> An even more significant improvement would be electrified trains, which can accelerate roughly twice as fast as those with diesel power...
Can someone comment on why this is? My understanding is that the existing diesel trains use diesel generators to power electric motors.
My questions are: 1) Does "electrified" mean pulling power from a third rail? 2) Whatever it means, what makes "electrified" twice as fast as diesel-electric?
> Does "electrified" mean pulling power from a third rail?
Yes, or more precisely either third rail or using overhead lines (catenaries). Overhead lines have many benefits over third rail so they make up the majority of new electrification projects, but third rail still has a lot of use in suburban railways and metro systems.
> Whatever it means, what makes "electrified" twice as fast as diesel-electric?
You're completely right about the engineering, it's just that the diesel generators don't have quite as good peak power output compared to a fully electric system. I think that the article is overplaying this particular benefit of electrification though. The trains that I frequently take are bi-mode, and although you can certainly feel the extra 'kick' of acceleration when you enter the electrified parts of the line, it makes little difference to the total journey time compared to the old diesel-electric trains that used to run on the route.