by Batman2
FRN9 wrote:It all seems pretty straight foward.I highly doubt we're going to be able to make steel wheel trains 325 mph; the friction forces, air resistance, etc. start to get crazy. The AGV test they did at 574 km/h was on highly specialized tracks, and even then there was a ton of arcing electricity. Reliability using overhead wires begins to fall off once you start getting past 225-250 MPH since the wiring and the catenary begin to just grind each other down.
Chicago to cleveland could be made to the highest tgv specs possible. And same with philly to Pittsburg. Then it's simple to connect Philly to Cleveland. Tightening up NYC to philly to make it more tgv friendly could be harder.
The one thing to remember is that AGV technology is 225mph today, but it could be 325mph in 10 years, while Airplanes won't speed up from 550mph. So NYC to Chicago by train could be faster than flying someday.
I don't think Maglev has much of a future either since it has very limited freight applications, insanely high costs, and can't be used in combination with other technology. I think we need to look into a mixed option for NYC to Chicago since a lot of sections of the line are simply too costly to expand today. I would like to see two dedicated HSR tracks from Chicago-Cleveland built to 225 mph standards, which you can build adjacent to much of the current ROW, then you switch over to the current tracks (which you would install overhead wires over) from Cleveland to Pittsburgh, and similar for Pittsburgh to Harrisburg (rebuilding the 4th track that the PRR used to have there). The idea is that you have trains going 225 MPH in areas where it's easiest to upgrade and that balances things out.
The New York-Philadelphia section could be upgraded to probably 150 or even 175 MPH simply by upgrading catenaries. For that section, the "the NEC is too curvy for true HSR" argument is basically false. That argument is only really true for the areas north of NYC and a few bits south of Philadelphia. The biggest barriers to running trains at 150 mph or more in that section are:
1. Failure to develop alternate freight corridors and/or operating options - there are several suitable lines that could be used by freight trains besides the NEC. Alternatively, you could run freight trains only during certain hours such as only at late night so you have only passenger trains on the line during peak hours. Since functionally it would be a dedicated passenger line, trains running during those times of the day where freight trains were outright banned could go at speeds in excess of 150 MPH.
2. No dedicated HSR track. Regional trains are usually on the middle two tracks, which slows down Acela trains. Granted, the Regionals often use the outside tracks when there aren't commuter trains, if you can add more crossovers or even add a 5th or 6th track for some sections (difficult but not impossible for a few 1-3 mile stretches) you could easily end up with two dedicated HSR tracks. This could also be done by upgrading all Amtrak trains to be 150+ mph-capable and adding center platforms at the stations they use. Or even by adding Acela service, eliminating Regional trains outright, and then coordinating with commuter lines for local stops ("code-sharing" with SEPTA, NJT, and MARC).
3. Complacency on the part of Amtrak. Acela is only a few minutes faster on the DC-NYC section than the old Metroliners, and it's quite possible to upgrade the line to be capable of handling 225-MPH trains with minimal work. The issue is that Amtrak doesn't seem to want to go out and ask for any funding for it, despite the fact that it would be perfectly reasonable and justifiable.
As for the Philadelphia to Harrisburg section, at least some of the same things apply. I'm very disappointed that Amtrak hasn't tried to expand its code-share with Continental to include Harrisburg, since it would be essentially a perfect test case for the type of niche Amtrak can really excel in; replacing regional airlines by connecting major airline hubs to smaller regional airports that receive some limited airline service. Also, there are definitely at least a few sections that could be upgraded for much higher speeds. 125 MPH is a start, but I think they need to start talking about whether more can be done.
Finally, Pittsburgh to Philadelphia is a pretty big mess in terms of speed increases, but I don't think it would be impossible to bring large chunks of it up to at least interstate speeds. Or they could try and build passenger only tunnels that bypass some of the biggest curves.
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