Speeding Right Now!

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Joined
Aug 22, 2016
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I am now traveling North on Train 134 to New York City and the train is speeding like crazy! My husband and I have already used the word derailment twice in the last ten minutes. I take this train a lot and only one other time have I experienced this kind of speeding. It is terrifying. I can barely type this note because my phone is jumping around so much! Please stop! I want to get to NY in one piece! Fran Bowman 4:35 pm 8/11/17
 
Seems to be at Newark, DE at the moment, right on time, and seems to be following the speed limit, at least from afar analyzing the GPS data from the locomotive. Your train is allowed up to 125 MPH.
 
It also appears scheduled to arrive at NYP ten minutes early. Rare is the occasion when a complaint is made about an AMTK train going too fast...!
 
Maybe we can arrange to detour you into single-track territory, then have you go "in the hole" to be passed by three or four long freight trains, one of whose crew will "go dead" blocking your only way out of the siding until a jeep can be called out to drive fifteen miles through the underbrush from the nearest crossing to relieve the crew. Then, perhaps, you'll have a proper appreciation of what travel on Amtrak is like outside of the Northeast Corridor....
 
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You are on the NEC where the trains go 125 mph or higher everyday, every NEC train goes this fast. I have traveled between WAS and NYP many times as have many of the forum members. We can all state the speed is normal and extremely safe. Every train is monitored for safety.
 
It's not the speed per se, it's the condition of the track in conjunction with the speed. I've gone through some interlockings on the NEC where I've been amazed at how rough it was (several years ago)

Also, last year, we hit some track going from NYP to the south where we seemed to hit a harmonic frequency where the trucks would hunt one way and then the other. It was very rough. Then a little farther down the line we hit track that was as smooth as glass.

jb
 
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It's not the speed per se, it's the condition of the track in conjunction with the speed. I've gone through some interlockings on the NEC where I've been amazed at how rough it was (several years ago)

Also, last year, we hit some track going from NYP to the south where we seemed to hit a harmonic frequency where the trucks would hunt one way and then the other. It was very rough. Then a little farther down the line we hit track that was as smooth as glass.

jb
Another possibility is that the coach had excess motion causing the coach to shake. On the Amfleets the bellows might not be inflated properly. On an Acela the dampers could be maladjusted. It happens. We know the train was not speeding but I wouldn't discount that there was some kind of issue. What if there are flat spots? The OP while on the train should have contacted a crew member rather then post here. The problem causing a rough ride can often be corrected en route or possibly the speed should be reduced from track speed if a coach has too much lateral motion or such.
 
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