Thirdrail7
Engineer
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2014
- Messages
- 4,542
Running an ALP45DP on LIRR in lieu of 3rd rail MU's would have to be in diesel mode throughout 3rd rail territory and could never run to Grand Central Madison or Brooklyn. They also do not change modes while moving. That may be fun for a Saturday railfan excursion, but completely ridiculous otherwise
LIRRs current diesel fleet can't fit into Grand Central either, which is why I said "most places." Additionally, if you think about it, diesels routinely operate into and out of NYP at this point. So, running an ALP-45 in diesel through NYP and into LIRR, would not be something to summarily dismiss as not possible. You can bring the ALP from NJ or CT in electric mode and change over to diesel on the platform, just prior to departure. The East River Tunnels supposedly have ventilation fans, that will hopefully get upgraded if they ever start the rehab projects.
Is it optimal? Maybe not, but it is entirely possible, right now since there is nothing that specifically forbids diesel operations into NYP.
And even then, they lack the ASC speed codes for the LIRR, which does not come cheap, and without it means a lot of slow running, unknown or false signal indications, and penalty stops.
Amtrak supposedly want to operate out into LIRR territory. As such, you would have to modify their train controls systems to conform. You could do the same for an ALP or whatever piece of equipment you want to buy. It is not uncommon to have multiple train control systems on a given piece of equipment these days.
These problems are hardly insurmountable by todays standards. The future should knock down even more barriers.
That being said, I still think it is a bad idea to have through running equipment.
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