Electrification of all main railways in Australia

BDA · Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 11:27 am

The problem is not availability it's demand . The demand for everything we humans want to use from toilet paper to shiny shoes is directly linked to population .

When you can control world population you can control demand , problem is with various religions and big business pushing for more believers/consumers the upward trend is not leveling out .

Have a look at mother natures methods of population control of a local varmint - rabbits . They will literally eat everything they can find until they starve themselves out . That's how their breeding cycle is controlled .

In the wild there are no special exemptions for the old and the weak , they become part of the food chain .

Next time someone bleats about droughts and lack of water screw the calendar back 50 years and look at the population and demand of people and industry on water . How many major dams went dry in this countries most densely populated regions ?

GeoffThomas · Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 2:11 pm

"fabricator" Personally I'd like to see high speed electric trains on the Port Augusta - Perth line.

Actually this has exciting possibilities, probably most have heard of Geothermal Hot Rocks, http://www.empower.iig.com.au/gone/Geothermal2pages.pdf
- currently there is a proposal to bring power from a hot rock site at Innamincka to the Olympic mine, - and then on to Adelaide, so if that could be tied into the rail link to Perth, several solutions and synergies would be achieved.
1/- the electricity line could accompany the rail line, - several helping each other there, - right of way, constant power available, security, possible some dual usage, mutual construction equipment and labour on site, Appeal to feeling of Building Australia, - Others?
2/- The good thing about Geothermal is how quickly it can ramp up, - thus making it a perfect complement to wind turbines, - the good thing about wind turbines is growing cheapness and eternal resource.
The negative side with Geothermal HR is that the quicker you use the heat up, the longer it takes to recharge in relative terms so to reduce the heat extraction by mixing with wind is a very economical thing to do, - it makes that quite expensive but very flexible base load resource last a lot longer, - if managed correctly perhaps for millions of years... it maximises the cheap wind power, so in this situation bringing the incredible long term Wind resource of South West Aus. together with the huge Geothermal HR resource of central Oz, - plus providing the rail link and the trains as a secure customer right there for the power.
As both the South West Australian wind resource and the Geothermal resource are independantly capable of providing all Australia's power requirements, this is a big step towards making Australia free of having to burn coal, - all coal can be exported, until the world can do without or make it genuinely "clean" coal, and truck and train diesel requirements would diminish also.
This is even more a silver bullet than the US proposal!
Cheers,
Geoff Thomas.
Kuranda

E1109 · Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 2:38 pm

GeoffThomas · Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 4:58 pm

Draffa · Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 5:21 am

BDA · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 9:17 am

What you're all forgetting is that this govt is skint and probably don't care anyway .
Huge costs to serve a very small component of the NSW population .
To be blatantly honest it's hard to justify the taxes of every earning individual in this state to benefit a small minority .

What some of you people have to ask yourselves is are you eco nazi first and train service performance people second or the other way round ?

Carbon emissions , I'm sick and bloody tired of being beaten around the head by this rubbish . CO2 this CO2 that , temperatures rising sea levels rising BUT WHERE'S the EVIDENCE ?
Global temperatures are not rising they are actually in a very slow decent - since 1998 .
Take this one to the grave - ALL plants LIKE CO2 and thrive on it , take it away and they die - taking us with them .

Gonna put a tax on major volcanic eruptions ? Go do some gas analysis on those and see what they spew into this atmosphere when THEY get really bad .

CO2 from burning petrol and diesel fuels . You don't magically create CO2 gas doing this - the carbon had to come from somewhere .
Think maybe the plant matter absorbed CO2 from the atmosphere before it was buried ? Think this was maybe some part of the carbon cycle ?

Peak oil , no it's NOT here yet . Crude oil is being discovered all the time and those that have financial interests in it seek ways to drive the price up by urban fear and mythology .

Bio Fuels . Don't let any moron tell you that every gram of every corn kernel is used to make ethanol alcohol , only the starch component leaving you with all sorts of useful things such as protein / stock feed etc etc .
Hint . Growing corn / sugar beets / sugar cane / switch grass etc ABSORBS CO2 from the atmosphere - feel any better or cooler - less foamy ?

ParkesHub · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 11:17 am

KEVIN ROEHR · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 9:18 pm

I beg to wonder, all over Europe Russia Japan Peoples Republic Of China all mainline railways are electrified, but in Australia, its too hard, it costs too much, always excuses. If they did not pay all these railway executives such high salaries, it might be possible to be done. When third world countries can electrify their main lines, and Australia can!t, it amazes me.

Pressman · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:23 am

awsgc24 · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 9:02 am

Investigations are going on in Europe and America regarding Electro-Diesels, which can operate off the OHW where it exists and as a diesel where the OHW is absent. This would allow only steep sections of track to be fitted with OHW.

Britain has/had some class 73 (?) electro-diesels which were more powerful in electric mode, while diesel mode was less powerful and intended for shunting only.

drwaddles · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 9:05 am

GeoffThomas · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 7:43 pm

[quote="BDA"]
Carbon emissions , I'm sick and bloody tired of being beaten around the head by this rubbish . CO2 this CO2 that , temperatures rising sea levels rising BUT WHERE'S the EVIDENCE ?/quote]
Difficult to prove an un-controlled train crossing will cause fatalities until after it has, but so what if the risk of global warming or the fact of imminent peak oil cause folk to look to electrifying railways.
People catch a train for a lot of different reasons.
Lets just try to do it .
Cheers,
Geoff Thomas.

BDA · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 8:27 am

Quick update for those scared to exhale .

Been jumping in the same parts of the South Pacific ocean since 1970 and guess what ? Usual high tide level is the same as its always been .

Have vivid memories of those long hot summers of the early 1970's , haven't had those for a while ...

I did check and the photosynthesis equation has not changed since I last looked at it - 79-80 ish (jnr highschool) .

Basically C02 + H20 + sunlight gives sugar + 02 + H20 .

Plants like C02 and give off free oxygen as part of the photosynthesis reaction . They get what they want (C02 and sugar) and we get what we want (oxygen - and food if we eat them) .

More ? Planet eath has salt water covering something like 75% of its surface area - water than can and does absorb a lot of the suns heat .
Temperature difference makes a big difference to the ocean currents and in turn makes a big difference to weather patterns .

The suns heat output is not a constant thing and sunspot activity goes through cycles , in times of lower heat output out temperatures cool a little and so on . Ocean temps and currents change and so do weather patterns .

My personal belief is that the so called greenhouse effect allegedly caused by C02 emissions is a croc , I think it's a financial ticket to ride by various ultra left wing interests who seek to bank roll their self engratiating whims .
Ultra greens love it because they feel it's their direct sphere of interest and any mileage for their cause is gratefully accepted .

At the end of the day you can believe what you like but I really don't see a carbon trading scheme doing squat except making Mr and Mrs struggle street struggle harder . The so called levies will feed various Govt coffers and it remains to be seen what level or lack of intelligence they'll use to reward themselves - oh er the lo/no C02 zealots .

Don't for one second assume that I condone a lot of the filth pumped into our atmosphere , I just don't believe C02 gas is the enemy that many make it out to be . It is something most can never measure for themselves so how is anyone going to disprove those who seek your money . Given the upper atmospheres rapid changes in temperature/density/humidity I doubt Al Gore can accurately measure it either .

Your call .

GeoffThomas · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 10:31 am

GeoffThomas · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 10:44 am