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Posted by Larry Caldwell on April 11, 2008, 10:11 am
gfretwell@aol.com (gfretwell@aol.com) says...
> How fast do they really run?
>
> I know the Metroliner DC-NYC always talked about fantastic speeds, it
> ran about 70 most of the time.
I spent 3 months in Europe on a Eurail pass in 1986. I never got on the
high speed trains, but the typical commuter train ran about 80 in
between stations. Express trains didn't go much faster, they just
didn't stop as often. The real advantage of rail travel over air is the
comfort. Air travel is an ordeal, rail travel is a pleasure.
> You couldn't build the interstate system today. It would never get out
> of the environmental impact phase.
In areas with expanding population, they are building new freeways all
the time.
> Trains make sense here where the right of way already exists, the
> track is in reasonable condition and the population centers are very
> close together. That eliminates about 90% of the US geography.
> The reality is the US has a lot more airline infrastructure in place
> than railroad infrasructure. I doubt we have really laid any new track
> on new right of way since WWII. Except for some passenger rail in the
> NE corridor, most of the track in place is the old bolted rail, not
> the precision welded rail you need for fast trains. Whenever we have
> really tried fast trains they end up crashing and the US citizens have
> little tolerance for crashes.
> I doubt security would be much different than the airport as soon as
> the first guy blows up or derails a train.
The USA is still running on the remnants of 19th century rails. I
believe about 40% of the rail lines that existed in 1900 have been
abandoned. Even the main rail corridors are, in many places, a single
pair of rails.
The impetus to rebuild US rail structure will not come from passenger
service. Long haul motor trucking is convenient, but uses several times
as much energy and labor as rail shipping. At current energy prices,
motor freight is only surviving because rail capacity is not available.
Terminals were designed for men using hand trucks, and switching yards
are a congested mess where cars can get lost for a month at a time.
When the system gets rebuilt to handle freight efficiently, adding
passenger service will be a minor upgrade.
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