[X] My Assistant

[augmentin]

If your team needs to sabotage it, might I suggest the old standby movement+accident? Or would civilian death on a massive scale be a bit too much?

[CanRay]

I thought that was business as usual. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Draco18s]

It doesn't need to hit Portland. Portland is really close by, relatively speaking. A regular 200KPH train would do for getting to Portland.

Point was, a high speed train can only service very long distance trips, unlike regional rail, which services nearby locations, but is infeasible for serving distant locations.

And you can't use the same infrastructure for both.

[Kyoto Kid]

Well, today's bullet trains in China travel at almost 320 kph (200 mph) on average which is the fastest trip speed in the world at the moment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_China

And I think they could go even faster, but that really depends on track layout (no sharp turns and ideally no stops in between). And if this isn't fast enough for you, you could also consider using a maglev train. These can easily reach more than 400 kph.

-CJ

In RL, the Japanese have a test Maglev line that cracked 580KPH (361MPH) in 2003. Three years ago the French souped up one of their TGVs (a "conventional" railed train) and topped 570KPH (358MPH) only 10 KPH (3MPH) shy of the Japanese record.

In current service, the TGV routinely tops out at between 300 - 320KPH (186 - 199 MPH) depending on the route served and equipment used. On the Marselles - Paris line (which I plan to ride on during an upcoming visit to Europe) the TGV makes the run in three hours (including stops) averaging 250KPH (155MPH) over the length of the trip.

In comparison.

Here in the states (outside of the Northeast Corridor), that same length of trip with the same number of stops would take nine to ten hours as the average speed for Amtrak would be about 72KPH (45MPH) with a maximum of 127KPH (79MPH) in a few stretches. Even the Acela (the US's premiere high speed train) averages only a paltry 101KPH (63MPH) on its run from NYC to Boston.

[hermit]

Why Americans are so attached to slow moving transport - those speed limits without any reason (since you build roads devoid of turns) and the neglected trains - is somehow beyond me. Is it the relative cheapness of inland flights? The country certainly is big enough for flight to be viable.

[CanRay]

The Government being stupid along with big business having a lot of say in matters.

The main thing about trains is that cargo is worth a whole lot more than passengers when it comes to distances, especially for heavy and bulk loads.

I remember my Father (Who was a truck driver) complaining about a European company buying up... Western Star, I think it was. (A company that built Big Rig Trucks. Tractor-Trailers I'm talking about.). They closed down all the facilities that were in Towns and only kept open the ones in Cities. Too bad if you break down in Northern Ontario, one group described it as "A million miles of NOTHING! There are six people there, all of them named Frank. Even the Girl! She's very popular."

[hermit]

They closed down all the facilities that were in Towns and only kept open the ones in Cities. Too bad if you break down in Northern Ontario, one group described it as "A million miles of NOTHING! There are six people there, all of them named Frank. Even the Girl! She's very popular."

I can imagine. Europeans have a hard time to deal with the distances Americans (which includes you, though being Canadian) consider normal. Hey, we can be arrogant jerks too.

The main thing about trains is that cargo is worth a whole lot more than passengers when it comes to distances, especially for heavy and bulk loads.

I dunno, seems to work out fine in Europe, but then again the passenger traffic is probably heavily subsidised.

[kzt]

The Government being stupid along with big business having a lot of say in matters.

No, the problem is that you can't aquire right-of-way in the US. It's endless legal cases.

Though we tried it the other way, where the train companies had a lot more power, and that didn't work out so well either.

[Dumori]

That's certainly part of it, but there's also the issue of conquering drag safely and efficiently. While maglevs are extremely efficient in general aircraft have the marked advantage of being able climb to high altitudes and thus face lower air pressure at cruise. That's part of why the ol' Blackbird could book so damn fast. As inefficient as getting off the ground may be, once you get up to 80,000 feet Newton's first law starts striking with a vengeance. As aerodynamic as maglevs are, they're still stuck at sea level or close to it.

Which brings us to a fancy concept that I seriously doubt will be in heavy rotation even in a magical 2070: Vactrains. Basically, take a train, but run that bad boy in a vacuum. Theoretically, we're talking about something stupidly fast and tremendously efficient, but such an application mostly makes sense for transcontinental distances or else you just run into that whole, you know, having to actually stop as soon as you've began issue. And building a sucker THAT big would make the chunnel cost overrun look like chump change. So maybe there's some kind of "small" proof of concept model, but nothing out-pacing the fastest aircraft.

A maglev in a vac would be the way to link underwater archaeologies. You all ready need air tight trains and tunnels and being able to go across the perficict in a few mins has huge advantages. Each line would likely need its own tunnel to alow for stops ect.

[hermit]

Which brings us to a fancy concept that I seriously doubt will be in heavy rotation even in a magical 2070: Vactrains. Basically, take a train, but run that bad boy in a vacuum.

Canonically, this links the larger cities in switzerland, underground. Don't know of any other canonic mentions, though.

[Dumori]

Seattle and Denver was mentioned. Will be some form of vacuum though you know even dropping air presser from 760pa to 25pa will equal a huge top speed boost and that a very wussy vacuum.

[Stahlseele]

Hmm, i guess in a vacuum, you can't use ground-effect right?
but get it to near vacuum, or like Dumori just said down to 25pa, then there's still some air in there . .
redesign trains and tunnels so the magnetic fields are on the sides allways at the same distance, keeping the train safely from the walls . .
once you have lift-off, you have taken away the drag from air, and the resistance of the wheels on the ground.
Now you are in a REAL rail-way-bullet-train!

Marty McFly: Doc, we better back up. We don't have enough road to get up to 88.
Dr. Emmett Brown: Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.

[Kyoto Kid]

Why Americans are so attached to slow moving transport - those speed limits without any reason (since you build roads devoid of turns) and the neglected trains - is somehow beyond me. Is it the relative cheapness of inland flights? The country certainly is big enough for flight to be viable.

...it goes back to post WWI. It was a complex situation however suffice to say the private automobile emerged as the backbone for US passenger transportation. All that "freedom to roam" & "wide open spaces" drek. The feds and states built the new interstate system that the cars drove on. Posted highway speeds increased, in some areas exceeding 80MPH and there was even interest towards heading towards a more autobahn styled system on long stretches with speeds in excess of 100MPH. Gas was cheap so efficiency didn't matter. Cars were inexpensive and fairly simple to work on. And the future promised turbines and even (yes, don't laugh) atomic power.

Next came the "Golden Age of jet travel" in the 60s (which was aided by both hidden and not so hidden subsidies). The Feds and local governments built the airports, the Feds maintained ATC and the airways, The feds determined what routes the airlines flew (which in and of itself was not really a bad thing as it lent itself to more linear routings instead of the inefficient hub & spoke system we endure today). They provided a trained pilot and mechanic workforce pool in the form of military vets, and even funded technological development (which ended with the demise of the US SST project in the 1970s). Flying became relatively inexpensive as larger planes with more efficient (albeit slightly so) engines took to the air with more seats to fill. Special fares for families, seniors, students and those who didn't mind travelling "space available" (the way I went a lot of times) brought what was once a mode of travel for the wealthy and businessman on the company's expense account to the masses (I am talking about the pre-deregulation days).

Meanwhile passenger rail travel languished. In some cases lines were running equipment that was three or more decades old on tracks that were being pounded into submission by increasingly longer and heavier freights. What was once the means of travel for movie stars, celebrity athletes, and the chic had become not much better than an intercity bus. On time performance (once a major selling point) slipped. The posh "Limiteds" and Long Distance trains became a mere shadow of what they once were. Finally the private railroads decided to opt out of passenger service altogether and sell everything (save for the track right of ways which the feds gave them back in the 1800s).

That is how Amtrak came to be. At first it was laughable, and many feel was deigned to fail so that the nation could quietly put it it to pasture like it did with the streetcars and interurban lines back in the 1940s, 50s & early 60s (the feds actually appointed an ex-airline administrator who had zero knowledge of rail travel to run the show). Since the tracks were owned by the freight lines (and actually leased from them for Amtrak by the government) freights now had priority over passenger trains. In some parts of Indiana and Ohio, once crack passenger trains such as the Broadway Limited that you could set your watch by, were relegated to poorly maintained tracks forced in some cases to travel at a walking pace. I remember a 60 minutes report where Mike Wallace actually pulled a spike out of a track with his bare hand shortly after a slow moving Amtrak train had passed, that was how bad it got.

Back then, "On time" pretty much meant you arrived before midnight on the same day the train was scheduled to pull into the station.

While over the years service has steadily improved, new equipment brought on line to replace the old, and the system has proved itself viable if not even popular (the Coast Starlight is a difficult train to get reservations on during the summer), it is still at the mercy of those wielding the budget axe every biennium in the name of paring down the pork fat (while of course touting their own porcine agendas)

However even these modest successes are not enough for the US government to embark on a real rail transportation plan for the nation. For one, the idea of "big government" is not well accepted here and is seen by some as socialistic (which in the eyes of the far right is the downhill road to communism). Better to have more cars, more fuel consumption per capita, more pollution, more traffic woes, and a more inefficient transportation network with all the associated fiscal, environmental, social, and political expenses.

Every day while I wait for my bus after work about 90% of the cars I see go by have but a single occupant (including those huge SUVs). At one point on the approach to one of the bridges we cross it is pretty much a standstill. Lots of fun on a 95° day with no air conditioning. Yet the local transit commission here is reducing bus service across the board (again) come this fall because of budget shortfalls (and mismanagement).

Ahh the freedom to sit in traffic jams, breathe exhaust fumes, pay high petrol prices, parking fees, maintenance bills (they may as well put a sticker on the bonnet that reads "No User Serviceable Parts"), and insurance premiums (mandatory in most states).

I'd love to see an American city adopt what London did as a means of reducing traffic in it's central district. But here, that would be grounds for riots because the car is sacred and driving, a "god given right".

Until we change this attitude we will continue to be mired in an overseas conflict we will never win, risk future blowouts like we are seeing in the gulf, and be forced to have to earn more and more (thus driving up costs further) just to feed that metallic and plastic stepchild out there in the garage.

This is why we don't have decent trains here (and the way things are going, decent transit altogether)

Apologies for getting on the soapabox. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/embarrassed.gif)

[Draco18s]

Now you are in a REAL rail-way-bullet-train!

It would be a Rail (gun) Train.

[Stahlseele]

Yeah, that was too unsubtle for me . .

[CanRay]

Who else is thinking of a Shadowrun that involves a construction crew, and putting a new optional hole and a ramp for the train?

"Aim for Orbit and we'll see how close you can get."

[Kyoto Kid]

...well the Deep Tube in London London Sorucebook is a pressurised sealed tube system that actually helps to propel the train.

The idea of Pneumatic tube trains is nothing new as the concept was first experimented with back in the 1870s. Robert Goddard proposed a magnetic/vacc train system in 1910, and in the 1970s a member of the Rand Corporation proposed a totally pneumatic transcontinental system.

[Megu]

If you ever need to make an emergency stop on one of those corners, you don't want your train hanging sideways. Banked corners are good, but are only suitable for a small range of speeds. Also, instead of squishing your passengers into the walls, you squish them into the floor just as hard. The only way to travel faster, is to make the corners more gradual, which isn't necessarily an option with extensive urbanisation.

Well, this depends, obviously, on the level of urbanization. I had my players hit a high speed train on a run from Winnipeg to Minneapolis-St. Paul, and there really isn't all that much in between. And I figure the leg I mentioned offhandedly between Winnipeg and Churchill is even faster; flat Canadian plain for like five hundred miles. I can easily see a train topping four, five hundred miles an hour on the straightaways.

[hermit]

Apologies for getting on the soapabox.

Don't, it was very interesting to read. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Doc Byte]

Why Americans are so attached to slow moving transport - those speed limits without any reason (since you build roads devoid of turns) and the neglected trains - is somehow beyond me.

The reason's safety. A few years ago we were on the way home from the Nord Con in Hamburg down the A1. After about 2h at 180, 190 km/h (it's a miracle how this old Renault Twingo was going that fast with 5 persons and luggage up to the roof) our driver completely lost his sense of speed. When we were heading for a baiting place he took the exit with about 100 km/h (Quote: "I'm feeling like I'm standing idle."), driving straight between the gas pumps at 50 km/h ('caus he was to fast for the turn towards the parking area) and finally was able to stop the car at the far end where the truck parking area's located. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/eek.gif)

[Stahlseele]

*snickers* ^^
Goes to show again the quality of german engineering.
Streets and Cars that make leathal speeds seem like standing still!

[hermit]

The reason's safety. A few years ago we were on the way home from the Nord Con in Hamburg down the A1. After about 2h at 180, 190 km/h (it's a miracle how this old Renault Twingo was going that fast with 5 persons and luggage up to the roof) our driver completely lost his sense of speed. When we were heading for a baiting place he took the exit with about 100 km/h (Quote: "I'm feeling like I'm standing idle."), driving straight between the gas pumps at 50 km/h ('caus he was to fast for the turn towards the parking area) and finally was able to stop the car at the far end where the truck parking area's located.

Sure, but that can a) be countered (looking at the speed meter, closing your eyes for a second if traffic is low, just generally being aware of this reset of speed perception at around 50 and around 200). Reducing maximum speed to 75 kph will not greatly increase safety - especially with people who drive recklessly to begin with. I know someone like that too. "Hey, uhm, you are aware here is a 30 zone because of the construction site?" "Yes, it's been here all month." The guy was going 75. Within city limits. Nothing happened, speed limit or not.

Lucky breaks at the gas station though. Y'all could as well just have exloded. Still, speed limits in America are very low, especially given that you always are alone on these roads and turns are so rare they may even show up in travel guides as local sights.

[MJBurrage]

The unrestricted speed Autobahn is actually slightly safer than the American interstates.

Driver training and road quality are both more important to safety than speed.

P.S. – U.S. D.O.T. review of why European roads are safer, interestingly it notes that when speed limits are arbitrarily low (say like in the U.S.), than drivers tend to ignore them. When they are only low for good reason (traffic congestion, upcoming intersections, construction, etc.) then they are likely to be obeyed.

Other sources I have seen discus that since we are not required to keep right in the U.S., those that do exceed limits have to weave through traffic (which is reckless and dangerous).

In Europe (or at least Germany) drivers keep right unless passing, which means passing is always to the left of slower traffic, and therefor safer (no weaving through slower traffic).


P.P.S. Bugatti Veyron fun fact:
At its top speed, "the tyres will only last for about fifteen minutes, but it's okay because the fuel runs out in twelve minutes"
(James May, Top Gear) May is nicknamed "Captain Slow" for how he normally drives, but he has driven the Veyron at its top speed on a test track.

[BloodCarver]

I don't know if this is where to post this so feel free to move it if needed. How does the freight rail companies fare in the SR realm? I am looking to try and take into account an Intermodal Transport Aspect(Shipping containers) and its use of the rail lines out of Seatlle; specifically as a runner team's possible access route out of the metroplex avoiding the usual border checkpoints, hassles, & etc...
I want to try a smuggling orientated run that the PCs must intercept a cargo/freight train for a shipment of goodies bound out of the sprawl toward another destination(East Coast = UCAS or CAS). PCs would intercept train out in the wilderness stretch. Maybe not as flashy as the Train Heist in FireFly series but more along the UnderSeige 2: Dark Territory ambush.
I was curious that there may still be older spurs off the mainlines that may be usuable for all kinds of mayheem. LOL. Anyone have feedback on what I have posted?
I was curious of the standard layout of a frieght/cargo train in SR: security, # of cars, etc...
Please help a newbie out.

[Daylen]

Like any other mode of transportation the trains are fast enough to get the players where they are going just in time.