My Grandfather worked as a machinist out of the old roundhouse in Kalamazoo. He started in 1916 fresh out of the Army in Bay City with what was then the Michigan Central RR. He retired in 1961 to care for my Grandmother who had Alzheimer's /Dementia. She passed away in August of '71 and Gramps died 4 months later in December of '71 and I believe it was from a broken heart.
Yep, works out to 115mph by my math! I timed each carriage at around 0.5 seconds, and they are 85' 4" long (but I rounded to just 85'): 85/0.5 = 170 feet per second 170*3600 = 612,000 feet per hour 612,000/5,280 = 115.91 mph Although, if we are a bit more precise...and say the cars are 85.33 feet long, and they are going by in more like 0.53 seconds each... That yields 161 feet per second, or 109.77 mph Which is likely correct, as the "official" speed on that line is 110 mph...but who cares!
State of Michigan owns the track between Kalamazoo, MI and Porter, IN. That ~100 mile stretch is limited to Amtrak only (no freight trains). That stretch was basically rebuilt as high speed rail between 2009 and 2012 (rail and grade crossings, etc). The Wolverine and the Blue Water do 110 mph on that stretch of track....and have been doing 110 mph for over a decade.
@@keithchartrau1970this is incorrect. Amtrak owns Porter to Kzoo. Michigan owns Kzoo to Dearborn. The entire stretch is in the process of being made 110mph if it isn’t done yet.
I lived a lot closer to the Grand Rapids station/Pere Marquette route, but would make the extra effort to go to Kalamazoo to get the Wolverine or Blue Water.. I saved almost an hour
Too bad the US isn't covered with fast trains like this. An 850 mile trip on Amtrak is 44 hours! And that's not counting the inevitable multi hour delays.
In the UK we have places where trains go through level crossings at 125mph. Network rail is obsessed with shutting these places down for obvious reasons.
That’s actually 110mph. Max speed of the Michigan line is 110mph and it hasn’t changed. Also seeing the fact that there is a railroad crossing and the FRA rarely certified crossings for speeds past 110mph, this is indeed 110mph. Still sort of fast though. Nice catch!
Brightline IS operating at 125 mph on the new grade separated segment from Cocoa to the Orlando airport. There was a delay in the 110 mph segment of the FEC track until all the signal certifications were completed, but that only held the trains to 90 mph. FULL SPEED AHEAD now !@@danielh1708
BL does 125 mph Cocoa to Orlando (sealed corridor), up to 110 Cocoa to West Palm - same as here, grade crossings limit them (Hourly 16 round trips a day wish they could do it in MI). They are talking about 150 mph Orlando to Tampa (2029) in a sealed corridor but I don't understand how 2 Chargers can reach that speed. They're planning BL West from SoCal to Vegas by 2028 at over 180 mph, that'll be the fastest in the US. Can't wait! BL West started work this week.
@@michianarailfanamtrak engineer here, i work blue water and wolverines. 110 is max. and depending on your definition of kalamazoo city limits, no trains are doing 110 near kalamazoo (at least in the downtown area. its all 45 and 30)
I just booked ticket on this for a trip from PNT to CHI. It’s been like 11 years since I’ve been on this route, looking forward to it. Also love the video and sound!
That's crazy! I see these types of Amtrak trains speeding through my town all the time. They should make this crossing have 4 gates so people don't try to go around them.
My assumption is the gate goes across the full width of the road, it's probably a narrow road. Anything over 79mph line speed requires quad gates or that the gate go across the full width of the road if a narrow road.
Definitely! Because where I live, all the railroad crossings have 4 gates, including signs saying trains may exceed 80 MPH and ignoring railroad crossing signals is a $500 fine.
@@michianarailfan but why do the rail authorities reduce speeds at some places and not allow them run their best to meet up with modern demands like it's obtainable else where
My Grandfather worked as a machinist out of the old roundhouse in Kalamazoo. He started in 1916 fresh out of the Army in Bay City with what was then the Michigan Central RR. He retired in 1961 to care for my Grandmother who had Alzheimer's /Dementia. She passed away in August of '71 and Gramps died 4 months later in December of '71 and I believe it was from a broken heart.
Cheers for sharing…🙏 from an ex machinist in 🇳🇿
He was flying!
Yep, works out to 115mph by my math!
I timed each carriage at around 0.5 seconds, and they are 85' 4" long (but I rounded to just 85'):
85/0.5 = 170 feet per second
170*3600 = 612,000 feet per hour
612,000/5,280 = 115.91 mph
Although, if we are a bit more precise...and say the cars are 85.33 feet long, and they are going by in more like 0.53 seconds each...
That yields 161 feet per second, or 109.77 mph
Which is likely correct, as the "official" speed on that line is 110 mph...but who cares!
The wolverine route should be electrified at this point, and perhaps upgraded with class 7 tracks
Believable
Very nice catch 🔥
Wow! Fast.
Wow!!!
woah!
That's about 90mph. No where near 115mph. I work at track level where trains routinely run at 125mph. The noise of the cars passing is too slow.
Definitely not 90, trains at this part of the track run 110-115
@@michianarailfansome people r blind lol
That looks like 85mph…
it’s not
for sure not 85
camera takes away 50mph so
Good catch at a great spot bud
Why thank you!
That is sure FLYING fast!
Dude i didn't know they could go that fast outside the nec
I think it's the *only* place outside the NEC that Amtrak owns the tracks completely, so they can run at these speeds.
Chicago-St Louis and around Albany, NY also have segments of 110 MPH trackage.@@AmandaClark-n9u
State of Michigan owns the track between Kalamazoo, MI and Porter, IN. That ~100 mile stretch is limited to Amtrak only (no freight trains). That stretch was basically rebuilt as high speed rail between 2009 and 2012 (rail and grade crossings, etc). The Wolverine and the Blue Water do 110 mph on that stretch of track....and have been doing 110 mph for over a decade.
@@keithchartrau1970this is incorrect. Amtrak owns Porter to Kzoo. Michigan owns Kzoo to Dearborn. The entire stretch is in the process of being made 110mph if it isn’t done yet.
Dam! 🦫
Ikr
That's wolverine service 352
Thank you
@@michianarailfan anytime
@@michianarailfan on May 11 on national train day, I'll be Railfanning in Royal Oak, are you interested to come railfan in Royal Oak
@@wideworldofkevinstransport2002I wish I could man, i live a good 2 and a half hours away from there, maybe even 3
We don’t care!
I lived a lot closer to the Grand Rapids station/Pere Marquette route, but would make the extra effort to go to Kalamazoo to get the Wolverine or Blue Water.. I saved almost an hour
Absolute HELLFIRE!
Wow!
A little problem with the LED ditch lights?
Interesting how, as this massive, fast moving behemoth gets farther and farther away.....it looks like its barely moving!!
beats
That was actually 114 MPH 😂
Too bad the US isn't covered with fast trains like this. An 850 mile trip on Amtrak is 44 hours! And that's not counting the inevitable multi hour delays.
Which train are you referring to?
How did you know the speed was 115?
It’s track speed on the Amtrak Michigan line for all Amtraks
@@michianarailfan they upped it from 110?
@@Midwesttrains21 from what I heard
@@michianarailfan that's cool
@@Midwesttrains21 I enjoy it
Geez, slow train to Palookaville. 😴
Nice!
I live in kalamazoo! :)
Wow!!! That Wolverine would have disintegrated anything that would have gotten in its way. Great footage!!!
WOW
That seems awfully fast to be going through level grade crossings!
In the UK we have places where trains go through level crossings at 125mph. Network rail is obsessed with shutting these places down for obvious reasons.
Awesome
That was awesome!
That’s actually 110mph. Max speed of the Michigan line is 110mph and it hasn’t changed.
Also seeing the fact that there is a railroad crossing and the FRA rarely certified crossings for speeds past 110mph, this is indeed 110mph. Still sort of fast though. Nice catch!
Fastest trains outside the NEC currently.
@@danielh1708 Actually, that would be Brightline Florida.
@banksrail Odd...I heard that brightline hadn't started operating at the full speed yet. I'll check it out.
Brightline IS operating at 125 mph on the new grade separated segment from Cocoa to the Orlando airport. There was a delay in the 110 mph segment of the FEC track until all the signal certifications were completed, but that only held the trains to 90 mph. FULL SPEED AHEAD now !@@danielh1708
BL does 125 mph Cocoa to Orlando (sealed corridor), up to 110 Cocoa to West Palm - same as here, grade crossings limit them (Hourly 16 round trips a day wish they could do it in MI). They are talking about 150 mph Orlando to Tampa (2029) in a sealed corridor but I don't understand how 2 Chargers can reach that speed. They're planning BL West from SoCal to Vegas by 2028 at over 180 mph, that'll be the fastest in the US. Can't wait! BL West started work this week.
Amtrak is technically only supposed to be going 110 MPH
Amtraks Michigan line they bumped it up to 115
@@michianarailfan oh
@@michianarailfanWhere did you see that? I’ve been trying to find info on that
@@michianarailfanamtrak engineer here, i work blue water and wolverines. 110 is max. and depending on your definition of kalamazoo city limits, no trains are doing 110 near kalamazoo (at least in the downtown area. its all 45 and 30)
@@alexbaker2851I've seen blue water 364 doing 112 west of Kalamazoo
I just booked ticket on this for a trip from PNT to CHI. It’s been like 11 years since I’ve been on this route, looking forward to it. Also love the video and sound!
Oh nice! I’m going to Chicago and taking one of the trains back to Kalamazoo, I’m going out of Bangor on P371. When are you going?
@@michianarailfan Feb 23rd to Feb 26th
@@tengoindiamike oh nice! I’m going sometime in April to railfan for a couple of days
That's crazy! I see these types of Amtrak trains speeding through my town all the time. They should make this crossing have 4 gates so people don't try to go around them.
My assumption is the gate goes across the full width of the road, it's probably a narrow road. Anything over 79mph line speed requires quad gates or that the gate go across the full width of the road if a narrow road.
Definitely! Because where I live, all the railroad crossings have 4 gates, including signs saying trains may exceed 80 MPH and ignoring railroad crossing signals is a $500 fine.
In better times, they used to make Gibson and Epiphone guitars here.
And world famous mandolins
Do American trains really run this fast? Because everywhere I see is mocking American trains as slow compared to Chinese
Chinese trains do run faster, but Amtrak at this line runs 110-115
@@michianarailfan but why do the rail authorities reduce speeds at some places and not allow them run their best to meet up with modern demands like it's obtainable else where
@@elacorp Curves, small towns, restrictions
@@elacorp Not having the correct, updated track to safely run at those speeds.
@@elacorp Grade crossings too
Awesome.
Amtrak needs to be faster
They can’t go any faster.