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Travel times would be much improved by a high speed line. Ie. a route with 4 stops and a travel speed of 100 mph. The finances of railways actually get better

Travel times would be much improved by a high speed line. Ie. a route with 4 stops and a travel speed of 100 mph. The finances of railways actually get better with faster trains - because the sooner you can get the person to their destination, the quicker you can get that train serving another passenger.

marcinzm 2y ago
You do realize that Manhattan is only 14 miles long? With a stop every 3 miles even a Shinkansen wouldn't reach 100mph before it had to start slowing down again.
- bob_theslob646 2y ago
  According to chatgpt, the max speed is higher than what you stated and is 155mph before needing to slow down.
pavel_lishin 2y ago
MTA runs express trains. They don't get up to 100mph, but they skip many local stops along the way. Raising their speed to 100mph would likely not meaningfully increase transit time - you'd maybe shave off a few minutes.
- bob_theslob646 2y ago
  I wonder if there was a way to calculate how many more passengers they could serve if they had faster trains?
  - kevin_thibedeau 2y ago
    You just have to look at the peak ridership figures from 1949. They're running well under the capacity the system could handle 75 years ago. Faster trains aren't necessary.
    - bob_theslob646 2y ago
      The population of New York City in 1949 was 14,892,000 It's definitely under capacity by that metric. https://www.wnyc.org/story/subway-ridership-hits-65-year-high/ https://www.wnyc.org/story/subway-ridership-hits-65-year-hig... The only issue is that then it arguably had a much larger tax base than it does now to fund it.
- LeanderK 2y ago
  it boggles my mind that a place like new york doesn't have the money to just do that. Raising the speed limit gets more important the longer you travel and connects distant parts your city better. It's a recent trend to build high-speed lines to complement an existing, dense subway network (e.g. Paris goes up to 75 mph). I mean when were these built, a 100 years ago? Surely there's room for improvement.
  - rayiner 2y ago
    > it boggles my mind that a place like new york doesn't have the money to just do that Because building a subway in New York City costs $4 billion per mile.
  - jazzyjackson 2y ago
    Used to be 55mph, it was lowered to 40 tops after an accident in 1995, some places the limit is 15mph "The Trains Are Slower Because They Slowed the Trains Down" https://www.villagevoice.com/the-trains-are-slower-because-they-slowed-the-trains-down/ https://www.villagevoice.com/the-trains-are-slower-because-t... Similarly there's a top speed of 79mph on the rest of the country on most passenger rail since the Naperville Train Disaster of 1946 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naperville_train_disaster https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naperville_train_disaster
pieix 2y ago
Are there any metros with intra-city high speed trains like this?
- Symbiote 2y ago
  In London you can take a high speed train from St Pancras to Stratford, though it's a normal high speed train that then continues far outside the city. It's the blue+yellow line which goes off the east side: https://content.tfl.gov.uk/london-rail-and-tube-services-map.pdf https://content.tfl.gov.uk/london-rail-and-tube-services-map... I don't think that's unusual for very large cities with high speed trains. The longest-distance trains probably only stop at one station in each city, but medium-distance trains can stop at multiple. I've never come across a metro train travelling that fast though. The cost of building the line to support those speeds would be tremendous for a small difference in journey time.
notjustanymike 2y ago
Some kind of Metro (that runs) North?

marcinzm 2y ago

You do realize that Manhattan is only 14 miles long? With a stop every 3 miles even a Shinkansen wouldn't reach 100mph before it had to start slowing down again.

bob_theslob646 2y ago
According to chatgpt, the max speed is higher than what you stated and is 155mph before needing to slow down.

pavel_lishin 2y ago

MTA runs express trains. They don't get up to 100mph, but they skip many local stops along the way. Raising their speed to 100mph would likely not meaningfully increase transit time - you'd maybe shave off a few minutes.

bob_theslob646 2y ago
I wonder if there was a way to calculate how many more passengers they could serve if they had faster trains?
- kevin_thibedeau 2y ago
  You just have to look at the peak ridership figures from 1949. They're running well under the capacity the system could handle 75 years ago. Faster trains aren't necessary.
  - bob_theslob646 2y ago
    The population of New York City in 1949 was 14,892,000 It's definitely under capacity by that metric. https://www.wnyc.org/story/subway-ridership-hits-65-year-high/ https://www.wnyc.org/story/subway-ridership-hits-65-year-hig... The only issue is that then it arguably had a much larger tax base than it does now to fund it.
LeanderK 2y ago
it boggles my mind that a place like new york doesn't have the money to just do that. Raising the speed limit gets more important the longer you travel and connects distant parts your city better. It's a recent trend to build high-speed lines to complement an existing, dense subway network (e.g. Paris goes up to 75 mph). I mean when were these built, a 100 years ago? Surely there's room for improvement.
- rayiner 2y ago
  > it boggles my mind that a place like new york doesn't have the money to just do that Because building a subway in New York City costs $4 billion per mile.
- jazzyjackson 2y ago
  Used to be 55mph, it was lowered to 40 tops after an accident in 1995, some places the limit is 15mph "The Trains Are Slower Because They Slowed the Trains Down" https://www.villagevoice.com/the-trains-are-slower-because-they-slowed-the-trains-down/ https://www.villagevoice.com/the-trains-are-slower-because-t... Similarly there's a top speed of 79mph on the rest of the country on most passenger rail since the Naperville Train Disaster of 1946 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naperville_train_disaster https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naperville_train_disaster

pieix 2y ago

Are there any metros with intra-city high speed trains like this?

Symbiote 2y ago
In London you can take a high speed train from St Pancras to Stratford, though it's a normal high speed train that then continues far outside the city. It's the blue+yellow line which goes off the east side: https://content.tfl.gov.uk/london-rail-and-tube-services-map.pdf https://content.tfl.gov.uk/london-rail-and-tube-services-map... I don't think that's unusual for very large cities with high speed trains. The longest-distance trains probably only stop at one station in each city, but medium-distance trains can stop at multiple. I've never come across a metro train travelling that fast though. The cost of building the line to support those speeds would be tremendous for a small difference in journey time.

notjustanymike 2y ago

Some kind of Metro (that runs) North?