Aaron
Lead Service Attendant
He never said that only 4 or 5 people got off in BHM. He just said the he "can still count on one hand the number of people that get on or off in BHM". Here is his hand:
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Most of ATL-BHM on the ex-Southern, 166 miles, is one curve after another. The joke is that the surveyor of the Georgia Pacific was paid by the mile. Most of it is also a single-track line, albeit with frequent sidings, that carries a high number of freight trains. 4 hours is not unreasonable, given these factors. Even if you ran at maximum track speed with no interference from other trains, I suspect 3:30 is as fast as possible without spending hundreds of millions of dollars to straighten out the line.
The reality is, ATL-BHM can be driven on I-20 in 2.5 hours under ideal traffic conditions. The good news for the Crescent is that south of Birmingham and north of Atlanta, the ex-Southern is a much faster railroad.
The reality is, ATL-BHM can be driven on I-20 in 2.5 hours under ideal traffic conditions. The good news for the Crescent is that south of Birmingham and north of Atlanta, the ex-Southern is a much faster railroad.
George Harris
Engineer
Atlanta - Birmingham is living proof that raising the maximum speed limit does nothing for you if the alignment does not permit it to be used. The speed limit on this piece of railroad is 79 mph, but there is so little length of line that is straight or even has big curves that the trains can never get that fast. I suspect that 3:30 would not be possible on the current alignment. Even when the Southerner all but owned the railroad it was scheduled for 4 hours.
We might as well talk high speed railroad here if we talk anything. By the time the money is spent to run 79 mph throughout you would probably be over 95% of the way there in spending what it would take to get an alignment that would allow 200 mph. The only reason to look toward a 79 to 90 mph alignment would be if NS would put in a big part of what it would take because of the benefit of a straighter and more level piece of railroad to freight operation, and that I doubt would happen.
I would really like to see an Atlanta to Birmingham schedule under 3 hours, but don't expect it to happen.
We might as well talk high speed railroad here if we talk anything. By the time the money is spent to run 79 mph throughout you would probably be over 95% of the way there in spending what it would take to get an alignment that would allow 200 mph. The only reason to look toward a 79 to 90 mph alignment would be if NS would put in a big part of what it would take because of the benefit of a straighter and more level piece of railroad to freight operation, and that I doubt would happen.
I would really like to see an Atlanta to Birmingham schedule under 3 hours, but don't expect it to happen.
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