3 ms·

The smooth ride is great, but does anyone know how this is going to affect speed? Would be very interesting to hear how much this would affect the Acela time (

The smooth ride is great, but does anyone know how this is going to affect speed? Would be very interesting to hear how much this would affect the Acela time (I know there are a lot of other issues affecting train speeds in that case, such as zoning). Similarly would be cool if the upshot of this is that in 10 years, Metro North and LIRR are significantly faster.

gok 8y ago
The current Acela rolling stock is already slated for replacement with European-style cars that are lighter and faster. [1] But you're right. For the most part the bottleneck on Acela speed is the tracks, grade crossings, overhead wires and lower speed passenger traffic, not the trains. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avelia_Liberty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avelia_Liberty
bobthepanda 8y ago
Probably not by a lot. Acela's main issues are the fact that the line is super old and curvy. In Metro-North territory, for example, the tracks are placed too close to each other for the trains to tilt around the curves to increase their speed. From what I understand, the new Acelas that Amtrak just ordered will be faster, and have higher tilt, though it remains to be seen how much they can actually take advantage of those features on the current Northeast Corridor. https://slate.com/business/2016/09/amtraks-avelia-liberty-is-going-to-be-better-than-the-acela-in-every-way-is-that-a-problem.html https://slate.com/business/2016/09/amtraks-avelia-liberty-is...
Symbiote 8y ago
Improving acceleration by using electric trains is significant appeal in Europe on lines still using diesel. Making the whole train lighter should be similar, but I don't have any numbers.
ComputerGuru 8y ago
I'm presuming you are coming at this from a "lighter train costs less/takes less to speed up." Unlikely to change things, because that is a regulatory matter. Conductors are more than happy to go above the mandated speed with the existing trains (even though bad things happen), the speed limits are imposed to prevent heavy trains from taking curves too fast and to ensure they can stop in xx meters (or nn seconds). A lighter train can do both better, but the regulations would need to take that into account.

gok 8y ago

The current Acela rolling stock is already slated for replacement with European-style cars that are lighter and faster. [1] But you're right. For the most part the bottleneck on Acela speed is the tracks, grade crossings, overhead wires and lower speed passenger traffic, not the trains. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avelia_Liberty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avelia_Liberty

bobthepanda 8y ago

Probably not by a lot. Acela's main issues are the fact that the line is super old and curvy. In Metro-North territory, for example, the tracks are placed too close to each other for the trains to tilt around the curves to increase their speed. From what I understand, the new Acelas that Amtrak just ordered will be faster, and have higher tilt, though it remains to be seen how much they can actually take advantage of those features on the current Northeast Corridor. https://slate.com/business/2016/09/amtraks-avelia-liberty-is-going-to-be-better-than-the-acela-in-every-way-is-that-a-problem.html https://slate.com/business/2016/09/amtraks-avelia-liberty-is...

Symbiote 8y ago

Improving acceleration by using electric trains is significant appeal in Europe on lines still using diesel. Making the whole train lighter should be similar, but I don't have any numbers.

ComputerGuru 8y ago

I'm presuming you are coming at this from a "lighter train costs less/takes less to speed up." Unlikely to change things, because that is a regulatory matter. Conductors are more than happy to go above the mandated speed with the existing trains (even though bad things happen), the speed limits are imposed to prevent heavy trains from taking curves too fast and to ensure they can stop in xx meters (or nn seconds). A lighter train can do both better, but the regulations would need to take that into account.