At least a stop at a major hub will take that time. Basically, you don't only have the time spent stopped at the station, but you also have long period of acceleration and deceleration - an ICE3 takes 3km to stop from full speed in normal conditions according to a quick google search. Also, trains usually have to move extremely slow (40 km/h) in the surrounding area of a station... and the larger the station, the more switches.
> Travel time by train is mostly about how many stops you need (which add through wait times)
The wait times are not the big problem - the problem is the time needed to decelerate and accelerate the train at each stop. E.g. a freight train of 1.200 tons needs 1km from 100 km/h to 0, and a high-speed passenger train, e.g. ICE 3, needs 3.3km from 330 km/h to 0.
> So within 5-10 minutes, your train has arrived, people have disembarked, you have boarded, and your train has left
Isn't this pretty standard SOP for how long-distance trains stop at intermediate stations around the world?
I've recently travelled in Germany and Austria and their ICE and Railjet trains, respectively, have stops of only 2-3 minutes at a majority of intermediate stations.
I left that out because the train is also subject to delays, and if you are quick with the pit stops it's no more than the time spent getting in and out of the station (you don't want to arrive at the station the moment it's leaving)
The hard limit is a function of stops, layout, train length and acceleration/deceleration ability, and finally the signal system.
Each train has to approach a station, brake, stop, wait while people enter and leave, start and accelerate, all at safe distance to the trains in front and behind. Braking, standing still and starting easily add up to a minute, so a two-minute cycle time is hard even if the track layout is friendly (evenly spaced stations, no mutexes in the central area, etc).
There's an intriguing way that railways handle the transition around here (central Europe): one way, trains stop in stations for an hour, the other, they all get an +1 hr delay at next station.
In Japan they might be a little delayed. In Boston the trains just don't come at all. One time I was stuck on a train for four hours because a switch was frozen (normally a 40 minute trip).
Ok so they've already really factored in all the time for all the stops and the inevitable delays... Wow, then my question is... why is the train so slow!
If you're at a bad rail stop (like the first one outside of the central part of a city going outbound at rush hour) it's not uncommon to have to wait two or three trains just to be able to board. In a city like Singapore or London it might not be too long since many of their trains are automated (in Singapore they're all automated/driverless) and the busy lines are allocated enough cars to arrive 1 minute apart or less apart.
Even in cities like Chicago where they arrive 3~5 minutes apart at rush hour, you might still be waiting 30 minutes .. like I was yesterday. ... I really prefer finding crap to do in the city or people to hang out with so I can wait out the rush.
These are high speed trains, but Britain hasn't upgraded the tracks, so they run at less than full speed. But the door design and number of passengers is what matters for the duration of a stop at a station, and as you can see, it's around 1-3 minutes.
It's certainly a factor, but it's not like the long distance Amtrack train I once used, which stopped for 5-15 minutes at most stops.
The trains typically stop for ~16 seconds at a time. Even on say 8 platforms thats under 3 mins.
Plenty of time for gaps between lighting up! (could also alternate colours with blinking)
6.5 hours for 300km sounds very slow. Is that because it's only a single track, and you lose a lot of time when passing oncoming trains? Or is the track not straight enough for fast trains?
The high-speed trains in China wait for about 60 seconds at each stop.
How many times a station gets stopped at varies, the busy stations by most trains, other stations maybe only twice a day. There's often a handful of direct routes every day. All this means the scheduling of stops must be precise, especially on longer route, e.g the 4-hr Wuhan-Guangzhou line.
Sure, HSR is gonna have it worse than a minute, I was thinking of, say, subways and light commuter rail, with the 1 minute lower bound. Some of those don't spend more than about a minute not at full speed for some stations, including door-open time and de-/ac-cellerating. No train where people aren't traveling very light and prepared to get off fast is going to get quite that low a stop time, though, true.
But you're always limited by loading time. If you take X seconds at each stop then you will end up with X * speed distance between each car. Even at 30s loading and 50 kph you're looking at 400 meters between each train.
Also the travel takes ~4h15m (RE->RE) instead of ~1h50m (ICE).
If your traveling at a time where the RE is not over crowded and you can spend the time well it's okay. If not, especially if the train is overcrowded in parts of the travel and it's really hot it's shit.
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