tonnage at the lowest cost. The other on pure speed. Vehicle and truck/suspension
development also took diverging paths between the two continents. European trucks
are set much further in than their North American counterparts. Truck (bogey)
suspensions handle track anomalies much differently in Europe. Europeans do not
stagger joints as is done in North America. Rock-off is unheard of in jointed territory.
On the other hand, vehicle bounce can be accentuated.
Today though, the North American engineer may need to take a new look at how our
counterparts "across the pond" have surmounted the problems of dealing with
operating at high speeds within existing alignments. North American railways are
looking for ways to operate faster at lower costs. European tangential turnouts have
been successfully installed in a number of heavy-haul territories. There is renewed
interest in high-speed inter-city passenger trains with a number of feasibility studies
underway. A new 110-mph Amtrak/IDOT service between Chicago and Springfield,
Illinois will soon initiate service.