Amtrak Speeds

I've noticed on my last several trips that Amtrak personnel tend to quote speeds in odd numbers. Specially, numbers ending in "9". For example. a person sitting next to me in the observation lounge car asked a uniformed Amtrak employee how fast we were travelling. "59" miles an hour, looks like" was his answer. On other trips I've asked the speed and it always seems to be something like "69" or "79" miles per hour. The only exception to this was once when I asked about the speed of the Acela I was on..." 'bout a hunnerd" was the answer.
Was this just coincidence or do they really run the trains at these particular speeds?

Under the current regulatory structure, Federally-mandated speed limits for various categories of track goven maximum speed in the absence of other restrictions, and 59 mph is the limit for unsignaled lines. (Why 59 and not 60? I don't know -- mayb someone else does.) That conductor was basically saying "we're running at the speed limit", but I don't think he would have gotten in any huge trouble with the Feds if he had said "about sixty" instead.

FWIW, I have UP and ATSF employee timetables from before A-Day.

79 was the passenger speed limit on most lines.

60 was the freight speed limit.

John Perkowski

Speed limits for passenger trains are 79 for passenger trains with a CSS and 59 w/o a CSS. (UNDER 80 and UNDER 60)

The original fifties era speed "dictums" by the ICC called for passenger trains, unless excepted by cab signalling equipment, to operate at a speed "not to exceed 80" mph. Hence, the railroad's affected (as in most of them) imposed a speed limit of 79 mph.

Don Steffe, in one of his annual TRAINS Speed Surveys, "editorialized" to the effect that these speed restrictions were "the beginning of the end"; I'm afraid history proved him correct with respect to a passenger train generally being speed competitive with auto travel.

I forgot to mention that if your going 80.1 you are exceeding the speed limit, which is why 79 is used

Probably also, easier to spot "7" change to an "8" than an "80" to "81" and thus less likely to incur an infraction.

Is there any leeway allowed on violations? If the limit is 79 and a train is going 81, will the crew be disciplined? I remember when the Sunset Ltd crashed in Alabama the reports said the train had been going 72 where the speed limit was 70. Seems like nobody made much fuss about that at the time.

with the ACSES saftey system on the NEC, it doesn't allow any leeway at all. If the speed limit is 80 and you go 81 or 80.5, you get a penalty

Is the Southwest Cheif still doing 90 MPH part of the route?

AmtrakFan

C&O 15 wrote:Is there any leeway allowed on violations? If the limit is 79 and a train is going 81, will the crew be disciplined? I remember when the Sunset Ltd crashed in Alabama the reports said the train had been going 72 where the speed limit was 70. Seems like nobody made much fuss about that at the time.

In most cases, when tapes are reviewed and the train was exceeding the speed limit, several vriables would come into play, but mainly they (Road Foreman, F.R.A. inspector, etc.)would look to see if the engineer attempted to get the train back down to the proper speed. If they see the train continued for a few miles or more at 5 or 6 MPH over, then there may be problems.

AmtrakFan Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2004 8:11 pm Post subject:

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Is the Southwest Cheif still doing 90 MPH part of the route?

AmtrakFan

Not sure, but from the above posts, I believe it is probably doing 89MPH. LOL

Trains 3/4 Speed between Hutchinson, KS and La Juanta, CO will go down to 79 MPH. How much will it add on time? Also this is good for passenger comfort because it was bouncy when I rode 3 Last Summer I nearly Fell out of my Rommette Berth scince it was going so fast.

AmtrakFan

with the ACSES saftey system on the NEC, it doesn't allow any leeway at all. If the speed limit is 80 and you go 81 or 80.5, you get a penalty

I haven't heard that. The SES system that NJT installed did that it has become an operational nightmare. ACSES was specifcially designed to avoid the problems of SES, one of which was the hair trigger penalty application. I might be wrong, but I have never experianced an Amtrak train getting a pennalty app. Now, I can't vouch for the boxes in the MTBA trains and if they are set differently.

Is there any leeway allowed on violations? If the limit is 79 and a train is going 81, will the crew be disciplined?

The FRA gives one a leeway of 3 I believe and your speedo can also be off by another 3. Railroads are typically more strict as they enjoy being able to fire employees at will.

The original fifties era speed "dictums" by the ICC called for passenger trains, unless excepted by cab signalling equipment, to operate at a speed "not to exceed 80" mph. Hence, the railroad's affected (as in most of them) imposed a speed limit of 79 mph.

The sticking point is Automatic Train Stop, not cab signals. Cab signaling is a form of ATS, but not vice versa.

Speed limits for passenger trains are 79 for passenger trains with a CSS and 59 w/o a CSS. (UNDER 80 and UNDER 60)

As was said the limit is 79 w/o CSS and 59 in unsignaled territory. BTW, DCS and TWC and DTC count as signaling systems.

DArn, I liked going 90 on the chief, I guess the cars on the highway that parallels the track thrugh kansas at some points will be going faster than the train.

Jersey_Mike, that is how it is up here, i have been in the cab when we went 61 mph in a 60 and we got a penatly brake application