Chart of the Day: Operating Speeds Across Different Modes over Time
Bill Lindeke • November 12, 2014
Here’s a helluva chart for you:
I happened across this sort of accidentally, so I’m not even going to comment other than to say that walking has held steady at a solid 3 miles per hour for quite some time.
And yet we are told trains are “old fashioned technology” despite their ability to go much faster than cars, and not yet having reached their peak.
Amazing.
Nathanael
Intercity train speeds in the US are currently limited almost entirely by the signal systems.
In urban areas, train acceleration and deceleration is limited only by passenger comfort — and so speed is limited only by how often the train stops.
But that’s not the impressive part about trains; the impressive part is that a single train can be very very long, and hold enormous numbers of people, and *still* go at high speeds, in a stable fashion. (As opposed to fishtailing or breaking apart.) This is because conical wheels on steel rails are automatically, passively stabilizing.
Alex Schieferdecker
I’m still waiting on the Twin Cities pneumatic tube transit system.
And yet we are told trains are “old fashioned technology” despite their ability to go much faster than cars, and not yet having reached their peak.
Amazing.
Intercity train speeds in the US are currently limited almost entirely by the signal systems.
In urban areas, train acceleration and deceleration is limited only by passenger comfort — and so speed is limited only by how often the train stops.
But that’s not the impressive part about trains; the impressive part is that a single train can be very very long, and hold enormous numbers of people, and *still* go at high speeds, in a stable fashion. (As opposed to fishtailing or breaking apart.) This is because conical wheels on steel rails are automatically, passively stabilizing.
I’m still waiting on the Twin Cities pneumatic tube transit system.
I want a pneumatic tube burrito delivery public utility, installed so that burritos can be directly delivered into your kitchen.
Also Grainbelt tallboys.
These both sound like excellent investments to me.