I love trains. I will seek out a train journey in a land I visit just to experience the sound of the local clickety clack and often marvel at the ingenuity and engineering that made that trip possible.
Terrain often plays the most critical part of rail design and therefore of the maximum speed that the train can travel along the route. The actual locomotive and source of power determines the other crucial component of this arrangement.
Rail gages are the width between two rails and determined by the above two factors and some other criteria. I have had the pleasure of being on a variety of these combinations including what are known as cog rails where the gradient makes it necessary to add a third gear /rail to allow the locomotive to chew into the teeth and gain altitude without slipping.
The fastest trains I have been on are inevitably run on dedicated tracks that are by and large laid on flat terrain with minimal curves along the route. By designing the entire train assembly as a continuous tube with almost no break in between the coaches, friction loss is reduced adding to the speed. Below are some of the top speeds achieved on a commercial route between two points that I enjoyed being on...
Below are some of the pictures on or outside the trains..
Terrain often plays the most critical part of rail design and therefore of the maximum speed that the train can travel along the route. The actual locomotive and source of power determines the other crucial component of this arrangement.
Rail gages are the width between two rails and determined by the above two factors and some other criteria. I have had the pleasure of being on a variety of these combinations including what are known as cog rails where the gradient makes it necessary to add a third gear /rail to allow the locomotive to chew into the teeth and gain altitude without slipping.
The fastest trains I have been on are inevitably run on dedicated tracks that are by and large laid on flat terrain with minimal curves along the route. By designing the entire train assembly as a continuous tube with almost no break in between the coaches, friction loss is reduced adding to the speed. Below are some of the top speeds achieved on a commercial route between two points that I enjoyed being on...
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Brand
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From – To
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Top Speed (mph) en route
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Coastal Pacific (meter gage)
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Picton to Christchurch, NZ
|
50
|
|
Deccan Queen (mountain terrain)
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Mumbai to Pune, India
|
65
|
|
OBB (mountain terrain)
|
Munich to Salzburg, Austria
|
82
|
|
Amtrak N.E Regional Express
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Washington DC to NY
|
100
|
|
SBB
|
Lucerne to Zurich
|
124
|
|
Eurostar (Chunnel)
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London to Paris, France
|
186
|
|
ICE
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Cologne to Berlin, Germany
|
188
|
|
Freccia Rossa
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Milan to Rome, Italy
|
190
|
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AVE
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Madrid to Seville, Spain
|
193
|
|
TGV Lyria
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Paris to Bern, Switzerland
|
200
|
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Shinkansen
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Tokyo to Kyoto, Japan
|
200
|
Below are some of the pictures on or outside the trains..
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| An ICE pulls into Cologne Station, Germany (ICE stands for Inter City Express) |
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| Bullet Train pulls into Shin Kobe, Japan (Shin means the new - when Japan built a brand new network of high speed trains they were called Shinkansen) |
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| Speed displayed on the Austrian owned train we took to go see Do Re Me land |
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| Renfe is the Spanish national rail system - here an AVE train we rode into Seville is shown |
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