5 ms·

to resolve this problem you'd have to eminent domain swathes of, say, New Haven I was a bit skeptical until I saw this user map of the Northeast Corridor: htt

by tpmx 5y ago

to resolve this problem you'd have to eminent domain swathes of, say, New Haven I was a bit skeptical until I saw this user map of the Northeast Corridor: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1dH5vJWx6lwBlBvv7Gia4Roc6Gkk&ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=41.44091023228675%2C-72.49809470678957&spn=0.018617%2C0.036736&z=10&output=embed https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1dH5vJWx6lwBlBv...

jandrese 5y ago
How are you ever going to achieve high speed if you are stopping every 10 miles for another station? There appears to be 8 stations in Baltimore alone.
- tpmx 5y ago
  There are four tracks - that enables the combination of a slow local stop-at-every-station service along with a fast feeder service. But then the bizarre/historic track geometry ruins the fast service...
  - lmm 5y ago
    So the fast service shouldn't use that alignment. There must already be population centers that are skipped by the fast service - its tracks don't have to go through there either.
    - bobthepanda 5y ago
      Today the fast services follow the same alignment. Rerouting so far has been a headache; in New Haven-Boston where the tracks are so curvy new tracks have to be built, the FRA proposed going through entirely different population centers (the geography of the existing coast line is very challenging). This has resulted in an interesting fight where people want the train in their town, but also do not want the impact of newly constructed tracks through their town.
- machello13 5y ago
  Is that a joke? Not every train stops at every station. And an advantage of high speed trains is they can accelerate very quickly.
  - tpmx 5y ago
    > And an advantage of high speed trains is they can accelerate very quickly. They really can't.
    - bobthepanda 5y ago
      They accelerate reasonably quickly, but doing so any faster uses more energy and also starts impacting passenger comfort. People would like to have a cup of coffee on the table without hot liquid sloshing out onto their laps.
    - machello13 5y ago
      They absolutely can. They're obviously limited by passenger comfort as the other commenter said, but the difference between an Acela and a Northeast Regional in acceleration speed is obvious.
- cbm-vic-20 5y ago
  This map shows all the local stops for each city's commuter rail system. Intercity trains skip over many of these. The Acela leaves Boston, stops a the Route 128 suburban ring station (which has a large parking structure), and then hits 150mph on its way to Providence. Local MBTA service hits all of those intermediate stops. https://www.amtrak.com/routes/acela-train.html https://www.amtrak.com/routes/acela-train.html
jefftk 5y ago
That map is at least a little bit aspirational: it shows the Northeast Corridor extending north of Boston's South Station to North Station via "Central Station". While I would love it if we built https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North%E2%80%93South_Rail_Link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North%E2%80%93South_Rail_Link it does not currently exist.
- tpmx 5y ago
  The main impression it gave me (be sure to toggle to the satellite view - then you can also verify the existence of tracks) is how tricky it would be to build a reasonably straight railroad there while also connecting the population centers. The route that the existing track takes is insanely suboptimal and seems so hard to fix considering the existing urban sprawl in the relevant areas.
  - rustymonday 5y ago
    It makes most sense to me for rails to be built in the interstate medians. You see this in Chicago, and could be done elsewhere relatively easily as its already government owned land. As a bonus, car commuters could see how much faster HSR might be than their normal commute.
    - tpmx 5y ago
      The interstate highway along that stretch (I-15) does not seem to have enough space in the middle for that, unfortunately.
    - bobthepanda 5y ago
      Interstate highways are designed for a speed limit of <100MPH and have the curves to show for it. High speed rail goes well beyond that speed and needs much larger curves, at which point you're deviating enough from main roads you may as well just take a different path entirely.
      - bluGill 5y ago
twic 5y ago
That is a ludicrous route for high speed rail. I don't really know this area. Say you wanted to build an entirely new and mostly straight Stamford - Waterbury - Hartford - Providence alignment. Some of that would need to be in tunnel. But how much of that could you do on the surface without needing to demolish too many houses?

by tpmx 5y ago

jandrese 5y ago

How are you ever going to achieve high speed if you are stopping every 10 miles for another station? There appears to be 8 stations in Baltimore alone.

tpmx 5y ago
There are four tracks - that enables the combination of a slow local stop-at-every-station service along with a fast feeder service. But then the bizarre/historic track geometry ruins the fast service...
- lmm 5y ago
  So the fast service shouldn't use that alignment. There must already be population centers that are skipped by the fast service - its tracks don't have to go through there either.
  - bobthepanda 5y ago
    Today the fast services follow the same alignment. Rerouting so far has been a headache; in New Haven-Boston where the tracks are so curvy new tracks have to be built, the FRA proposed going through entirely different population centers (the geography of the existing coast line is very challenging). This has resulted in an interesting fight where people want the train in their town, but also do not want the impact of newly constructed tracks through their town.
machello13 5y ago
Is that a joke? Not every train stops at every station. And an advantage of high speed trains is they can accelerate very quickly.
- tpmx 5y ago
  > And an advantage of high speed trains is they can accelerate very quickly. They really can't.
  - bobthepanda 5y ago
    They accelerate reasonably quickly, but doing so any faster uses more energy and also starts impacting passenger comfort. People would like to have a cup of coffee on the table without hot liquid sloshing out onto their laps.
  - machello13 5y ago
    They absolutely can. They're obviously limited by passenger comfort as the other commenter said, but the difference between an Acela and a Northeast Regional in acceleration speed is obvious.
cbm-vic-20 5y ago
This map shows all the local stops for each city's commuter rail system. Intercity trains skip over many of these. The Acela leaves Boston, stops a the Route 128 suburban ring station (which has a large parking structure), and then hits 150mph on its way to Providence. Local MBTA service hits all of those intermediate stops. https://www.amtrak.com/routes/acela-train.html https://www.amtrak.com/routes/acela-train.html

jefftk 5y ago

That map is at least a little bit aspirational: it shows the Northeast Corridor extending north of Boston's South Station to North Station via "Central Station". While I would love it if we built https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North%E2%80%93South_Rail_Link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North%E2%80%93South_Rail_Link it does not currently exist.

tpmx 5y ago
The main impression it gave me (be sure to toggle to the satellite view - then you can also verify the existence of tracks) is how tricky it would be to build a reasonably straight railroad there while also connecting the population centers. The route that the existing track takes is insanely suboptimal and seems so hard to fix considering the existing urban sprawl in the relevant areas.
- rustymonday 5y ago
  It makes most sense to me for rails to be built in the interstate medians. You see this in Chicago, and could be done elsewhere relatively easily as its already government owned land. As a bonus, car commuters could see how much faster HSR might be than their normal commute.
  - tpmx 5y ago
    The interstate highway along that stretch (I-15) does not seem to have enough space in the middle for that, unfortunately.
  - bobthepanda 5y ago
    Interstate highways are designed for a speed limit of <100MPH and have the curves to show for it. High speed rail goes well beyond that speed and needs much larger curves, at which point you're deviating enough from main roads you may as well just take a different path entirely.
    - bluGill 5y ago

twic 5y ago

That is a ludicrous route for high speed rail. I don't really know this area. Say you wanted to build an entirely new and mostly straight Stamford - Waterbury - Hartford - Providence alignment. Some of that would need to be in tunnel. But how much of that could you do on the surface without needing to demolish too many houses?