A bit late to this thread.
Originally Posted by
AndyPatterson
Finally -- but still several decades behind the rest of the world. Bullet trains in Asia and Europe go the equivalent of 200 to 265 miles per hour.
While I agree with the sentiment, very few HSR systems have day to day operational speeds in excess of 320kph (198 mph), and most are lower, with 300kph (186 mph) being more typical. The fastest system, the Shanghai Maglev, tops out at 431kph (268 mph) but is only 30 kilometers (19 miles) long.
Originally Posted by
garykung
Both Acela are designed as a tank, i.e. heavier and stronger than many high-speed trains, to sustain crashes, because many of them operate in a closed environment, but not Acela. Because of such design, Acela's speed has been heavily limited.
While Acelas are heavier than most other HSR trainsets, they also have performance characteristics to offset that weight. The current trainsets have a top speed of 165mph, and the new trainsets have a top speed of 186 (with tilting) or 220 (without tilting) mph (though operational top speed will be 160mph), so the heavier design is not a limitation on speed.
Also - Acela is built on existing system. But many high-speed start anew. For example, a new Osaka Station - Shin-Osaka Station was built especially for Shinkansen to reach Osaka. Yet - Acela shared the same station with Northeast Regional.
This is the bigger issue, though really about the tracks and not the stations. Indeed, Shinkansen literally means "new trunk line". Shinkansen generally run on their own dedicated tracks that were explicitly designed for higher speeds. (Top speeds vary according to how old the line is, from 240 - 320kph.) (In Tokyo, for example, the Shinkansen shares Tokyo station with lots of other lines, though it operates from its own dedicated platforms.)