The Russians are coming! The Russians are….going! High speed rail cuts time and energy.
Well, actually they came….. and went. Faster than any American could on a new high speed train. Russia has joined the high speed rail club with a new train, the Velaro RUS that will travel between Moscow and St Petersburg at speeds of 250 mph -even at -50 degrees Celsius!
Innovative design gives the train 20% more seating capacity for its size, improving efficiency. Another new Siemens train, the Desiro City was recently launched in England that cuts energy consumption by 50 percent due to innovative design, energy efficient systems and lightweight construction. Oslo, Norway has installed an eco-friendly subway system that uses 30% less energy to get commuters where they’re going. Germany, France, Japan, England, even Spain have high speed rail. But like the early days of the space race. The US lags behind. The Acela, which runs from Boston to Washington DC, can achieve up to 130 miles an hour- but only over about 18 miles of its track. It is faster than other Amtrak trains, driving, or flying, but here in the US we have not yet put our innovation into rail.
Which is an irony and a shame. We were long the innovators in rail, from the days of the transcontinental railroad in the 1860’s to the Zephyr which raced from Denver to Chicago in 13 hours in 1939- much faster than you can drive it even today. Today’s train from Denver to Chicago? 19 hours, which is longer than it takes to drive it. New York to Chicago? Average 34 MPH -The Model T traveled it faster. We’re moving in the wrong direction, folks.
It doesn’t have to be this way. And if we can get our act together like we did in developing the Interstate Highway system back in the 1950’s and space exploration in the 1960‘s, we can take the lead in high speed rail and the efficiencies of time and energy that brings to travel.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
There are some bright signs. California has committed $10 billion to link Los Angeles and San Francisco in 2.5 hours. The federal government has committed $8 billion for intercity rail, with a priority on high speed. And the private sector is making some headway.
GE has developed a hybrid freight locomotive that runs on diesel and electricity, recaptures the braking energy of the train and stores it onboard for powering the train. If every locomotive in North America ran as efficiently as GE’s hybrid locomotive is designed to operate, railroads in North America could save as much as $425 million dollars in fuel costs each year. This hybrid technology reduces fuel consumption by as much as 15% and emissions by as much as 50% compared to most freight locomotives in use today. The energy wasted in braking a 207-ton locomotive over the course of a year is enough to power 160 households for that year. This hybrid locomotive will capture that energy and use it to produce more horsepower and reduce emissions and fuel use.
There’s still a lot of track to lay. But high speed rail is a reality today around the world. Might be time to lobby that Senator or Congress man or woman of yours to bring it closer to home.
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Chicago-Denver
This is perhaps a tangent (a side-track?) but I want to provide some more insight into the Chicago-Denver timing you referred to.
The 13 hours was a non-stop trip. The current train of course stops along the way, as it should. In fact Denver-Omaha is a bigger travel market than Denver - Chicago. And the combinded markets of all the little towns is larger still (and there are no competing airplanes going between Mount Pleasant IA and McCook NE).
There's also a lot of padding in the schedule (that is, the train is shown in the timetable as arriving at Omaha, Denver and Chicago later than it actually does in order to give a margin for late running). More than an hour. Truth is, you need to add that into your driving schedule too, even though we often don't think that way. Do you expect to go from door to door with no construction and leave exactly when you expect? Unlikely.
Current top speed between Denver to Chicago is 79mph. You shouldn't be driving that fast. But the stops take time, and at least as significantly, there are slow spots - going through yards and so forth. The cheapest way to go fast is to not go slow (that's the principal of the interstate highways, of course, which replaced the main roads through town.)