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Rather than derail the Volcano topic any more (pun fully intended), I thought I'd open up a discussion on U.S. passenger rail.
That image is America's current passenger rail network. Most of the red lines see one train each way per day while at least two of those lines see only 3 trains each week. The two with 3/week service is the line from New Orleans across to Los Angeles (the line East of New Orleans to Jacksonville, FL has had service "temporarily suspended" since 2005 with Hurricane Katrina) and the line from Charlottesville, VA to Chicago.
Now, there are several corridor areas that have many more trains per day such as between Washington D.C. and Boston, MA on the Northeast corridor. Chicago serves as a hub for Midwest regional trains through Illinois, Missouri, and Michigan with an extra line up to Milwaukee. California operates the Pacific Surfliner service from San Diego to San Luis Obispo through Los Angeles and the San Joaquins/Capitol Corridor trains between San Jose, Oakland, Sacramento, and Bakersfield. Oregon and Washington state operate the Cascades service between Vancouver, BC and Eugene, OR. But that's it.
In terms of motive power, Amtrak owns 351 diesels, and 74 electric locomotives of which the electrics are captive between Washington D.C. and Boston, MA with a line from Philadelphia, PA to Harrisburg, PA. Outside the Northeast Corridor, the only electrified lines are a commuter line from Chicago, several light rail lines, several subway rapid-transit lines, and Caltrain is planning to electrify between San Francisco, CA and San Jose, CA which is roughly 52 miles.
In terms of speed, the top speed outside the Northeast Corridor for passenger trains is 79 miles per hour (127 kmh) with one stretch in New Mexico/Arizona reaching 90 mph and 97 miles of track in Southwestern Michigan with speeds currently at 95 mph scheduled to reach 110mph soon. But the average speed of the fastest Long Distance train was something like 45 mph end to end (I have a spreadsheet I can show when I get home) while the Acela high speed service between Washington and Boston averages 75 mph for most of the run with two short stretches where it can reach 150 mph top speed.
President Obama has begun "work" on High Speed Rail corridors. The first of which looks to be Tampa, FL to Orlando, FL which will be electric and have a top speed of 167 mph to start. There are other corridors around the country in planning stages, the most notable being the California High Speed Rail planned to reach 220 mph (254 kmh) and the Midwest High Speed Rail proposals.
Not helping, is the convalutedness (if that's a word) of the national network. For example, to get from where I am in Atlanta, GA to Los Angeles, requires me to either day train on the Crescent to New Orleans, connect to the Sunset Limited which only runs 3 days per week, then go to LA, or overnight on the Crescent to Charlottesville or Washington to Chicago, then over 2 nights, down to LA. The options are even worse for example making a North South connection for example between Minot, ND and El Paso, TX. That would require either Minot->Chicago->San Antonio, or Minot->Portlant->Los Angeles->El Paso, and even then, the train to El Paso is the 3 days per week Sunset Limited.
[EDIT]Thought I'd throw some visual aids of typical Amtrak trains.
http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=308013&nseq=11
That picture is of the Crescent, the once-each-direction-each-day train that serves my hometown of Atlanta, GA enroute from New York to New Orleans.
Two diesels, 4 coaches, cafe car, heritage diner (built probably in the 1940s), two sleepers. Maximum capacity is around 270 people (60 coach seats in each coast, 12 2-person roomettes, 3 2-person bedrooms in each sleeper)
http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=306305&nseq=19
And that picture is the Southwest Chief between Chicago and Los Angeles also once per day.
Two diesels, heritage baggage (built in 1940s probably), crew-dorm, 2 sleepers, diner, cafe/lounge, 3 coaches. Capacity of around 300 people on that train.
Cars? yes. Passenger Trains? heck no. Yes, in case of one of our volcanoes erupting, we'll have the highway network, but Europe has a highway network AND a good passenger rail network.Artlav said:Seriously, i had an impression the USA was the land of cars and trains, where you could always take a bus or electrain even from one coast to another.
Not so?
That image is America's current passenger rail network. Most of the red lines see one train each way per day while at least two of those lines see only 3 trains each week. The two with 3/week service is the line from New Orleans across to Los Angeles (the line East of New Orleans to Jacksonville, FL has had service "temporarily suspended" since 2005 with Hurricane Katrina) and the line from Charlottesville, VA to Chicago.
Now, there are several corridor areas that have many more trains per day such as between Washington D.C. and Boston, MA on the Northeast corridor. Chicago serves as a hub for Midwest regional trains through Illinois, Missouri, and Michigan with an extra line up to Milwaukee. California operates the Pacific Surfliner service from San Diego to San Luis Obispo through Los Angeles and the San Joaquins/Capitol Corridor trains between San Jose, Oakland, Sacramento, and Bakersfield. Oregon and Washington state operate the Cascades service between Vancouver, BC and Eugene, OR. But that's it.
In terms of motive power, Amtrak owns 351 diesels, and 74 electric locomotives of which the electrics are captive between Washington D.C. and Boston, MA with a line from Philadelphia, PA to Harrisburg, PA. Outside the Northeast Corridor, the only electrified lines are a commuter line from Chicago, several light rail lines, several subway rapid-transit lines, and Caltrain is planning to electrify between San Francisco, CA and San Jose, CA which is roughly 52 miles.
In terms of speed, the top speed outside the Northeast Corridor for passenger trains is 79 miles per hour (127 kmh) with one stretch in New Mexico/Arizona reaching 90 mph and 97 miles of track in Southwestern Michigan with speeds currently at 95 mph scheduled to reach 110mph soon. But the average speed of the fastest Long Distance train was something like 45 mph end to end (I have a spreadsheet I can show when I get home) while the Acela high speed service between Washington and Boston averages 75 mph for most of the run with two short stretches where it can reach 150 mph top speed.
President Obama has begun "work" on High Speed Rail corridors. The first of which looks to be Tampa, FL to Orlando, FL which will be electric and have a top speed of 167 mph to start. There are other corridors around the country in planning stages, the most notable being the California High Speed Rail planned to reach 220 mph (254 kmh) and the Midwest High Speed Rail proposals.
Not helping, is the convalutedness (if that's a word) of the national network. For example, to get from where I am in Atlanta, GA to Los Angeles, requires me to either day train on the Crescent to New Orleans, connect to the Sunset Limited which only runs 3 days per week, then go to LA, or overnight on the Crescent to Charlottesville or Washington to Chicago, then over 2 nights, down to LA. The options are even worse for example making a North South connection for example between Minot, ND and El Paso, TX. That would require either Minot->Chicago->San Antonio, or Minot->Portlant->Los Angeles->El Paso, and even then, the train to El Paso is the 3 days per week Sunset Limited.
[EDIT]Thought I'd throw some visual aids of typical Amtrak trains.
http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=308013&nseq=11
That picture is of the Crescent, the once-each-direction-each-day train that serves my hometown of Atlanta, GA enroute from New York to New Orleans.
Two diesels, 4 coaches, cafe car, heritage diner (built probably in the 1940s), two sleepers. Maximum capacity is around 270 people (60 coach seats in each coast, 12 2-person roomettes, 3 2-person bedrooms in each sleeper)
http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=306305&nseq=19
And that picture is the Southwest Chief between Chicago and Los Angeles also once per day.
Two diesels, heritage baggage (built in 1940s probably), crew-dorm, 2 sleepers, diner, cafe/lounge, 3 coaches. Capacity of around 300 people on that train.
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