Slashdot Mirror
Amtrak Bullet Train Leaves Station
Java Pimp writes "USA Today is reporting "America's first bullet train pulled out of Union Station on time Thursday morning. The snub-nosed Acela Express made the Washington-to-New York trip in two hours, 26 minutes, arriving two minutes ahead of schedule and setting an Amtrak speed record when it hit 135 mph in New Jersey. The old record was 125 mph. The train was expected to reach its top speed of 150 mph later in the day on the trip from New York to Boston.""
Any opinions on what the best way to go would be?
Well, I don't travel out there that often, but I do make a round now and then. From what I remember, a round trip air shuttle flight between those three cities typically (non-promotional rate) costs between $150 and $300, depending on what times and what airports you use. Major hubs, like JFK, are cheaper to go to/from than regional airports, like Baltimore.
If I remember, the rail between Boston and New York is supposed to take about three hours, and a plane flight takes about an hour, not counting airport check in time and security, etc. If the train stations at both ends are in convenient places, it might be about a wash, time-wise.
The problem is that when you get out to larger distances, the proportion of check in time to travel time gets smaller, and air travel is just faster. So to make it time-economical, you need high-traffic routes that aren't much farther apart than Boston and New York or Washington and Philadelphia, and you just don't get that much of anywhere in the US besides the east coast. They'd have to get significantly cheaper to compete with airlines anywhere else.
BMagneton
If one Amtrak train leaves Boston at 6:15 AM for New York traveling at 125 mph and another leaves New York at 7:20 AM for Boston traveling at 140 mph, at what time will they crash?