption in a smallish place like Windermere could be significant for the local DNO.
The other option is to have a battery at the charging site, being charged continuously at a fairly low power but able to discharge quickly into the train when needed. But with two sets of batteries involved, the amount of power that actually ends up doing something useful is starting to look a bit small.
Regen would only replenish 80% at best, off the top of my head, although even that would be very optimistic.
Clearly this is a line that should have been electrified decades ago, why has the political will been non-existent?
The National Park actually lobbied for electrification iirc. It was Grayling who spun it.
In truth it was network rail that killed it. Massive over budget schemes mean that the business case has been destroyed.
It would be irresponsible of the government not to bring it to a halt.
If even the cheapest scheme is 500% over budget (like Great Western) its irresponsible to continue.
Closure and conversion to a battery powered bus way or tramway scheme would possibly have better benefits for the public money.
Well if it did a connection there is 33/11kv local grid substation beside the railway a few 100's yards on the approach to Windermere station. As you rightly say modern day batteries more than capable of doing a rounder to Oxenholme. Deutsche Bahns BR515 battery railbuses (mid 1950s technology) did 300-400km a day from an overnight charge using low spec lead acid cells which have a hefty weight premium compared to todays lithium ion cells.I’d say nearer a Megawatt. Clearly I don’t know the detail of the electricity distribution network around Windermere / Bowness etc, but I’d be surprised if it couldn’t cope with a 1MW load every half hour or so.
The ‘double battery’ solution is quite feasible, and actually the power loss on charge / discharge is lower than 1%.
But realistically, there isn’t going to be charging at Windermere, there’s no need.