Wall St Journal reports that Mark Manion, Norfolk Southerm chief operating officer said that trains averaged 22.5 mph, the best speeds over the last year.
That ain’t very fast folks. The 18 wheelers hum along the interstates at 75-80 mph.
True, but I those numbers would be lower for the 18 wheelers if you averaged in the time standing still At stop lights, in traffic, and at the Kwicky-Mart. The average is always a lot lower than the top speed. Remember, a lot of freight speeds top out in the 45-60 mph range, and even intermodal trains usually can’t exceed 70mph- and i would bet intermodal movements are probably much less than 10 percent of NS movements. Those are probably more than counterbalanced by all the trains running on routes with 25-35mph limits and 10mph switching jobs on FRA-restricted track. That number may actually be pretty good- I’ve been over the NS between Harrisburg and Gallitzin, and they move this trains- although the logjam east of Chicago is another story.
That might not sound like an impressive number, but consider the load difference between a single full sized trailer on a freeway and a 50 car ( or longer) consist being pulled by a diesel- and the difference in fuel economy- then you have not just an impressive number, but a significant one!
Cedarwoodron
You’re comparing apples to garbage. Average freight train speed includes ALL trains under ALL conditions. If you include driver rest times, urban driving, grade climbing on long uphill grades, etc., truck speed drops way down. What makes it worse is you’re not including local delivery trucks in your speed meme. Trust me, they’re not breaking land speed records. If you average all trucks under all conditions, I doubt they do a lot better than trains.
BTW, in a lot of states, 75-80 will get a trucker a fat fine for speeding.
Edit: Cedarwoodron brought it up, but I’ve never heard of a truck that can haul a ton of freight on a gallon of fuel for more than 400 miles.
Andre
You may find this of interest since it covers track speeds,type of cars handled and terminal dwell times…Other railroads performance reports is in the left corner.
I hum along at 40-50 mph for most of my commute, but my average speed is actually 13.8 mph.
System productivity can and is measured in MPH. If you do some simple calc on your car average speed 24/7 for a week you will be amazed at how slow it is. Several years ago, a friend of mine was working with DOT to figure out ways to improve railroad car productivity. At that time the average car speed was around 2 mph. This includes pit stops and garage time. Load and unload speeds are also included.
These data are used for decisions about capacity and type or model of car or engine. They are also a competative measure the customer can use to decide how and with who to ship, if there is a choice.
Larry
An easy way to think about average train speed if you have a modern car is to watch your mpg indicators. Going down hill its 60-70 mpg, going uphill its 5-10 and stopped its negative. On average its 15 or 20 or 30 mpg. Same with train speed. Trains average in the 20 mph ranges when you count in all the stops and work on line and different train categories (a 19,000 ton coal train moves at a different pace than a 4,000 ton intermodal train). Most modern diesels have top speeds in the 65-75 mph range. Most of the big freight steam engines had top speeds in the 45 mph range. Yes, railroads had a couple dozens freight steam engines that could do 70, but the other 2000 freight steam engines they owned were limited to 45 mph or so, often less.
If you look at long haul intermodal rail moves they can be time competative with trucks on certain corridors
The only dwell time IM have is for servicing and crew change…The hold up will be on the available rested crews and little known factor is any enroute switching a IM does at satellite intermodal terminals and certain division junctions.
The speeds seems to be between 22-30 mph.
If you do 10 mph for 20 miles and 40 mph for 20 miles, what’s your avg speed? (hint: It’s not 25 mph)
Now, toss in another 30 minutes for a meet…
16 mph?
Twenty years ago the plant I worked in got Tank cars from Brownsville Texas delivered to Oshawa Ontario. Car left the plant in the south and arrived at our plant in six to eight days, including yard stays for traiins to be classified for the nest stage.
In times of need we could get a tank truck (tractor trailer) load in 48 hrs. This was two drivers, sleep in cabin, and much more costly.
Rails were cheaper, summer highways more timely, take your choice.
40 miles in 2.5 hours is 16 mph. adding in the stop it drops to 13.33 mph.
Larry
No wonder i hear on the news every day about a 18 wheeler wrecking.
Do the math and then report back.
Rich
And I will add the dark side…When I was a forklift operator I seen loaded trailers sit for 2-3 days…In fact the shipping manager “fired” one trucking company (she grew tired of their excuses) and “hired” a new trucking company.
We also loaded and unloaded 10-12 boxcars a month…
Let’s not forget, Trains carry way more over similar distances.