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| Re: BL-20G's For The LIRR ? (748830) | |||
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Re: BL-20G's For The LIRR ? |
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Posted by Broadway Lion on Wed Feb 25 16:02:45 2009, in response to Re: BL-20G's For The LIRR ?, posted by WillD on Wed Feb 25 15:21:12 2009. Do they have control over the power supply now?No they do not. They buy their power from LIPA. Any self respecting power COMPANY will provide whatever power you want, wherever you need it, and whenever you need it. THAT IS WHAT COMPANIES DO! Yes the power company takes a profit on their work and investment. That is fair. Yes it is a built into the cost of the electricity, but you must believe me that power infrastructure is NOT a one-time expense in any event. If LIRR owned the sub stations they would have to maintain them which means hiring more electricians. They would have to replace them every x number of years. The cost is a push. Here, BNSF buys its power from the power company. They removed all of their telegraph poles, and so now there is no track side voltage to power their signal system. By every signal, by every bungalow, by every defect detector, by every crossing gate, there is a power drop from the local power company, and there is an electric meter there too. AND the power lines come in overland, and do not follow the railway ROW. The railroad (go figure) does not permit that. So the line has to come in over some farmer's field, and the power company has to make their own arrangements for it to do so. All of that is added to the cost of the electricity. But BNSF is a private company, not a state owned entity. Maybe they know something that you do not. Like it is most cost effective for them to do it this way. Don't ask *me* why they found this to be so, they did not tell me, but it is surely the fact, they *had* their own power distribution and they got rid of it. BTW: Signal circuits are buried optic fiber which does follow the ROW but is not maintained by the Railroad. It is owned and maintained by Sprint as part of their national communications network. They provide service to the Railroad under contract which BTW includes their use of the ROWs for their service network. So Notwithstanding that both MTA and LIPA are government entities, the fact remains that companies who are responsible to their stockholders found that this is the better way to go. ROAR |
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