Is third rail bad at acceleration?

[Nicholas Lewis]

The Dutch looked at it several decades ago, AIUI, but decoded conversion to 3KV was better value given the Belgian network to the south and the fact the Germans are on 15KV 16.67hz.

Czeck republic are early days into a multi decade project to deliver the conversion of the entire 3kv DC system to 25kV AC.

 

[Bikeman78]

Good point, correction noted! (They do have a connection to a french 25kv ligne classique at the BE/Lux/FR tripoint, but Brussels-Luxembourg is the corridor they're converting slowly).

Leuven to Liege high speed line is 25kV and so is Angleur to somewhere near the German border I think. If they ever get done, I'd expect the remaining diesel routes to be electrified at 3000V because then they can chuck anything on them in terms of rolling stock.

 

[zwk500]

Leuven to Liege high speed line is 25kV and so is Angleur to somewhere near the German border I think. If they ever get done, I'd expect the remaining diesel routes to be electrified at 3000V because then they can chuck anything on them in terms of rolling stock.

Yes the HS Lines are 25kv (so Lille-Brussels and Antwerp-Netherlands also) but AIUI nearly all new SNCB rolling stock is dual votlage 25kv/3kv compatible, maybe not fitted though. So choice of system will likely be based on what the connecting systems would be for commonality of feeding and equipment between AC and DC.