3 ms·
Brightline is only really HSR under the 1970s pre TGV/Bullet Train definition. Most of the world has moved on to using 250km/h (155mph) as the cut off with many
by laurencerowe 3y ago
Brightline is only really HSR under the 1970s pre TGV/Bullet Train definition. Most of the world has moved on to using 250km/h (155mph) as the cut off with many new lines over 300km/h (185mph).
- toomuchtodo 3y agoWe can quibble over the definition of high speed rail in speed, but what’s important is that light rail enables transportation for people who can’t or prefer not to drive, who can’t afford a car for these trips, and overall takes cars off the road. Faster isn’t always better depending on the distance traveled (time saved going much faster over these shorter routes is going to be marginal vs cross country); sometimes faster than the status quo is fast enough.
- laurencerowe 3y agoI agree that regional services are generally more important than long distance HSR. It's absurd that the 80 mile trip from Oakland to Sacramento takes 2 hours. FWIW, Brightline is very traditional heavy rail. It even uses locomotives rather than the more efficient diesel multiple units typically used on similar non-electrified routes in Europe. For stopping services there are big advantages to going electric since they are able to accelerate much faster. The electrification work on Caltrain between San Francisco and San Jose is almost complete. This should make most trips much faster though probably won't make much difference to the express services. Light rail usually refers to the in-city services operated with smaller street-car/tram like vehicles. These tend not to be very fast with top speeds around 50mph when operating on dedicated track, but it doesn't usually matter as they stop very frequently.
- bobthepanda 3y agoFWIW loco vs MU operation is still a valid debate to have with rail. The TGV in France and AVE in Spain use locomotives as well.
- usr1106 3y agoThe are not called locomotives, but power cars. The real difference is electric vs. diesel. I don't think there is any diesel in operation anywhere running at TGV, ICE or AVE speeds.
- rob74 3y agoWell, there is (or was) the ICE-TD (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICE_TD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICE_TD), which has a top speed of 200 km/h (124 mph). I don't think it's technically impossible to have diesel trains with higher speeds, it's just that if you want speeds higher than 200 km/h, you have to build dedicated high speed tracks anyway, and then you are probably going to electrify them. The problem with diesel is more the acceleration (which can also be seen if you compare gasoline and electric cars), which restricts the number of stops, but that's not a problem for HSR.
- usr1106 3y agoI know the ICE-TD. Power is less than 2000 kW, whereas electrical highspeed trains have 4 to 5 times of that. Probably it would he impossible to build much more powerful diesel trains. But typically costs and problems grow in non-linear way.
- bobthepanda 3y agoI believe the only attempts have been gas turbine trains, but nearly all of those have been derailed by spikes in fuel prices.