Comments on: Hybrid Locomotives https://www.isegoria.net/2011/04/hybrid-locomotives/ From the ancient Greek for equality in freedom of speech; an eclectic mix of thoughts, large and small Wed, 29 Apr 2026 14:43:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6.1 By: David Foster https://www.isegoria.net/2011/04/hybrid-locomotives/comment-page-1/#comment-168853 David Foster Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:25:08 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=24437#comment-168853 From what I’ve read, the application of hybrid locomotives (for freight) will be mainly for route segments that involve heavy grades, so that energy can be recaptured rather than wasted in braking on the downgrades. The Economist article suggests another application for commuter lines with frequent stops; however, many of these routes are already electrified and in those cases dynamic braking is already used, and has been for many decades, to return power to the line.

I suspect that even absent emissions regulations, hybrids would be economically justified on some routes purely based on fuel savings.

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