Just a thought…
…and a goofy one too. If you had ever studied the Pacific Extension you’de know it went thru some extreme terrain, grades and curves, not the kind of stuff HST’s like the Acela like. The route was never known for its speed records. HST’s in order to be HST’s need looooooong straights, broad sweeeeeping curves, and flat as a pancake grades to able to run at effective speeds. Start putting mountains, grades and the like from the existing ROW as it passed thru the Rockies into the mix and you end up with just another slow passenger train.
In addition to the mountain grades and tight curves issues, the Acelas would have to modified to accept the 3500-volts DC. that The Milwaukee Road used. I’m thinking that the N.E. Corridor runs on 50K/60-hz. AC.
From a traffic standpoint, the Milwaukee’s Puget Sound Extension did not serve many population centers. Passenger traffic was very light. Among the carriers serving the Northern Tier and Pacific Northwest markets, the C. M. St. P.& P. was the first to drop passenger trains. From Amtrak’s inception to the abandonment of the P.S.E. in 1980, I cannot recall anyone ever suggesting that the Milwaukee’s route to the Pacific should have passenger service.
Besides the fact that the MILW electrification was at 2400VDC and Accela runs on 15KVAC. And the MILW electrification was on its last legs when it was abandoned. If they kept the electrification, they would have had to rebuild the whole thing.
So the answer is sure…it could have been seen out west…towed by a trio of SD40-2s…
Even if the terrain was flat and straight, building roadbed for 150 mph service through a lot of nowhere would not be profitable at all.
It’s no big deal to get a train to run on virtually any supply. Modern power electronics, as fitted to the Acela, can easily be re-configured (a Eurostar can run on 750VDC, 1500VDC, 3000VDC or 25kV AC). The big issue is there’s not enough people out there to make a service pay.
wrong infrastructure, wrong geometry, WRONG idea…
We would see High Speed Swiss Talgo trains that lean around curves.
I firmly believe that the FRA is in cahoots with the Bus Companys and GM.
If the FRA would only let lightweight Europeon Rolling Stock in the US we would be a lot better off.
Lightweight…am I wrong or does that equal to more derailments? I Don’t think that one will work either, especially not in America.
The problem is that the FRA are pussycats when it comes to saftey yet I wonder if the feds inspect greyhound like they do the railroads…
So that’s why those black helicopters keep hovering by my house. They know that I’m a railfan, so they had better keep close tabs on me, or else I might propose some new rail service![:D]
For anyone who really cares to know:
The Amtrak Northeast Corridor mainline from Washington, DC to the junction with the Metro North Commuter Railroad in New Rochelle, New York operates their catenary at 11.5 to 12 KV(AC) at 25Hz.
The Metro North Commuter Railroad’s mainline from that same junction to New Haven, Connecticut, operates their catenary at 12 to 12.5 KV(AC) at 60Hz.
The Amtrak’s mainline catenary continues from New Haven to Boston, Massachusetts at 25 KV(AC) at 60Hz.
All current electric locomotives that Amtrak rosters(E60 have been scrapped), have a tap changer that allows them to operate in all those different areas, with the exception of the 600-700 V(DC) third rail in Penn Station, New York or Grand Central Terminal, New York. Some of NH’s electrics, at one time, operated on both catenary and third rail. If there were catenary to Boston back then, I’m sure the NH would have been running their engines up there on a regular basis. Many of their big electric locomotives even ran on third rail into Penn Station at times. I understand that high speed rail lines are best laid in areas were they can build more level, more straight right of ways, but that nonsense that the differences in the voltages, the polarity, the hertz, the phases, doesn’t carry much merit. There is a French TGV train that runs into Belgium from France, and it run on 3 different ac voltages, 1 dc voltage, 4 different phases and 4 different hertz.
Know before you let your brain send the signal to your fingers to start typing.
GLENN
A T R U E AND R E A L RAILROADER!!!
A T R U E AND R E A L AMTRAKER!!!
A T R U E L Y P[censored] O F F AMERICAN!!![soapbox]
Re: “Know before you let your brain send the signal to your fingers to start typing.”
gfjwilmde, was that kind of sarcasm really necessary?
Acela most likely not due to geographical population and operating constraints. However in view of the increase in oil prices to the $ 85 to $105 a barrell that will eventually happen and when petroleum become only good for lub work. Electricfication could easily happen in a lot of places. When that happens many a real historian could easily say that both the Milwalkee and Mr.Duke in NC had it right over 100 years early or before their time depending on your point of view.
Not a big enough population base and sharp mountain curves may have kept away HST’s, but not grades. HST’s are able to handle heavy grades by freight standards quite well. They definately do not need “pancake flat” grades, 19,000ton freight trains need that. A 4% grade is not a problem and a TGV can start from standing still and get up over 120mph on 4%, and that is considered an emergency stop too because if the train is already moving at 150+mph a 4% grade won’t slow it down much.
There are some crazy up and down roler coaster sections of line on some of the newest HSL’s built.
Swiss Talgo??? Are these the ones with holes in them??
Talgos are Spanish.
They sure would have to build up quite a bit of speed to be able to coast across most of Montanna, all of the Dakotas, and most of Minnesota to be able to make it to St Paul. There never was any juice across the prarie, just in the mountains. Same in eastern Washington, big gap with no wires.
Yes.
Even if it would work, why? Doesn’t even work well in heavily populated areas. It would be a whole lotta nothin out there.
Adrianspeeder
Wow…some surprising comments. Why so many nasty attitudes in this thread. Is this the nature of all of us combined with this kind of interest…?
I agree with the consensus of most, the “fast” passenger train out along the Milwaukee line would not have been very successful. {First of all not possible}. It wouldn’t have been very “fast”…