Texan Eagle
Conductor
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2011
- Messages
- 1,705
No, I am not smoking anything funny nor is this attempt to mock the other similarly titled thread. I am serious.
I was showing a video from my Acela 150 mph ride to a railfan in India when he pointed out- this is just show-off. Look at the bigger picture. Boston to Washington the Acela Express manages average speed of only around 105 km/hr (68 mph) in spite of allowed maximum speed of 150/135 mph, while the NE Regionals are even slower, managing end to end speed between 94 km/hr (58 mph) and 89 km/hr (56 mph).. (excluding the overnighter that has an even slower schedule on purpose). Compare this with the Delhi-Kolkata corridor of Indian Railways where the premium trains manage end to end average speed of 80-89 km/hr, almost as much as most of the NE Regionals, in spite of maximum speed allowed for the Indian trains being only 130 km/hr (81 mph) while NE Regionals are allowed track speed of 200 km/hr (125 mph).
It took me a while to digest this and I thought some numbers must be wrong, but I checked the Corridor schedules and it seems to be true
So.. how come trains allowed to go up to 125 mph manage to clock only 56-58 mph average speed if elsewhere trains with maximum speed of 81 mph can clock average speeds around 50-55 mph in 150% saturated corridors? What am I missing?
I was showing a video from my Acela 150 mph ride to a railfan in India when he pointed out- this is just show-off. Look at the bigger picture. Boston to Washington the Acela Express manages average speed of only around 105 km/hr (68 mph) in spite of allowed maximum speed of 150/135 mph, while the NE Regionals are even slower, managing end to end speed between 94 km/hr (58 mph) and 89 km/hr (56 mph).. (excluding the overnighter that has an even slower schedule on purpose). Compare this with the Delhi-Kolkata corridor of Indian Railways where the premium trains manage end to end average speed of 80-89 km/hr, almost as much as most of the NE Regionals, in spite of maximum speed allowed for the Indian trains being only 130 km/hr (81 mph) while NE Regionals are allowed track speed of 200 km/hr (125 mph).
It took me a while to digest this and I thought some numbers must be wrong, but I checked the Corridor schedules and it seems to be true
So.. how come trains allowed to go up to 125 mph manage to clock only 56-58 mph average speed if elsewhere trains with maximum speed of 81 mph can clock average speeds around 50-55 mph in 150% saturated corridors? What am I missing?