Why do long distance Amtrak trains travel at very low speeds?

[dave1905]

It's not so much priority, but the base is passenger service due to the fixed schedules (frequency and time). Lets say you want to have a trainservice every half an hour at .07 an 37, the other companies (freight or passenger) have to clear the tracks at that time and location.

This is a response to Rico and not to Mara:

The US system is designed and optimized to haul freight. Always was and still is. Just because the passenger trains have priority, that doesn't mean the freight trains disappear. They are all still out there. They still occupy the track. The railroads do not have sidings everywhere so they can't put all the freight trains in sidings. Never did.

And the super long trains aren't the problem. If you have one 12,000 ft train and have 3 sidings, and you want to run smaller trains you can run 4 3000 ft trains and still have 3 sidings. You haven't gained any sidings and you now have 3 more trains to dodge. The passenger train will still be operating at a speed half again faster than the freight trains. It will still both have to meet and pass trains.

The curves on the freight line will still be the same and the superelevation will still be set for the freight trains. There will still be speed restrictions on the passenger trains because of the curves.

If you want really high speed rail then you need to ante up the trillions of dollars to buy new right of way and build new railroad that will allow high speed operate separate from the freight operation. You will never move the amount of freight we move on N American freight railroads without getting in the way of passenger operation.

I have dispatched freight railroads with passenger train operations on it and if you think the freight trains will just vaporize away in front of the passenger trains to let them pass unimpeded, you really don't know how freight railroads work.

 

[Smudge617]

In Europe, due to the frequency of passenger trains they take priority over freight, but freight trains in Europe do not travel anywhere near the distances and frequency that US freight does, so it's easier to schedule freight and passenger trains to travel on the same section of track.

 

[dave1905]

In a 125 mile piece of track when you have 8 westbound freights on the subdivision with 2 or 3 called out to enter the subdivision with 6 sidings, and then put a passenger train each way at the same time into the mix, even if all the freights fit in the sidings, one of the passenger trains is either going to be following a freight (losing time) or waiting on a meet or both (note: the Eastbound freights are on a different line so there are no E-W freight meets to worry about.)

 

[mara plutoni]

For regular passengers on time trains are important. Commuters don't want to catch the train when its late all day. So apart from prices for tickets, total amount of the ride comparing to other meanings of transport and facilities at the RR stations, on time performance should be the main goal. We took a train (most beautiful ride I ever made) from Sudbury (Canada) to White River by RDC. Due to all kind of things the train was 5 hours late, so no meal for us anymore. You think I complained? NOOO. At the gas station we bought some bad sandwiches that tasted like a 5 stars meals to us. But this was a fun trip, no damage done.

 

[Rico]

I have dispatched freight railroads with passenger train operations on it and if you think the freight trains will just vaporize away in front of the passenger trains to let them pass unimpeded, you really don't know how freight railroads work.

Oh I have no such delusion that freight trains will disappear, don’t know how you came to that conclusion?
I too have worked on the railways and have a pretty good handle on the ops.
You’re right trains are getting longer, I’ve seen two mile long trains gum up the works. We’ve been busy ripping up double track right across the nation up here, too bad as now the trains are indeed longer than the sidings as you mentioned. Long story there, that’s for another day.
Our problem up here is the extremely low priority VIA is given. CN RTC hates VIA Rail, common knowledge.
Kudos to you for dispatching tho, definitely not as easy a job as some folks may believe!

 

[santafewillie]

If you want really high speed rail then you need to ante up the trillions of dollars to buy new right of way and build new railroad that will allow high speed operate separate from the freight operation

Try getting that through with all of the environmentalist's and NIMBY's in the way.