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roger1818 said:
I’m currently on train 35 (one of the Venture trainsets) and we came to a complete stop to “protect the crossing” at Dunning Rd (between Castleman and Ottawa). My first thought was that the gates weren’t working but when we did cross it, they were down with the lights flashing. I did notice a Siemens work crew at the crossing though. Does anyone have any idea what this is about?
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It might be that the barriers remained activated after the previous train passed through (activation contacts usually are more reliable than the release detection, because they are more safety-critical). Whenever warning devices are active for extended periods, they are no longer considered to actually protect the crossing, because drivers might start to ignore them. Therefore, the train engineers have to treat the crossing as unprotected and that means stopping in front of it before crawling over them until it is fully occupied…
 
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^Once the crossing protection is declared "out of service" it remains as such until the maintainers notify the RTC that it is back in service, and the RTC cancels the "protect" instruction. Sounds like the maintainers were on scene, but may not have finished fixing or testing. So the crossing might be working again but not yet declared ready for prime time.

It's quite common that the last task in their test is to watch the behaviour of the devices when a train - ie yours - passes through the circuits.

- Paul
 
crs1026 said:
^Once the crossing protection is declared "out of service" it remains as such until the maintainers notify the RTC that it is back in service, and the RTC cancels the "protect" instruction. Sounds like the maintainers were on scene, but may not have finished fixing or testing. So the crossing might be working again but not yet declared ready for prime time.

It's quite common that the last task in their test is to watch the behaviour of the devices when a train - ie yours - passes through the circuits.

- Paul
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I just thought it was interesting that they were Siemens trucks on scene. I guess they could also have the contract to support the crossing signals, but I was wondering if it was something to do with the Venture trainsets.
 
roger1818 said:
I just thought it was interesting that they were Siemens trucks on scene. I guess they could also have the contract to support the crossing signals, but I was wondering if it was something to do with the Venture trainsets.
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Possibly, but Siemens does have contracts to do signal and other maintenance on various lines - their trucks are popping up all over.

- Paul
 
roger1818 said:
I just thought it was interesting that they were Siemens trucks on scene. I guess they could also have the contract to support the crossing signals, but I was wondering if it was something to do with the Venture trainsets.
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Considering that Railterm has been acquired by Siemens, you most likely saw a ROW/signalling maintenance truck:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1397950886387851266
 
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turini2 said:
I could provide many more examples of long, electrified freight trains - I just chose India as an example.
I don't disagree that countries focus on passenger trains - but freight is not an afterthought though! As another example, China (known for its high quality high speed rail) is #1 for tonne-kilometre of freight and #5 in tonne-kilometres per capita

(Somewhat interestingly, Russia is #1 in tonne-kilometres per capita - big country!)

A network of lines, they've got something like 5,000km or so under construction or planning. The TLDR is that they decided building a brand new line from zero was easier than upgrading existing lines.

Given the cost of developing bespoke 50kV locomotives (and the time cost of swapping them out) - you are correct that standardisation is likely.

Yes, this is sad - and would need government intervention to change. Instead the freight railways are pushing bullshit like hydrogen or weaselling out of even the most modest green commitments.


Completely agree - if we want a decarbonised railway network, electrification is the solution.
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What's your beef with hydrogen?
 
futurebound said:
Hydrogen is a technology best suited for situations where energy needs to be portable. Not sure why we are spending any amount of money developing a technology that is 20% efficient when we can have one that is 75% efficient, easier to use, and already exists.
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I'm sure the technology will get better...at that point CNG might be better.
 
Bordercollie said:
What's your beef with hydrogen?
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Basically we need to move away from using fossil fuels if we are to meet our Climate targets.

I've don't have a beef with hydrogen - there are positive and negatives, it has to be used for the best purposes. Hydrogen burns clean, but most of the climate impact is during production. It's also very energy dense, even more than gasoline.

Production
  • At present, most hydrogen (96%) is made from coal or natural gas (black and brown hydrogen). Giant greenhouse gas footprint, still using fossil fuels.
  • The hydrogen being pushed by the fossil fuel industry is blue hydrogen, where carbon capture is used. However, research shows that only about 12% of the CO2 is captured, well below the 80-90% claimed by the industry. It therefore still has a giant greenhouse gas footprint.
  • In theory, green hydrogen - made from water using electrolysis - is a great idea, as you can make it using renewable or nuclear electricity. When supply of electricity exceeds demand, you could make hydrogen, and it's easier to store than electricity itself. However electrolysis is very expensive and inefficient - and the fossil fuel companies obviously prefer the cheaper way out.
  • You cannot use the natural gas grid to move hydrogen around without substantial investment. Hydrogen is corrosive, volatile and highly flammable. Therefore safety standards have to be much stricter. It has smaller molecules, so it's more likely to leak - you can smell methane when it escapes, you can't smell hydrogen!
  • Finally, it takes more energy to produce, store and transport hydrogen than it provides when converted into useful energy.
Use

Some proposed uses for hydrogen are basically non-starters - there are cleaner, cheaper, faster and safer technologies already available that use electricity from an increasingly decarbonised electricity grid.
  • Heating buildings - heat pumps and heat networks are a better solution, something like 400x more efficient if I recall correctly
  • Railways - overhead electric wires
  • Transit buses - electric batteries*
  • Cars - electric batteries
  • Short distance vans and trucks - batteries*
  • Steelmaking in an arc furnace - electricity
* On this note, "hydrogen fuel cell" range extenders are already available, allowing recharging of the electric battery while on the move and increasing range.

Some uses however are perfect for green hydrogen to use - and this is where the industry is already generally focusing itself, focusing on things that direct electrification or batteries won't fix. There's not a big enough battery to take a 757 across the Atlantic!
  • Industrial processes that need heat, as well as those that already use black or brown hydrogen
  • Long distance buses and trucks
  • Planes
  • Long distance shipping
  • Fertilisers - you can convert it to ammonia, a key resource
  • Steelmaking - reducing the amount of coal required in a blast furnace
  • Storing excess energy produced by renewable sources - basically, a big battery!
 
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I’m hearing VIA will soon start running a second daily Charger/Venture set to Toronto. Anyone know what trains it might be on? Hoping something to Montreal.
 
SaugeenJunction said:
I’m hearing VIA will soon start running a second daily Charger/Venture set to Toronto. Anyone know what trains it might be on? Hoping something to Montreal.
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According to groups.io Canadian Passenger Rail, an additional Venture set starts from today (which will mean one on Saturday up from zero before)

Re: Six Venture sets per day

groups.io groups.io
 
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