Swiss startup Sun-ways is planning to build a 18 kW pilot PV system between the racks of a 100-m linear section of a railway line in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel.
What brake dust? Where they’re contemplating putting this the trains are fully electrified and use regenerative (magnetic) braking during routine operations, the only time the abrasive brakes are engaged is during emergencies
Covering parking lots is expensive and you lose spots to supports and there’s the inevitable car hitting those supports.
Putting panels between rail lines doesn’t need a structure so it should be far cheaper and easier to install and fix, even if they aren’t ideal.
They will get dirty very fast, either from dirt thrown around by passing trains, or by the brake dust.
What brake dust? Where they’re contemplating putting this the trains are fully electrified and use regenerative (magnetic) braking during routine operations, the only time the abrasive brakes are engaged is during emergencies
Also the heavy vibration that can occur when a train passes over
It shouldn’t be too hard to clean them with something running on the tracks, but it does seem less than ideal.
A chain or wire hanging off a train car and dragging along will “clean” them real quick…