tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1008568241665831715.post399777812138605526..comments2024-01-25T07:47:23.112-06:00Comments on Hi / Zeph / 400: Northern Lights Express route approved by FRAMike Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15257599090818492294noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1008568241665831715.post-69225261598581378082011-09-02T23:23:05.328-05:002011-09-02T23:23:05.328-05:00I'll have to start up a conversation with some...I'll have to start up a conversation with somebody over there soon, because that's a sort of detail that I don't have readily available. The most in-depth stuff on their site is in <a href="http://www.northernlightsexpress.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7:tems-feasibility-study&catid=35:press-releases-and-reasource&Itemid=8" rel="nofollow">this 2007 report</a>. The appendix has one schedule (pg. E-2, or 48 in my PDF reader), but it's for a 6+9 plan where only 2/3 of the trains would run north of Hinckley/Sandstone. Another part of the document indicated that all of the studied service frequencies would have sample timetables in the appendix, but they appear to have gone missing.<br /><br />Anyway, the one I did find is definitely not evenly spaced. It used a travel time of 2 hours flat, which probably lends itself better to stretching and shrinking the interval than a longer travel time does. The schedule did make some use of turn-around times of 10 minutes.<br /><br />The improvements necessary to pull off a 2-hour travel time eventually became too costly ($830 million to $1 billion), so they <a href="http://www.northernlightsexpress.org/joomla/images/documents/corridor%20speed%20report.pdf" rel="nofollow">reduced the length of 110 mph track</a> and got price estimates that were $200 to $250 million cheaper.Mike Hickshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15257599090818492294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1008568241665831715.post-25882978778505938502011-09-02T19:18:02.113-05:002011-09-02T19:18:02.113-05:00Is the frequency going to be two-hourly throughout...Is the frequency going to be two-hourly throughout the day?<br /><br />Anyway, the travel time proposed is pretty good - it's fairly highway-competitive. Though, if the frequency is one train every two hours, maybe it'd be better to spend extra money on superelevating track and such to get trip time down to 1:50. It's probably impossible without both electrification and non-compliant trains, though. With a travel time somewhat less than 2:30, hourly service guarantees high rolling stock utilization, whereas two-hourly service involves trains sitting in the terminals depreciating for more than half an hour at a time.Alon Levyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12195377309045184452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1008568241665831715.post-23757501402822892802011-09-02T09:18:00.992-05:002011-09-02T09:18:00.992-05:00I think that last sentence is the most important d...I think that last sentence is the most important detail of the project which few will ever hear or understand.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02687312607902984438noreply@blogger.com