Re: Fate of 85/86 class

[mauried@commslab.gov.au (Maurie Daly)]

In article <01bf73ae$5f0f3880$29e6868b@gpmj> "Greg Hunter" <huntergpmj@bigpond.com> writes:
>From: "Greg Hunter" <huntergpmj@bigpond.com>
>Subject: Re: Fate of 85/86 class
>Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2000 09:59:37 GMT




>Maybe this newsgroup has had a win - FreightCorp has started running elec
>hauled coal trains from the Blue Mtns to Pt Kembla again. 
>There was one 4 loco train on 8/2 (about 0145 through Sutherland) and two
>on 9/2  (0130 & 2130)

>Just to answer some of the recent questions: 

>To move equal size trains over the same route, electricity costs about 1/4
>to 1/3 that of diesel fuel. But the savings in fuel costs must be enough to
>cover the Capital and maintenance costs of the electrical infrastructure. 
>For new electrification, this is only likely to break even if you're moving
> over about 50 million tonnes pa.(maybe a bit less)

>But for using 85/86s under existing wire, it's pure savings.(assuming FC
>aren't being charged anything for the maintenance of the wire - I don't
>know about this)
>To take 3500 tonnes from Lithgow to Pt Kembla and the empties back again,
>uses about $800 worth of electricity at current rates. (expected to rise by
>about 20% soon.) So the savings over diesel would be around $2500 per trip.


Heres an interesting question.
For Electric hauled coalies coming down the Blue Mtns from Katoomba to 
Emu Plains are just about continuously regeneratively braking,ie putting back 
power into the overhead , does RAC pay freightcorp a credit for this 
electricity.
I betcha not.

On a similar vein,do 25KV /AC locos regenerate power back into the overhead
and if so how is it done?

Thanks
MD