Chilter Railways Class 68 (Stadler Eurolight) acceleration 0-98mph (159km/h)

How fast do the Chiltern Railways Class 68 locomotive hauled trains accelerate from rest to their top speed of 100mph?
Here we sample a 7 coach train comprised of 6 mark III coaches and a DVT being propelled away from a station stop at High Wycombe towards London Marylebone.
The gradient starts out level for around a mile and three quarters, followed by a short downhill stretch of 1 in 300, followed by another brief stretch of level track. Then comes a climb up a shallow 1 in 750 followed by a more taxing 1 in 225 up through White House Farm Tunnel. Despite the gradient, the '68' manages to propel its load to 98mph by Beaconsfied in around 4.5 minutes. The initial start was disappointing - 0-60mph taking 1 minute 40 seconds - as opposed to a storming 1 min 22 seconds from Banbury earlier in the day. The 0-100mph time of 4,5 minutes is creditable taking into account the gradients...and is one of the reasons these modern diesel locomotives seem to have attracted an enthusiastic following among rail enthusiasts. The railwaymen that work these trains say they are reliable too!

[@ChangesOneTim]

What a noisy CAT!! But hellfire.

[@MarioStahl1983]

For a diesel train the acceleration is pretty good. To be clear: I will always be in favor of electrifying ALL British railway lines. But even I acknowledge that class 68 really makes a difference in comparison to older diesel trains. At the stations you can literally see the significant reduction in emissions.

[@talalzakry]

Dear yes it`s good for a diesel locomotive hauled train , but the DMU has much impressive acceleration and decceleration , i read some where that the class 225 can do 0-60 mph in 40 seconds !!! but of course this comes on the expence of more maintenance financial and physical burden for each car , so in conclusion diesel might be more epic and more action and amusing (especially sound and challengling in reaching the cruising speed) but connclusion must be said diesel traction can never be compared to electrifacation especially in a small area country like the UK , not as much costing and complicating and needs time and challenging as vast continental countries like china . us canada australia , accept my regards especially as we both share great love for diesel traction , but change to electric traction world wide is inevitable .