Top Speeds on CL and TE?

[rms492]

Does the FRA really use speed guns to check for speeding trains? I can't quite picture that, and it seems old fashioned.

Seems to be a better way to check for speeding trains would be to see it on a dispatchers board in this day and age of electronic gizmos, or to have some trackside computer send a speed signal to a dispatcher or inspector, etc. (much like a detector, "train speed seventy nine miles per hour...no defects." So if someone hears "eighty six miles per hour" in a 79, then its time to take action.

 

[oldtimer]

I know that radar guns are still in use by the FRA, Amtrak and railroad officials for the roads that Amtrak operates over. This is the same technology that was in place 40 years ago.

As far as using a detector read out to trap speeding train crews, just remember that the crews must know the location of all detectors for the territory they operate over. It would be like having a flashing neon sign above the location of any police radar car. How many speeders do you think they would catch?

I can tell you that I have seen with my own eyes a photocopy of a letter of reprimand an engineer received for a speed of 80 to 82 MPH while descending a long grade in an area where the maximum authorized speed for passenger trains was 79 MPH.