From: rcp27g@gmail.com   
      
   Stephen Sprunk  wrote:   
   > On 12-Feb-16 03:47, rcp27g@gmail.com wrote:   
   >> On Friday, 12 February 2016 06:49:39 UTC+1, Stephen Sprunk  wrote:   
   >>> On 11-Feb-16 09:21, rcp27g@gmail.com wrote:   
   >>>> As I pointed out elsewhere in the thread, DB (German railways)   
   >>>> operate significantly higher power trains (200 mph ICE3 units)   
   >>>> under 15 kV 16.7 Hz catenery.   
   >>>   
   >>> Nope.  Acela loses to ICE3 on every metric _except_ raw power:   
   >>>   
   >>> Acela		ICE3   
   >>> Power	9,200 kW	8,000 kW   
   >>> Weight	565t		409t   
   >>> Power/Weight	16.2 kW/t	19.6 kW/t   
   >>> Seats	304		403   
   >>> Power/Seat	30.3 kW/seat	19.9 kW/seat   
   >>> Top Speed	266 km/h	320 km/h   
   >>   
   >> The Acela figures are for a set, which has two power cars with two   
   >> parallel power trains.  The ICE3 figures are for a single unit with   
   >> a single power train, but the ICE3s commonly run in pairs, so the   
   >> numbers for a whole train of 2xICE3 will be 16 MW, 806 seats, 818 t.   
   >   
   > Comparing a double train with 806 seats to a single train with 304 seats   
   > is blatantly unfair.   
   >   
   > But yes, 16,000 kW @ 15kV is ~44% more current than 9,200 kW @ 12.5kV,   
   > assuming both are near unity.  They're also ~20% faster--probably more   
   > in practice since Acela averages about half of its top speed.   
      
   The question is one of power supply at high speed. Whether you use it to   
   move a smaller number of heavyweight FRA cars or a larger number of   
   lightweight UIC ones is neither here nor there. A more legitimate criticism   
   might be that the ICE3 has distributed traction so no single transformer   
   needs to handle all the power. To address that, however, the ICE1, which   
   has discrete power cars like the Acela, packs 4.8 MW in each one (so 9.6   
   total) and is good for 280 km/h, and that's with 20 year old electrical   
   equipment.   
      
   Considering just single unit performance, the Re 620 designed for the   
   Gotthard line pack 8 MW into a single locomotive on the same 15 kV 16.7 Hz   
   power system, though they are freight locomotives so only good for 140   
   km/h.   
      
   Robin   
      
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