Diesel, no wires
evergreen · planted 2022-11 · tended 2025-01
Irad Temir Jolu is not electrified. No poles, no wires, no pantographs. All traffic is pulled by diesel locomotives, mostly Soviet ones. This was the decision of 1934, when the Talas branch opened, and every year somebody says "we should put up wires", and every year someone does the sum.
The advantage is simple: a diesel carries its own power station. The disadvantage is also simple: the fuel is expensive and the locomotive is heavy, and in the cold it needs to be kept running all night. See Cold start and The 2TE10.
Linked from: The 2TE10 · Cold start
1 Comment
Bolot, in Surgut all the trains are electric on the main lines, and the sound is quite different, no engine, only the rails. In Irad I remember the sound of the diesel from my grandfather's dacha line. Like a very big cow.
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