sockmeister
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Very interesting! So, was my assumption about "half" the maximum speed (25mph) about correct, would you guess?Some other fun facts to make the waiting time go by since this is in my wheelhouse... there are three "speed limits" that trains have to abide by:
That 50 mph they referenced is the MAS. And as you pointed out, the engineers have an "hours of service" requirement that they can drive for any 24 hour period.
- Maximum Authorized Speed (MAS): The maximum speed the train could safely travel on flat tangent (straight) track.
- Permanent Speed Restrictions (PSR): The maximum speed the train could safely travel on a specific section of track based on a permanent attribute of the track geometry (e.g.: up or down a hill, around a tight corner).
- Temporary Speed Restrictions (TSR): The maximum speed a train could go through a section of track based on temporary conditions (e.g.: a work crew is working on or near the track, rock slide, etc.).
Also, when within a city space, freight trains are more likely to share trackage with passenger transit agencies. In that scenario one company is the "host" and one is the "tenant". That varies for each city, but typically, the host's trains are given priority, so for example, a freight train might have to wait for a passenger train to pass.
Also unless the train is composed of only individual cars (train cars) that are going to the end destination (in my case New Castle, DE) they might go into a rail yard to 'reshuffle' the cars in the train.
So all of this can result in much slower train service than we want when they have our cars on them.
Here's a fun photo of myself doing track work in a "hyrail" car (a pickup truck with train wheels on it that can only get on or off the tracks at grade crossings) in double track territory having to wait for an Amtrak high speed Acela train to pass on the neighboring track. It's a little nerve-wracking to sit in the truck seeing a train come towards you from the distance at 120 mph where you can't visually be 100% sure that it's on the neighboring track and not yours until it's pretty much already next to you, lol.
And, what are typical hours of service for trains like these?
That's a nervewracking job. ?