General

• All North American freight markets are served.
• Freight is shipped by the least-cost, most efficient mode or combination of modes.
• All customers receive door-to-door service.
• Significant freight tonnage is transferred from highways and freeways to railroads.
• Highway wear is reduced (when freight is moved from road to rail).
• New highway and freeway construction may not be needed.

Railroading

• Both short-haul (< 500 miles) and long-haul shipping markets are plausible.
• Tracks are doubled or paired for directional running.
• Route and track capacity are increased.
• Most sidings are eliminated.
• Most yards are eliminated or substantially reduced in size.
• Most freight traffic is scheduled.
• Constant-speed running is prevalent.
• Locomotives are eliminated.
• Fueling infrastructures are not required.
• Engine additives such as water, lubricating oils, antifreeze, and inhibitors are not needed.
• Locomotive crews are eliminated
• Labor grievances are mostly eliminated.
• Accidents due to equipment and human errors are rarer.
• Greenhouse gasses are considerably reduced.
• Noise is reduced when railroads are electrified.
• Visual signaling is not required.
• Stringing-effect wear and accidents on curved trackage are eliminated.

Motorized Well Cars

• Each well car is independently propelled by motorized bogies.
• Self-propelled well cars are driverless.
• Acceleration and deceleration are quickly executed.
• Wheel/track adhesion is proportional to loads.
• Physical couplers are unnecessary.
• Car-end bumpers cushion contacts.
• Aerodynamically-designed well-car bulkheads decrease high-speed drag.
• Double-stacked well cars travel in platoons.
• Each car has its own lights and horns.
• Cars operate in either direction without repositioning, and loop or Y tracks are not needed.
• Containers that occupy a standard footprint may be customized for liquids, gasses, and bulk freight.
• Multiple sensors detect problems.

Well-Car Bogies

• Universal bogies are easily exchanged for maintenance and repairs.
• Disk brakes replace shoe brakes and are more efficient.
• Automatic, regenerative bogie braking results in less wheel and track wear.
• Sensors detect high and low motor temperatures and vibrations.

Rail and Well-Car Electrification

• Multiple offsite power generation options include wind, solar, hydro, nuclear, and natural gas.
• Offsite power generation is more efficient than on-board prime-mover diesel generation.
• Electric propulsion is more economical than diesel-electric propulsion.
• Electric power is transmitted via third rails.
• Intermittent third-rail contact segments are activated by well-car proximity.
• Regenerative braking reduces electricity consumption by ~ 20 percent.
• Well-cars are equipped with right-sized rechargeable batteries.
• Batteries provide power at hard-to-electrify locations that lack third-rail infrastructure.
• Battery operation reduces the need for continuous third-rail infrastructure in flat-country locations.
• Batteries are recharged on-the-fly.

Freight Depots

• Freight depots are strategically located.
• Stationary bridge cranes transfer containers from trucks to trains and trains to trucks at freight depots.
• Cranes provide high-speed load transfers.
• Cranes use laser guidance systems for positioning containers and operate automatically.

Operational Automation

• Shipping requests are computerized.
• Billing and purchasing are computerized.
• Dispatching and well-car traffic control are computer directed and automated.
• Freight shipments are tracked in real-time.
• Financial transactions, tax filings, accountings, and record keeping are computerized.

© Wind River Electric Rail

windriverrail@gmail.com