5 ms·

It proves we are in fact capable of grading a railroad to support faster speeds. We have a lot of historical tracks that never had this requirement

• woodruffw 3y ago
  > It proves we are in fact capable of grading a railroad to support faster speeds. In one important way, it doesn't: the majority of the Brightline Orlando route runs over the pre-existing Florida East Coast Railway[1], which was re-graded to support speeds of 110mph, not higher. That's well below even the lowest bar for HSR (i.e. 125mph). [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_East_Coast_Railway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_East_Coast_Railway
  • TylerE 3y ago
    110 is still faster than the 79mph that 99% of the rail network is limited to, where even that's possible.
    • woodruffw 3y ago
      Yes, and that's a significant accomplishment! Maybe they'll be able to get this route above its current expected average speed of 69mph at some point.
• arcticbull 3y ago
  Didn’t we already prove that with the NEC?