MattW wrote:I'm curious if 125mph is the ultimate limit? I assume catenary is the main problem at that point needing the constant tension stuff rather than the fixed stuff in place now. Can the trains even do beyond 125mph? I'm guessing that since the Regionals run in the same territory that the Acelas run 150mph the answer is no? When the Acela 1s are retired from their current service, would/could they be put on Keystone service at a higher speed than 125mph?
at some point the corridor will need new equipment anyway, hopefully the track is in such a condition we can talk about the pros and cons of tilt on the line. to that end, PA better get busy at least upgrading the signaling and funding the interlocking replacements in SEPTA territory so we're only looking at adding back the third track to park and replacing substations. I'd guess that 150 would be appropriate once they know the plan west of Harrisburg but 125-135 is probably just fine for Keystone east (without upgraded service west to pittsburgh) and you're better off looking at expanding service elsewhere...of course, if Amtrak is looking for a home for the Acela equipment as they want, perhaps, want to purchase new, larger sets it's worth investigating just how much you can get out of them.
I remain unclear, from the comments above, both whether the turnouts can or can't handle higher speeds with different signaling. and what kind of time savings are we talking about here, a minute? (also, seems like an odd cost savings since if the train has to slow down and speed up, then it consumes more power...thus you'd be saving a dollar when you built it, but losing every year when you pay the utilities...of course, IF the train is already going 15 mph and it is not required to slow, then it really would be a cost savings issues I guess, though if it costs a minute, I'm sure that minute is worth something, and when you add up all the cost savings and they total x minutes, you may really have lost something)
