Battery powered freight trains

[RubberToe]

Nature.com: Economic, environmental and grid-resilience benefits of converting diesel trains to battery-electric.

Economic, environmental and grid-resilience benefits of converting diesel trains to battery-electric - Nature Energy

More efficient and cheaper battery technology has the potential to transform not just automobile but other kinds of transport. Popovich et al. do a techno-economic analysis of battery-electric trains and find potential for both economic benefits and emissions reduction.

www.nature.com

 

[MontyFloyd]

Or do what rest of world does, install overhead power lines (forgot the name for it)

 

[mspohr]

Or do what rest of world does, install overhead power lines (forgot the name for it)

I lived in Switzerland for a few years. All of the trains are electric.
However, Switzerland is a small compact country. The US has electric trains for commuters, subways, tramways, etc. but not for long distance travel since the cost to string wires for thousands of miles of intercity travel is prohibitive.
This looks like a feasible solution to the problem of long distance train transport.

 

[MontyFloyd]

I lived in Switzerland for a few years. All of the trains are electric.
However, Switzerland is a small compact country. The US has electric trains for commuters, subways, tramways, etc. but not for long distance travel since the cost to string wires for thousands of miles of intercity travel is prohibitive.
This looks like a feasible solution to the problem of long distance train transport.

Long distance is a non issue, there are 10,000's, maybe 100,000 miles built all across Europe and Japan (and elsewhere), all of it is post WW2.

Overhead lines are a mature and cheap way for rail, and there is many ways to deal with road crossings.
Now I am do see a need for a good mix of overhead and Diesel PHEV trains.