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Originally Posted by Piwoslaw
In order to pump electricity back into the railroad grid, there have to be other trains that can accept that energy at that moment.
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But why should there be a railroad grid that's electrically separated from the general power grid? Conceptually, the down train lifts the up one, but in reality the down train dumps energy into the grid when it brakes. That energy might run the up train, or it might run a factory, traffic lights, or my PC.
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Unfortunately, not all electrified raidroads allow regenerative braking, the Polish rail system being an example.
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But as with the US using mostly diesel, the hurdles are social and political, not technical. We know how to build the machinery, but not how to motivate management to get off its collective butt and do it :-(