Depends on what type of train it is. A passenger aeroplane travels around 800 km/hr, a ‘typical’ train about 150-200.
However, the highest average speed of a commercial train is reached by the Fuxing, which goes 320 km/hr, enabling to go from Beijing to Nanjing (1,020 km) in 3.2 hours. The Shanghai maglev used to go faster, about 430 km/hr.
So a train can certainly be faster than a plane on mid-long distances if we take pre-flight time into account.
An experimental Maglev, the L0 Series, managed to go 600 km/hr. At that speed, you’re honestly directly competing with planes at long distances.
Try closer to 30 average. Most rail isn’t rated for above 50 outside the Northeast Corridor, and you’re also pausing for hours at a time sometimes because freight rail gets priority treatment.
Legally passenger gets priority, however to increase the already disgusting profit margins and decrease capital expenditures (why spend on infrastructure when you can pay dividends and do stock buybacks), they have been running longer and longer trains without increasing the length of sidings so when a passenger train wants to pass a 2 mile long freight train, there’s literally nowhere the freight train can go to allow it to pass.
The DoT could fine the railroads each time they do that until they either run shorter trains or build the appropriate sidings, but they choose not to.
Depends on what type of train it is. A passenger aeroplane travels around 800 km/hr, a ‘typical’ train about 150-200.
However, the highest average speed of a commercial train is reached by the Fuxing, which goes 320 km/hr, enabling to go from Beijing to Nanjing (1,020 km) in 3.2 hours. The Shanghai maglev used to go faster, about 430 km/hr. So a train can certainly be faster than a plane on mid-long distances if we take pre-flight time into account.
An experimental Maglev, the L0 Series, managed to go 600 km/hr. At that speed, you’re honestly directly competing with planes at long distances.
Meanwhile Amtrak trains: 74mph, unless you’re on the Acela, then top is 150mph.
Try closer to 30 average. Most rail isn’t rated for above 50 outside the Northeast Corridor, and you’re also pausing for hours at a time sometimes because freight rail gets priority treatment.
Not sure, and actually I think passenger gets priority, but there’s so few compared to freight it porb leans that way…
I still FUCKING LOVE Amtrak.
Legally passenger gets priority, however to increase the already disgusting profit margins and decrease capital expenditures (why spend on infrastructure when you can pay dividends and do stock buybacks), they have been running longer and longer trains without increasing the length of sidings so when a passenger train wants to pass a 2 mile long freight train, there’s literally nowhere the freight train can go to allow it to pass.
The DoT could fine the railroads each time they do that until they either run shorter trains or build the appropriate sidings, but they choose not to.