On May 7, 9:05*am, "DW downunder" noname wrote:
4. NO-ONE has mentioned the plethora of hybrid battery-equipped rollingstock
currently prototyped, on trial, in low volume production etc around the
world. Given Crossrail's gestation, can I assert with some confidence that
by then it will be quite normal for trains to extend a moderate distance
beyond the wires or juice rail. 25kV to Reading would not necessarily be a
pre-requisite to CrossRail service by the mid-10s.

No, you can't.

Batteries are a crap way of storing energy. Making batteries not be a
crap way of storing energy has been a major preoccupation among
engineers and physicists and - even more importantly - the people who
fund them for decades. They've made batteries be a slightly less crap
way of storing energy. They haven't made them not be a crap way of
storing energy. None of the current trials do anything to reverse
that.

At absolute best, a battery train might just about be a solution for
Henley. It would be an insane solution for 6ish tph on the GWML.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org