I honestly think this is just cheaping out, and I bet electrification will pay off on a long enough horizon.
Fwiw, I think basically all of Sweden where I live is electrified - 80% of the rails, with the 20% principally being a freight line in the far north used for the purposes of transporting ore from the mines.
It works great for European countries sure, but when it costs roughly $5 million per kilometre to electrify track and there are for example 800kms between Melbourne and Sydney, the cost just gets astronomical, not to mention the headaches of getting 1000V DC across that distance.
A self-sustaining vehicle is really important for big countries with long inter-country rail lines that have no support infrastructure for hundreds of kilometres
I honestly think this is just cheaping out, and I bet electrification will pay off on a long enough horizon.
Fwiw, I think basically all of Sweden where I live is electrified - 80% of the rails, with the 20% principally being a freight line in the far north used for the purposes of transporting ore from the mines.
It works great for European countries sure, but when it costs roughly $5 million per kilometre to electrify track and there are for example 800kms between Melbourne and Sydney, the cost just gets astronomical, not to mention the headaches of getting 1000V DC across that distance.
A self-sustaining vehicle is really important for big countries with long inter-country rail lines that have no support infrastructure for hundreds of kilometres