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Comment by _qwfv | Hacker News Reader

How are trains like this powered? Naively, I'd assume electrically rather than with big ol' diesel or jet engines. If that's the case, wouldn't these trains not only be faster but significantly less impactful to the environment? (Assuming, of course, that the energy mixture in the power plants that power the train aren't fossil fuels.)

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In countries with first-world train systems, all trains are already electrically powered anyway.

In some countries, long-distance travel is even already 100% renewable https://gruen.deutschebahn.com/en/projects/ice

It’s mostly the US, the UK, and other countries with third-world infrastructure that still heavily rely on diesel in long-distance train travel

Sorry by that only applies to US passenger rail, US freight rail is an impressively efficient system. US freight trains are diesel-electric allowing them to benefit from the high mechanical efficiency of electric engines coupled with the high energy density of diesel fuel as a power source.

The US is second only to china in terms of ton-kilometers of freight transported and moves nearly an order of magnitude more freight by rail than the EU.

With the exception of China, which has both massive freight and transport rail systems, most countries tend to trade off between transport of freight. The reason the US's transport rail is awful is because it's freight rail is incredible. And though it may be diesel it is a remarkably efficient use of is (as opposed to the trucks necessary for transport if you don't use trains)

Still, a) that's still Diesel, not renewable electricity, and b) it still doesn't help with transporting people, which can improve the way cities are constructed, and save much more CO2 in the long run due to that.

Even if they use jet engines it's still likely to be better than air travel—airplanes spend a significant amount of their energy just staying in the air.

Moderns trains are almost universally electric, for the simple reason that there's no need for a heavy battery: The rail mechanism itself can easily contain a power line, using technology that has existed since the 19th century.

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