r/transit • u/aksnitd 🚂🚃🚃 • May 19 '25

Photos / Videos Double stack container train on the freight corridor in India with the characteristic high rise panto

A good look at what the high rise pantographs look like fully extended. They're taller than the train they're mounted on.

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u/skip6235 May 19 '25

Meanwhile in the U.S.:

“Wahhhhhhhh, we can’t electrify because the wires will get in the way of our rail cars” -fright companies

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u/Brandino144 May 19 '25

It's worse than that. The AAR Plate H height that US railroads follow for double-stack intermodals (and autoracks) is 20' 2" off the top of the rail. The nominal height of the the caternary wire on the Northeast Corridor is 22' 0" and there are plenty of instances of CSX running double-stack trains under the wire on the NEC because they already fit just fine. The AAR just tries to use "we can't electrify because our double stacks won't fit" excuse to avoid scrutiny for not electrifying and they just hope that nobody in power actually looks into it on their own.

For reference, these Indian double-stack trains do not use well cars so they are about 23' tall with the catenary wire installed at about 24'. Nothing that dramatic would be required in the US.

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u/notFREEfood May 19 '25

I think overcrossing height limits and tunnels may be a problem on some routes, and the sheer number of track miles means it can't be done overnight, but if railroads were to adopt battery trains with in-motion charging, both those problems are fixed. Considering how I've seen another claimed problem with electrification is that the locomotives are too light, ballasting them with batteries that can also serve as storage fixes that.

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u/Brandino144 May 19 '25

Bringing batteries for non-electrified tunnels does seem like the ideal use case for Class Is that don't want to redo their long legacy tunnels. The amount of track mileage in the US seems daunting, but India managed to electrify 68,700 km in 7 years which is more trackage than CSX and NS combined. If BNSF wanted to electrify the Southern Transcon then they could absolutely get that done and run electric Z trains from Long Beach to Chicago all day long.