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Re:Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected by skrap on Friday January 24, 2025 @09:25PM (#42818883)
I mean, this is good news, but why was the efficiency of the system so misunderstood at the design phase? I hope someone's interested enough to find out!
Re:Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected by crocal on Saturday January 25, 2025 @04:50AM (#42820638)
Ahoi! Participated to the development of a simulation tool for that purpose. Many factors need to be taken into account:

- The gradients of the track

- How agressively you want to drive at different time of the day

- How many trains

- The timing of the trains. When one train brakes, it can power another one that accelerates at the same moment

- The efficiency of the power chain

- The resistance model of the train

With so many parameters the results can be quite volatile. However, rule of the thumb in the business is that 30% saving can be achieved with good energy management. Hope this clarifies a little.

Update: bullet points

Re:Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected by skrap on Saturday January 25, 2025 @09:56AM (#42821970)
Interesting! Thanks for the great info. Do you know if anyone will have the opportunity to integrate observations into the model so it can continue to improve?
Re:Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected by crocal on Saturday January 25, 2025 @03:20PM (#42824485)
We did use actual data from existing lines to measure the gap between our models and reality. We were +/- 5% accurate.
Re:Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected by djaychela on Saturday January 25, 2025 @06:08AM (#42820936)
Maybe they didn't factor in ridership on certain part of the track gradient, which would lead to more regen braking than expected?