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The tendency of many short sighted managers and designers to "shrink wrap" the equipment with the clearance diagram for the structures has left me screaming for over 50 years. You are always, and I mean ALWAYS going to find that you need more space within a tunnel than you originally think you...

I will throw in something else here. First, I thought better of Reistrup than what I see here. The article is coauthored with a Scott Spencer, and part of his claim to fame is spending some time on Taiwan HSR, stated in the article as follows: "Joining Reistrup in this initiative is Scott R...

What sort of vertical and main span horizontal clearances would be required for fixed bridges as these locations? For example, quite a few years ago now when "Family Lines" decided to run more east-west traffic through Pensacola and Tallahassee, they replaced the low level wood trestle and draw...

Well, yes. Almost anything in enough quantity can kill you. There is a joke about in a particular college a group of science majors that put together the statistics on drownings and other damages due to floodings, etc., then using those numbers created a petition demanding outlawing the use of...

And these plus the NIMBY's are a major factor in why public transportation projects cost so much. I don't think there is enough Valium on the planet for the engineers that have to be part of public hearings on major projects.

Guess I am being very clueless. What are you foreseeing as the possible problems and issues?

Key question: Will they run 79 mph where practical? The Mississippi portion is somewhat curvy, but once in Louisiana there are long stretches of straight track. I am fairly sure the line now has signals throughout, but in ICRR days it was unsignaled. The one train a day in the 50's and 60's...

Before getting too excited about the wonders of this, what it does is announce that a quake has occurred, so the length of warning time is the difference between the speed of the ground waves and the speed of light between the epicenter and whatever your location happens to be, which is usually...

A few observations: The line from Athens to Thessaloniki is described in one site as mostly double track and electrified. It is the Greek system's premier main line. One site says 304 km (189 miles) and 4h8m run time. That would give an average speed of 73.5 km/hr (45.7 mph)...

Trains don't change lanes by themselves. So far, there are far more questions than answers. However, from the BBC we have the following: 1. 43 deaths found so far. 2. Four coaches derailed, the first two caught fire, almost completely destroyed, which would suggest that in the picture the...

Picture from voanews.com Are now saying 32 dead and 85 injured. No mention of speeds of either train. Article says 350 passengers on train, and 250 were transported the rest of the way to Thessaloniki by bus. It appears that the track is adjacent to a major highway at the point of collision...

"Strain at a gnat and swallow a camel" comes to mind. I have a feeling this should be under the heading of missing the blooming obvious. The equipment builder should have been given the minimum dimensions of the structures that had to be passed. Maybe they were not, or maybe they forgot to...

The milepost shown in the picture (743) is the L&N milepost. Zero is Louisville KY Union Station and the L&N office building next to it. (Are these structures still there, and are they being used, and if for both, by what/who?) Almost all the pre NC&StL merger lines of the L&N are mileposted...

OK, thanks. I will modify my post accordingly. Balance speed would be 64.4 mph, hence over balance for the freight train speed limit, which is not desirable. Given that the location is near the top of a fairly long grade, freight trains will likely be going less than the speed limit, if not...

The above picture is from the 3 page preliminary report on the accident found by clicking on the first item in the NTSB Docket - Docket Management System "On September 25, 2021, about 3:47 p.m. local time, westbound National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) train 7 (also known as the...

Will see if I can insert picture of derailment

I have said this somewhere before, but I will say it again: The limit of safety is beyond, if not far beyond the limit for comfort. The FRA standards are SAFETY standards, so even if uncomfortable, it would still be safe in so far as derailing is concerned. That does not mean it is safe to...

Work your way through this to see what the NTSB is saying: https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/?NTSBNumber=RRD21MR017 I will try to skim and put in a few highlights. I have been reading these NTSB reports for the last 30+ years. Sometimes parts are written as if for someone who would not recognize a...

I would think most of the eastern routes should have at least two per day frequencies. The general more or less 12 hour separation seems to be a reasonable concept, but not if this leads to middle of the night times at major points. NYC to Chicago actually cries out for three a day services...

Splitting your statement and then answering: No. This is like calling a small high school's team equivalent to a professional team in the same sport, if not beyond that. In fact, not even in the same sport. No, and probably not. Maybe some close in, but 100 miles away? That is just silly...