[Vwdiesel] EPA things

[William J Toensing]

I agree with most everything said but will add one area where it should be government policy to discourage diesel use but instead encourage electric use, our railroads. Europe almost seems to do things much more sensibly than the USA does. Correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding is most if not all of Europe's, or at least western Europe's railroads are electrified. Here is an example of a great deal waste that I have never seen discussed before. To get over the Sierra Mountains here in Calif. the railroads have to add a couple of diesel electric locomotives. Then to descend the mountains, they use the energy to run the electric motors in reverse to generate electricity. What do they do with that electricity? They use it to head giant heat sinks cooled with fans to vent the heat to the atmosphere which equals wasted energy. If the railroads were electrified, that electricity would be fed back into the electric lines that power electric locomotives. Or, why not require electric lines above the railroads to capture this wasted electricity using electric locomotives to help provide power to electric locomotives to assist trains over the mountains. Or, why can't diesel electric locomotives be built to run on electricity only where railroads are electrified? Then, since the state of Calif. is so concerned about diesel pollution, require that all railroads be electrified, as they do in Europe?
Bill Toensing, Nevada City, CA