Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Downtown
Acceleration and deceleration for electric trainsets are pretty comparable to a passenger car; diesel-electric hauled trains accelerate a little more slowly, about like an 18-wheeler. Now when you're driving up US41 to Milwaukee and make five stops for the traffic signals in Lake County, you don't lose 35 minutes. HSR to St. Louis won't have all-new right-of-way through towns where it stops, so will probably be doing 60mph max.
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You are hitting on the problem and the root of my argument against this system. Having an Amtrak operated 110MPH system with average speeds probably only around 75-80MPH or less is only going to tarnish the "high speed" brand in the US. The shared freight trackage through may small towns will restrict speeds considerably despite the theoretical speed of the line.
European high speed rail, for someone who asked, runs at around 185-220MPH