.jpg "France Launches Hybrid Train")
France’s first hybrid diesel/electric train recently made its inaugural journey from Paris to the Champagne region. Although other countries may have already launched hybrids, including Japan’s JR East, this is exciting emission-cutting news for Europe.
The new train, designed by the Canadian company Bombadier, travels from Paris to Troyes with a max speed of about 100 miles per hour. Bombadier is also the company bidding on the Hydrogen Train project in Ontario.
Although most modern diesel trains involve an electric component which is charged by the diesel motor, what differs here is the ability of the electric batteries to receive an additional charge from grid power. The train can be run either in full-electric or diesel mode with no stop necessary to make the switch between electrified and non-electrified tracks. The batteries also receive a boost from regenerative braking, similar to the hybrid system used in the Toyota Prius. Rather than forward momentum being converted to heat when brakes are applied (and the energy wasted), the force of braking feeds the train’s batteries through a generator.
According to Andre Navarri, Bombadier’s president, the hybrid train reduces emissions by 20 percent over a traditional diesel train. France has 144 of these hybrid trains on order, and will be sprucing up their fleet nationwide.
Here in the U.S., we’d be happy just to have a serviceable public transportation system. If / when we ever build a comprehensive system, perhaps we can integrate elements of the exciting projects going on abroad and pick and choose their most successful technologies.
Via our friends at Ecogeek
Photo from Bombadier
Related posts:
- NYC Looks at New Hybrid Buses
- World Bicycle Relief Targets Africa
- More Hybrid Buses Hit the Road, Pick Up Speed
- GE Evolution Hybrid: Regenerative Braking!
- All Aboard the Train that Never Stops!
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
As a daily bike commuter in Melbourne, I can say with great pleasure that I’m seeing more and more cyclists almost weekly. Some of this recently may be due to the better weather and longer daylight hours of summer (while we read stories about commuting by bike in the snow
but it’s clearly becoming more popular. I’ve personally cajoled/shamed/encouraged at least 5 new bike commuters to start in the past few months.
Melbourne has a target of 10% of all commuter vehicles entering the CBD to be bikes within the next few years. I thought that was pretty ambitious, until I learned that the figure is already at 8%. I’m assuming this excludes trains, trams and buses (or counts them as one vehicle) rather than counting passengers, of course.
Thats great to here. Now if only we (USA) can get more people to bike to work on a regular basis. I for one do it 3 days a week and I’m toying with the idea of “fasting” from my truck for a month. as long as future bike plans don’t included dedicated bike lanes on my routes I’m fine.
Unlike other cyclists I think bike lanes cause more problems than they solve, are more dangerous and create more auto rage against cyclists than it solves. My basis is because City’s don’t properly maintain the bike lane, the lane then fill with glass debris and trash forcing the cyclists in the auto lane and ticking them off or/ causing more flats etc.
Up here in Minneapolis, aka the great white north of the USA we take pride in ranking behind only Portland, OR as the city with the second highest number of bicycle commuters. To brag a bit, we accomplish this in Minneapolis without Portland’s temperate climate and without Portland’s top notch (for major American cities at least) investment in quality bicycle infrastructure.
I mostly work from home at the moment, but I’ve been car-free since 2001 and the grand majority of my trips are by bicycle here in Minneapolis year round. (Yes, even during the past couple of weeks when we’ve had wind chill factors in the -30 F ranges.)
I must admit that we winter cyclists get way much more credit than we deserve. It is not really that much of a challenge unless you’re talking about a cycling for a very long distance in one shot.
Sorry about that quick, sloppy comment. I meant to type that Minneapolis is second to Portland in the percentage of people who commute to work via bicycle in the United States. This is according to the last US census data. Anecdotal evidence [i]strongly[/i] supports that bicycle commuting numbers will be much higher after the next census.
Nice to come across such news stories from around the world. As a citizen of Pune, India I realize we have a long way to go in this direction.
We always have cycle sales greater than car sales here in the Netherlands. Bikes not only outnumber cars here, but they outnumber people too.
Nationally, 35% of journeys under 7.5 km are by bike here, 26% by foot and just 23% as car drivers. That includes the entire country and cycling is higher in the cities. 60% of all journeys are by bike in Groningen, for instance.
It’s a good thing to see that sales are turning around in Australia. Perhaps you’ll grow some serious cycle usage.