Battery-electric trains for Japan's Oga Line

[Ronny]

http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/asia/battery-electric-trains-for-japans-oga-line.html

[katoftw]

Interesting.  I wonder if they'll add more overhead power north of Oiwake Station.  Even though the Ou Line and Oga Line share double track north of Oiwake Station.  Only the Ou Line of the double tracks has overheads.

 

edit//  Probably not since it is only about 1000m of track I'm referencing.

Edited November 24, 2015 by katoftw

[miyakoji]

I wonder if there will be no large production run in the future of a DMU model for mass replacement of the KIHA40s. Progressively better BEMUs and hybrid DMUs will replace them, one line or depot at a time.

 

Not making a big dent yet though, are they. The largest run of these has been the HB-E300, and that's only 10 cars (and 4 more on the way in 2016 according to Wikipedia).

[katoftw]

Current tech only allow there usage on short lines.  26.6km isn't far off their maximum distance for BEMUs.

 

I think we'll see more hybrids in the future.  But not for a while.

[Ochanomizu]

Hello,

 

I wonder if, some time in the future, companies are able to use battery powered trains and remove lengths of overhead catenery or third rail in order to reduce maintenance?  I think that is an exciting prospect.

[bikkuri bahn]

I wonder if there will be no large production run in the future of a DMU model for mass replacement of the KIHA40s

 

I thought the replacements for the kiha 40's, at least for lines with running under little or no catenary  would be straight demus, with no battery or hybrid systems installed.  As per this thread:

http://www.jnsforum.com/community/topic/10076-jr-east-solicits-tenders-for-new-diesel-railcars/

[kvp]

Current tech only allow there usage on short lines.  26.6km isn't far off their maximum distance for BEMUs.

Actually the ETA150 series of the West German Railways had a 300 km range with a 100 km/h top speed. At the more economical 60 km/h speed, it meant an operation time of 5 hours between charging. They were packed so full of old and heavy lead acid batteries that the cars tended to snag in the middle. The charger system was a plug in type with a charger cable between each car and the power sockets at the station. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DB_Class_ETA_150

 

 

I wonder if, some time in the future, companies are able to use battery powered trains and remove lengths of overhead catenery or third rail in order to reduce maintenance? I think that is an exciting prospect.

Actually AC overhead is pretty cheap to maintain and if you don't have to support high speeds and can operate the overhead as part of the normal electric distribution system, then it's a bit cheaper than battery power as the trains don't have to lug around the batteries. If the price of light, high capacity batteries decrease, then it might turn out to be cheaper to run battery powered trains instead of using overhead power. They can be already cheaper for low traffic routes with existing DC catenary as the maintanence of many small substations are expensive. Of course the biggest challenge is to be cheaper than conventional diesel trains, both in fuel price and maintenance.

[bikkuri bahn]

Perhaps pertinent to this discussion, the latest issue of Japan Railfan Magazine (Jan. 2016), has a survey of all the hybrid rolling stock in operation or in development, including foreign prototypes.

http://railf.jp/japan_railfan_magazine/mokuji/2016/657.html