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ICE test train reaches speeds of up to 405.0 km/h

(www.deutschebahn.com)
113 points doener | 6 comments | 29 Jun 25 22:43 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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fjfaase ◴[30 Jun 25 04:24 UTC] No.44419355[source]▶
I fear that the general public in Germany will not be praising this achievement. The once efficient and punctional trains in Germany have deteriorated severely in the past years due to lots of delayed maintenance causing lots of delays and even regular cancelations of trains. Also the road infrastructure is suffering from delayed maintenance.
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attendant3446 ◴[30 Jun 25 04:44 UTC] No.44419471[source]▶
That's exactly it, it's not the new top speed they need, they lack efficiency. And it's not just Deutschebahn. For example BVG, who runs busses and U-bahn in Berlin is even less reliable.
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simianwords ◴[30 Jun 25 05:22 UTC] No.44419707[source]▶
I think higher speeds can help efficiency. For example it can help catch up a train that has been delayed.
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pixelfarmer ◴[30 Jun 25 05:38 UTC] No.44419791[source]▶
It can, but it requires the track to be free in front of it and being allowed to go at the required speed to catch up.
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1. simianwords ◴[30 Jun 25 05:42 UTC] No.44419814[source]▶
Yes but it’s a strictly better situation to be in although your point is valid.
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2. eptcyka ◴[30 Jun 25 05:46 UTC] No.44419840[source]▶
Do you imply that trains would normally run slower than what they can safely achieve?
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3. simianwords ◴[30 Jun 25 06:04 UTC] No.44419937[source]▶
i don't know where i implied that but it is well known that this is the case in order to give buffer time.
4. Brian_K_White ◴[30 Jun 25 06:08 UTC] No.44419964[source]▶
Everything always runs at 80% down to even 50% for normal 99% of the time operation. Not just trains, everything.
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5. tonfa ◴[30 Jun 25 06:21 UTC] No.44420058[source]▶
With clock face scheduling (like in CH and planned for Germany) they very much do since schedules are optimized to align with periodicity.

On some Swiss lines it's fairly common to have trains recover their delay at departure (which also avoids cascading impact).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock-face_scheduling

6. Propelloni ◴[30 Jun 25 07:29 UTC] No.44420460{3}[source]▶
What was the old chestnut? A traffic jam is a highway at 100% capacity? Something like that, can't remember who said it. Niels Pfläging perhaps?