THEY ARE BEGINNING TO CATCH ON. In the comments to a Bellows post on freight rail expansion (which suffers from an Official Region perspective: let them come to Cajon Pass or to DeKalb or to Downers Grove and see what private capital is accomplishing) a commenter objects to the arbitrary and cartel-inspired speed restrictions.

That FRA rule for 79 mph (unless you install in-cab signaling) is another example of the horrendous regulations still placed on the railroads. Back in the day, the railroads managed to operate their express trains without in-cab signals and without problem - those passenger trains would routinely operate faster than 120 mph on straight sections of track - some of them, such as the Hiawatha between Minneapolis and Chicago, were actually steam trains operating at those speeds. The FRA regulation is not only unnecessary, it’s completely arbitrary.

The ensuing discussion ventures somewhat off the topic of freight railroad improvements to consider the tradeoffs inherent in government mandates of train speed or of crashworthiness (the two work to cross purposes in places.)

For historical accuracy, let us stipulate that Hiawatha speeds in the 100 mph range were routine, with 100-110 possible until the Roadmaster asked the engineers to tone it down a bit, around 1940.