I Have NOT Been Working on the Railroad

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The Acela Express operates on the Northeast Corridor to Philadelphia. Credit: Amtrak. Read more at http://www.madmikesamerica.com

What could the Chairman of the worlds premier sports car manufacturer be referring to in his statement? Aircraft? Buses? Ferries?

(CNN) The Italo train from NTV  is a high-speed service that has been dashing between Milan, Rome and other major Italian cities since April.

With its dark red color scheme, streamlined shape and speeds as fast as a formula-one car, everyone’s calling Italo the “Ferrari train.” A cinema carriage, free Wi-Fi access throughout the train, and luxury leather seats all add to the high-performance, luxury theme. But Italo is intended to be affordable and accessible to all consumers.

You read right, a train. In 1998, the ETR-500 X, an Italian Train,  hit a top speed of 200 mph. In 2011, the CRH380BL, a Chinese Train, hit a top speed of 303 MPH (for a Modified Train) and holds the world record for an unmodified train, the CRH3080AL at 302 MPH.

The cruising speed of a Boeing 747 at 35,000 feet is 567 MPH which is 265 MPH faster.

Japan, however, holds the absolute worlds record at 361 MPH with the MLX01. A 747 is only 206 MPH faster. The MLX01 is a Maglev train meaning it does not ride on rails, but on a magnetic field. The French TGV holds the absolute worlds speed record (set in 2007) for CONVENTIONAL trains at 357 mph.

However, the top speed record holder for a RAILED vehicle is the U.S. Air Force whose unmanned rocket sled reached a top speed of 6,416 MPH.

I had to search and search to find if the United States held any records: In 1966, a New York Central Budd, with jet engines retrofitted to the roof of the engine, reached a top speed of 184 MPH.

What is wrong with the United States? At one time, we had the world standard of trains; they were efficient, ran on time and set the bar as to how a railroad was to be run. As airlines evolved, people fell for the line of “getting there quicker than by train or car.” So, the rail road began to decline. Train Companies began to lose money on their passenger routes. The rolling stock was not maintained and often the passenger train had to give the right of way to freight trains.

In 1970, Congress passed and President Richard Nixon signed into law the Rail Passenger Service Act. Proponents of the bill, led by the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP), sought government funding to assure the continuation of passenger trains. They conceived the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (NRPC), a hybrid public-private entity that would receive taxpayer funding and assume operation of intercity passenger trains. The original working brand name for NRPC was Railpax, but shortly before the company started operating it was changed to Amtrak. Amtrak (reporting mark AMTK), is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. “Amtrak” is a portmanteau of the words “America” and “track”.It is headquartered at Union Station in Washington, D.C.

All of Amtrak’s preferred stock is owned by the U.S. federal government. The members of its board of directors are appointed by the President of the United States and are subject to confirmation by the United States Senate. Common stock was issued in 1971 to railroads that contributed capital and equipment; these shares convey almost no benefits but their current holders declined a 2002 buy-out offer by Amtrak.

Amtrak employs more than 20,000 people. It operates passenger service on 21,200 miles (34,000 km) of track primarily owned by freight railroads. Amtrak operates more than 300 trains each day—at speeds up to 150 mph connecting more than 500 destinations in 46 states and three Canadian provinces. In fiscal year 2011, Amtrak served 30.2 million passengers and had $1.9 billion in ticket revenue.

The United States lags far behind other nations in its rail technology. It is true what the commercials say about weight to fuel ratio of a train. A train, miles long, can carry more freight than over the road truckers and use less fuel doing it. The rub is many rail lines in the U.S. have speeds of maybe 65 MPH for freight. I worked for a Government Contractor whom had a Contract with the DOT/FRA (Department of Transportation/Federal Railroad Administration) and I can tell you from first hand experience, a lot of rails are screwed. The mainlines can generally carry freight at 65 MPH and passenger trains at maybe 70. The rails themselves have gone from rails held together with bolts and bars to ribbon rail. Still, the rails are held in place by wooden railroad ties which are covered in creosote. After a period of time, from constant wear of the rail flexing, these ties eventually give out which can lead to rail distortion.

When my crew and I were inspecting the rails, we had to take into account the ties, the distance between the rails, and the bank in any curves. Not enough bank and the train will fly off at high-speed. Too much bank and the train will topple over at slow speeds. The rails had to stay a certain distance apart or the train could derail. The majority of rails I was on were nothing more than 10 mph branch lines. These were the lines that went from the mainline to the delivery point and they were all in horrible condition. Many bridges we crossed had rust on them or were wood.

While Europe and the rest of the world see the financial value in having world-class railroads, the United States is wasting valuable dollars listening to the trucking lobby. We need to upgrade our railroads and we need to do it last century. It is vital to us as a nation and it is vital to our national security. You can move one tank with a truck, you can move an entire division with a train.

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About Post Author

Carol Bell

Carol is a graduate of the University of Alabama. Her passion is journalism and it shows. Carol is our unpaid, but very efficient, administrative secretary.
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Captain KId
11 years ago

I blame Goodyear/Standard Oil/General Motors.

Reply to  Captain KId
11 years ago

Me too Captain. Their monopoly is supported by the greedy congress.

Admin
11 years ago

America desperately needs high speed rail servicing the entire nation. There are so many reasons to do it and so few to not do it. I for one would love to see the country on a train, without worrying about driving, and etc. Just like in Europe and Asia.

Bill Formby
11 years ago

Good point Gary. Of course we can’t even get our act together enough to even repair our roads and and bridges. Until we understand the essence of the prominence that government needs to be playing in the lives of people instead of thinking of it as an evil empire we will continue fall behind in all areas of infrastructure.

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