Bombadier JetTrain

[iCe]

What do you guys think about this train?

(For those who have not heard of it - from the Bombardier website:

High-Speed Train JetTrain - Canada and United States

Bombardier JetTrain trainsets are the first 150-mile per hour non-electric high-speed rail service designed for the North American market. The state of the art Bombardier JetTrain locomotive is powered by a lightweight jet engine, which replaces the traditional diesel engine found in current rail equipment.

Length - 21,219 mm (Power car)/26,645 mm (Passenger car)
Width - 3,175 mm
Max. Speed - 240 km/h

http://www.bombardier.com/en/1_0/ml/2199/2_EN_JetTrain-R_LowRes.jpg

http://www.bombardier.com/en/1_0/ml/2197/2_EN_JetTrain-CDN_LowRes.jpg

More Information at: http://www.bombardier.com/index.jsp?id=1_0&lang=en&file=/en/1_0/1_10/1_10_0.jsp)

[Guilford350]

I have heard about this train before and I really like it. I don't think it will ever replace traditional diesel or electric locomotives but with today's new technologies, jet trains may rival current locomotives, as far a efficiency and maintenance goes. I know that Amtrak still runs a few of their Turbo Trains, which were just recently rebuilt, and they seem to have another 7-10 years left on those.

[petertenthije]

Thats one cool train! I suppose the jet powers an electric generator powering the train? I wonder though if there will be enough airflow. A jet requires a lot of air, and I do not see a large hole for air to go in/out. And how about the noise, since jets aren't the quietest powersources around.

If this train does not seel to the US and Canada, it can still sell to Europe. The European high speed trains all require electricity. Not all tracks are electrified thus opening up a chance for the Jettrain. It would save massive investments in track (re-) construction.

Especially in East Europe this could be usefull. The EU is donating quite a lot of subsidies to improve the infrastructure. Since a lot of these countries will sooner or later be part of the EU, they should be accesible by decent modes of transport. This saves a lot of money! As a tax payer (well, sorta) I like the sound of that!

Will these trains be able of using existing rail carriages (even cargo carriages instead of only passenger). I believe the ICE and TGV require specially designed carriages.


(OFF TOPIC, I uploaded a few Thalys TGV pics a few days back, may be of interest to you all)

[oltmannd]

The Jet Train locomotive is basically an Acela locomotive with the transformer yanked out and a gas turbine/generator set plopped in. The gas turbine is an off-the-shelf one typically used in medium-sized turbo-prop airplanes.

There's some nice video of it doing 150 mph at the AAR test track on the Bombardier web site.

It's a great design - high HP, light weight, high adhesion - just what's needed for North American corridors. Too bad we won't be seeing any production soon. Neither Amtrak nor the states have any money for such projects at the moment.

-Don

P.S. Doesn't hurt that it looks fast, either!