I have this idea of how electric rails could look like, which is pretty simple. 2 more rails in the center of the railtracks that holds the current for the electricity
This is just a simple edit. But you get my point...
The electric rails will look similar to that with my idea. Adding the current to those rails removes the need of powerlines above.
To charge the rails, you add a junctionbox to a single part of a system that is connected to a powerline to your powergrid.
Also normal diesel locomotives can stil go on these kind of rails. Electric trains can also be placed on normal rails, but wont simply work. If you got a system where it is both electric and non electric rails, and the electric locomotive tries to move to the non electric rails, it will loose charge.
You should also be able to place those electric rails on to normal rails to easily upgrade like you can with fast and express belts.
Well why use an electric train?
Pros:
Fast acceleration (Electric engines can accelerate really fast if enough power is applied, far faster than usual burner engines)
Faster movement? (Well faster acceleration is a nice enough pros, they can keep the same speed if yes)
Dont use any fuel other than power (You can run it on like solar power if you got that)
Dont pollute (Not sure if the original train does or not while driving)
Can be far stronger (Again, just apply enough current and the train will be strong as a beast, just mind it's power usage)
Produces power when braking (We can say they have a better way of power breaking like electric cars, turning their engines into generators)
Cons:
Uses electricity (While this is a good thing, it can also be a bad thing. They would probably use lots of power, especially when accelerating or running heavy cargo)
They cease to work if power is cut (Blackouts can stop all your trains running on power)
You need to replace all the engines with electric engines when crafting them (Electric engines are more expensive than usual ones)
Might overheat when drawing to much power with to much cargo? (If we decide to add that, so people just cant make it be overpowered strength)
