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[quote user="Railway Man"][quote user="TrainManTy"]The current Amtrak P42s, Amfleet cars, and Viewliners used in the eastern US are capable of doing 90 (and routinely do). The Superliners can go at least 70 (possibly higher) and the Cascades Talgos can probably go 100 or more. It's the track that restricts their speed...[/quote] Actually it's the Method of Operation that restricts their speed.  Most of the track used by Amtrak in the U.S. at present is either maintained to FRA Class V or is readily capable of Class V.  The curves are another matter, of course, but the fundamental problem is that outside of the Northeast Corridor there are almost no lines in the U.S. with a Method of Operation that meets the FRA regulations for 80 mph or faster operation.[/quote] Method of Operation? I have never heard of this, although I would be interested to hear more. Please elaborate.[quote user="Railway Man"]The F59 is engineered to identical standards for crashworthiness as any freight locomotive.  Many outside of the railroad think that because it is lighter it somehow is less crashworthy.  The F59 in the Chatsworth collision was not ripped apart but in fact did quite well.  I would like to see statistics documenting that the European rail system "is a lot safer."[/quote] I had seen just a couple overhead news photos of the F59 (most I saw were focused on the coaches) so my knowledge of the aftermath is limited. Reading the many threads here about the wreck, I gathered that since the SD70s pushed the Metrolink train from the point of impact, and the crew of the UP train survived while the Metrolink engineer did not, the weight of the locomotives had something to do with it.In writing that the "European rail system is a lot safer" I had meant that there seems to be a lot less incidents resulting in loss of life or major derailments there. Maybe it's because many of the US wrecks are freight trains or switching accidents, which are much less common in Europe because there are a much less number of freight trains.[quote user="Railway Man"]I think you mean "PTC" (Postive Train Control) not "ATC" (Automatic Train Control); ATC does not meet the requirements of RSA08.  RSA08 requires all Class 1 lines carrying intercity and commuter passenger trains and PIH hazmat to be equipped with PTC by 2015; this requirement will likely be extended to many lines owned by Class II and III railroads as well; we'll see what emerges from the RSAC process, hopefully in a few months.  The 2015 deadline is challenging, to put it mildly.[/quote] Yes, I meant PTC. I was writing solely off memory and probably bungled a few facts.[quote user="Railway Man"]The FRA has no prohibitions on use of Cascades Talgo trainsets or Acela because they are light; they could be used anywhere in the U.S. right now.  They are fully compliant vehicles and while they might be lighter in total weight than a conventional Amfleet trainset, they are not less-strong.Perhaps you're confusing this with non-compliant vehicles such as the European-built DMUs and light-rail vehicles, which can only use trackage shared with freight trains and compliant passenger trainsets, at present, if they are "temporally separated," that is, the freight trains use the line during one part of the day and the passenger trains another, and one cannot enter the system if the other is still on the system.  Usually the freight trains run at night and the passenger vehicles during the day. [/quote] I based this off your post "It's the Acela problem all over again, was anyone paying attention to that fiasco?" but I suppose they are FRA compliant anywhere, is that correct? I thought it may have been a waiver for those routes where they are used. The NEC has PTC (or is it something else) and a small amount of freight traffic, and I for all I know (not much about that route) the Cascades are segragated from freight traffic.[quote user="Railway Man"]I think the question you are really asking is, "When PTC is installed, will the FRA permit the use of non-compliant vehicles without the requirement for temporal separation?  The answer is, who knows?  A lot of people are hopeful it will, but the FRA has not said one way or the other, and no one has yet applied to the FRA to do so.[/quote] Yes, that's exactly what I was asking. Maybe not extremely non-compliant, but allowing for easier utilization of DMUs.
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