Electric Locomotive

The electric locomotive is an electric railway vehicle which is powered by the electricity from the overhead lines, the third rail or the on-board energy storage equipment such as fuel cell battery or chemical battery.  The electrically propelled railway vehicles with the on fuelled prime movers like the gas turbines or diesel engines are categorized as gas turbine electric or diesel electric locomotives since the electric motor or generator combination only services as the transmission system. 

Electric current is used in order to remove smoke and to take the benefit of the high efficient electric motor; but the cost of the railway electrification which means generally only the heavily-used lines could be electrified. One of the main advantages of the electrification is that there is no pollution from the locomotives; since there is no fuel or coal is used for the transmission instead it is powered by electricity. Electrification also helps in lower maintenance costs, lower energy costs and higher performance for electric locomotives. Power plants, although they burn fossil fuels, are quite cleaner than the mobile sources like locomotive engines. Also the power for the electric locomotives could come from renewable and/or clean sources, including hydroelectric power, geothermal power, nuclear power, wind turbines and solar power.

Electrical locomotives are also compared to the diesel locomotives because there is no exhaust and engine noise and very less mechanical noise. It does not reciprocating parts therefore the electric locomotives are quite better and easier on the track, lessening the track maintenance. The power plant capacity is quite greater than what any separate locomotive utilizes. Therefore the electric locomotives could have a better power output than the diesel locomotives. The electric locomotives could also produce higher short-term flow power for the better acceleration.

Questionnaire:

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