Do trains go slower or faster at night? Well they actually go the same speed. But at night passenger trains are far less, so journey times on the railroad for cargo train are less. Therefore their trip duration is often shorter.
Trains are used throughout the world to move cargo or people, and they do operate around the clock, trains do run at night.
Do Trains Go Slower At Night?
Short answer: Yes and No.
Trains go at the same speed or even faster (explained in the next paragraph) at night as they do during the day.
Darkness doesn’t directly affect how a train operates and at what speed.
However, If you ever traveled with AmTrak, you most probably realized that the disembarking takes place at convenient hours.
While the traffic congestion is not as bad during the night, passenger trains may have to slow down so they won’t get to their destination outside of the “convenient hours”, imagine having to disembark at 4:00 AM instead of 7:00 AM.
Do Trains Go Faster At Night
Short answer: Yes and No (again)
Depending on certain circumstances, trains might run faster at night than during the day, let’s look at those circumstances.
Freight trains will sometimes go faster during the nighttime, the reason is that during the night, there are less passenger trains on the tracks.
Why Do Freight Trains Run Faster At Night
Freight trains have to give way to faster trains. For example, passenger trains. While there are not so many passenger trains traveling during the nighttime, freight trains may run with fewer stops.
While all these scenarios don’t necessarily imply that the train travels at a higher speed. Freight trains especially will have faster journeys in because there are less trains on the track.
Do Freight Trains Delay Passenger Trains.
Absolutely they do. The leading cause of Amtrak passenger train delays is freight trains. Why you ask? Well, Federal law states that passenger trains do have preference over freight, but this is not abided by. I mean it is something that is always ignored and often hard to police or enforce.
It is also worth mentioning that sometimes watching a train travelling at the same speed during the night, might look like it is going faster than during day time. I always seem to think this is the case.
Safe travelling
