About 10 years ago I was standing on the platform of Eastleigh station when a steam locomotive came through at speed. The whole place shook, it was amazing.
Steam locomotives are totally awesome to see and hear. It's as if they are alive. They were phased out for good reasons, but they sure were something. .
Bruh, yeah our trains in the uk hit 125mph at high speed . 100mph/160kmh on more regular services. It's a shame a big country like Australia doesent really do that If what your saying is true
I can say the exact same about the US. People always complain about trains in Britain, but this 28 second video alone shows that they're better than what most of the US has.
@@ncard00 By the time that happens it will be far too late. Especially in the US, where in spite of everything everyone drives huge SUVs and pickup trucks.
First time I went to America I went to the only place with high speed trains in the country - the North East Corridor - and as I was waiting for my train to Philadelphia an Acela went through the station at considerable speed. Since our beloved Yanks decided that the way they'll make trains safe is by making them indestructible, a battle tank disguised as a train just blasted past at 200 km/h and it felt like the entire station got dragged along by its mass. It was awesome.
The first generation Acela was designed with a top speed of 150mph (240kph) and second generation 220mph (352kph), but the maximum speed limit is 150mph.
In England they have painted yellow areas going about a meter in from the edge of the platform just as shown in this video. A friend from Canada was visiting and wanted to know how come such a wide area was needed. Just then an express train to London blasted past the platform and she discovered the answer. When these trains fly past they create a vacuum that actually pulls you towards the speeding train. It can be a bit frightening to suddenly get sucked in that way hence the meter wide no standing area.
@@JohnSmith-uy7sv he was referring to the yellow lines on the platform edges. Trains will sound their horns if they see people standing inside the yellow no stand zone. It’s about a meter wide and anybody not standing behind this area could be sucked in towards the side of the train cars.
I once found myself sitting on a bench in a railway station approximately 2 metres from a set of tracks. I noticed a passenger train approaching but did not pay much attention because I thought it was going to stop. Instead, it came past at approximately 150 kph at it was terrifying. I knew that if I stood up I would be a little closer to the tracks and possibly in danger. So, I just remained as still as I could. It was over in a few seconds, but I've never sat or stood that close to a railway since then.
no, I wanted to see a funny face. Eye's crossed, tongue sticking out. Something to make us laugh. What good is a pretty face if you can't use it to make people smile or laugh. Self deprecation is the best. 🤪🤪
In the late '50s I was on the platform at St.Albans City Station as a northbound express came thundering through when suddenly a lump of coal, the size of a breeze block, fell off the almost full tender! We jumped up onto some empty baggage trolleys as the block shattered into several pieces and flew along the platform, fortunately not hitting anyone. Within minutes there wasn't a trace left as the porter came out of his room with some buckets, shovel and broom , then scuttled back to his lair with his shiny black treasure!
@@varoonnone7159they were the only motive power until my 20s. but I am 76. Everything then was grey and gritty & smelled of coal, 0:28 steam and oil. Glorious! A steam locomotive is a living thing and it's all on show unlike electric or diesel traction.
The fact that the porter was Johnny on the spot for the right tools for the job speaks volumes about how often that happened. He was probably excited as he knew he was going to be able to heat his room that day.
Many years ago an elderly lady told me that everyone in rural Montana had been terrified of the new railroads that came through because the trains ran as fast as eight miles an hour.
I drive trains through Stevenage Station at 100mph often. Most of the time alot of people are so oblivious to the dangers of standing so close to the fast line platforms 2 and 3. I often have to sound my horn when I'm approaching just to alert people.
Peterborough last week: "the next train does not stop at this station. Stand well clear of the platform edge" I head to the yellow line with my kid, who holds my hand in anticipation. A minute later, a little two carriage commuter bimbles up to the end of the platform, stops for five minutes, then bimbles back out the way it came.
It says the same when my freight comes in and stops, and me and the driver swap over. I always think ‘it better had stop or I’ve come here for nothing’
It's dangerous and if you would stand on the yellow line, you would feel a mysterious force pushing you to the train (more like bottom of the train/wheels) and after the train passes. When the train is moving fast, it's pushing all air in front of the train outwards, creating a vacuum. Atmosphere don't like vacuums and it's trying to fill these spaces with air, and the only way for air to get there is by the gap between the train and the platform.
I nearly got sucked under a lorry's wheels by the same process. I was cycling along, a lorry came past me too fast and too close, and the air pressure pushed me against the side of the lorry again and again as it went past. I had to actually shove myself off the side of the lorry several times. If I had lost control of the bike I would have been under that lorry's wheels in a heartbeat! This was in the 1970s before they put barriers down the side of lorries between the wheels.
The "vacuum" you talk about is only created after the train. And pushing the air in front of it actually creates a push away from the train. But only at the front and a few meters behind the front. Then another effect takes over. The train forces the air beside it to go with the train because of friction between train and air molecules near the train, and this air is replaced by air further away from the train, floating towards the train's side. This is what you feel beside a fast moving train.
@@T0MT0Mmmmy "The "vacuum" you talk about is only created after the train." He has it correct and you have it only partially correct. The nose of the train blasts air *sideways* as it punches through. The inertia of the air means that immediately behind the nose of the train is going to be reduced air pressure and the air shoved aside will rebound back against the train. The same phenomenon happens with large ships in a passage or canal; there's a big reduction in water level when the *bow* passes; the water is displaced in ever direction and moving water has less volume; so does moving air, the Bernoulli principle. Then when the ship passes, a *hydraulic jump* comes along when the water stops moving aft of the ship and suddenly stops moving and has only one place to go, UP.
@@T0MT0Mmmmy "The train forces the air beside it to go with the train" Indeed; and that invokes the Bernoulli principle -- fast moving air has less pressure. So there's a tendency to draw in air along the sides. Obvoiusly the air has to go somewhere and all this air moving is *drag* and so the trains are streamlined to reduce this drag.
There used to be a sign on the Northbound platform at Milton Keynes station that read: "Don't stand too close to edge of the platform when the express trains pass, as you may get sucked off." - always raised a giggle, that one!
When my son was 2 years old, I thought it would be fun to show him the trains stopping at our local station. First train through did exactly that! I almost fainted! He on the other hand, was still sitting in the pram with a great big smile on his face. 😂
This is great but being on one of these trains and passing another fast train is even more amazing. Amazing the windows don't blow out, the impact is very noticeable.
The new high speed "Javelin" trains in the UK (the one at the end of the video) ARE Shinkansen... sort of. They are the Hitachi "Baby Shinkansen" which run fast services in mountainous areas where it wouldn't be practical to lay "proper" Shinkansen track. Only the ones in Japan have open, airy interiors with bespoke decor and themed carriages using, say, wood from, and traditional designs of, the cities they run between. In the UK this would be seen as way too "far right" and "nationalistic" (all the rolled eyes emoji in the world won't make it less true), so they have 2x3 cramped cram 'em in interiors.
Yes, you can be the same distance or even closer to the edge, but the train is going at 320 kph, around 200 mph! However, there is a solid barrier separating you from the track. Takes your breath away.
The major difference is that the Shinkansen uses a dedicated high-speed rail network (Shinkansen Line), while most other high-speed trains in European countries share the same tracks as the other trains which means that they will have to slow down quite a lot as the lines weren't made for those speeds back when they were built. Most German ICE trains can reach well above 300 km/h but most routes average at around 150 km/h because of the aforementioned drawbacks. Back then when Germany was still split in half, the German "Bundesbahn" decided to not build their own dedicated high-speed rail network, a dumb move in hindsight as you can reach most cities in Germany faster by car, than by train.
When I was in England studying in 1978, they ran a 150 Fast Train that was powered by 2 diesel engines, one on either end of the train. The station I stopped at for my center was not one where they slowed down. The first time I was there, I was standing next to the track when it came through. Not only was it fast as heck, it was LOUD with both diesel engines blasting.
I remember 48 years ago a train doing maybe 160 km/h passing Kelvedon in Essex while we were waiting for the following slow train to London. It was quite a shock to us then (in Denmark the speed limit was 140), although my parents had a garden next to the mainline in Denmark. Now, in Germany or in France it is very unspectacular going 250 or 300 km/h if you sit inside the train, but when a freight train pass at 100 or 120 km/h at our local station it is still quite frightening 😅
200 km/h is the maximum speed for mos British trains, but there are high speed services from Kent to London that will reach 225 km/h and the Eurostar has a top speed of 300 km/h. Understandably the Eurostar tracks are fenced off with high fences and don't pass local stations. Also the railways still use mph over here, but needed to convert this for you.
Here in the USA, We suck at train usage. mostly for freight, but EVERY WEEK, (NOT an exaggeration) somewhere here, a train derails and the clean up begins>>>>> again! I'm happy the trains HERE don't go that fast.....derailments would triple!!
Oh derailments have little to do with speed, it's about lacking maintenance something that's been a massive problem for american trains for a good wgile now, cost-cutting and overworking employees while giving them timetables that are impossible to make with properly executed inspections, and even then what gets caught may not get fixed at all. If american rail was properly funded and regulated, it could and should go this fast because that'd be good.
I was on the eastbound platform in Slough a while ago, which has a slight inside curve. Because of the connection to Windsor, there were a lot of tourists. I recall an American saying "Why the yellow line? Surely you'll know when a train is coming."... Well, I was looking down the track and saw an Intercity 125 coming: as usual he had closed the throttle to slow down before coming through the station, then "BLAAT!!!" full throttle again alongside the platform to get up to speed again: the guy just about jumped out of his skin! It was probably only doing about 80 mph, but just a few feet away that's pretty scary.
I used to repair railway ticket machines for a living, and some of our machines were set on the platforms. One in particular, somewhere in north London, seemed to have more through trains than any other I went to. I could almost feel the 2000lb machine move as they went past, and was very glad of the fence between me and the platform.
In Austria, after a baby in a pram was sucked under a freight train passing at high speed through a station a few years ago, there are now even more signs and other warnings in stations, along with tether points to tie prams and wheelchairs to fixed platform furniture, to remind people that trains passing through stations at high speed pose a risk.
@@OmmerSyssel white Europeans are perfectly capable of unbelievable stupidity and negligence, so don't insinuate that the above comment must be about immigrants.
I actually guessed this was Stevenage! The fast trains passing through the station there are WILD (much more so than they look in these videos)! The strong wind nearly knocks you over and it slams the doors of the waiting room open and shut with such force that they become dangerous weapons. On one occasion, I swooped a frail elderly lady in my arms and swung her around to prevent her from being blown away with the train!
75 MPH looks so much faster when you’re right there next to the platform. Saw a couple DMUs blow by the station by our AirBNB and the sounds were incredible.
I was once on an evening Shinkansen and wanted to see something in the distance, so I pressed my face against the window when another Shinkansen flew past in the opposite direction. It scared the heck out me. At least I didn't scream!
@@JohnSmith-uy7sv Never done that in my life. But gotta say, when your face is a few feet away from something that just flies past you at a combined speed of around 500+ kph you weren't expecting, I was more likely to lose a heart beat than my lunch!
No kidding! I was once on a platform North of London and I saw the high-speed train approaching... It was really moving so I stood around the end of the shelter when it went by... I could feel the suction!
Relatively few ride trains in the U.S., so it's not worth the investment. In fiscal year 2022 Amtrak had revenues of $2.1 billion and expenses of $4.1 billion, a loss of 2 billion. The U.S. is car obsessed. Everything is about the car and funding for highways.
Most of the UK only has relatively slow trains. The top speed there is typically 125 mph, same as much the United States. But since most trains in the US are freight trains, and freight doesn’t prioritize speed in the way passengers do, most trains in the United States are slower. This is in order to save fuel, and thus cost.
The reason you actually have to stand back is not in risk of getting hit by the train, it's that it moves so fast the air current near the train can pull you onto the tracks
When I was at the railway station on Sunday (8 Oct 2023) an automated announcement warned "Stand back from the platform, fast train approaching". Then a DMU trundled past at about 20mph. There was heavy rain with trains cancelled, so I expect it was proceeding cautiously in case of flooding or landslips.
@@iamgaijin88 I had to google it. 🙂 Japan has one of the highest suicide rates among OECD nations, and often, those taking their own lives do so by leaping from station platforms into the path of oncoming trains, with Japan averaging one such instance each day.May 22, 2018 That is insane. I was just making a joke of it and turns out, people do it for real. Wow.
@@JohnSmith-uy7sv Almost always on the commuter lines, and quite often the body is thrown back onto the platform, injuring waiting passengers. Only know of 2-3 suicides relateded to bullet trains, and one may have been an accident in a tunnel. One suicide in 2018, in West Japan cracked the nose of the bullet train, and left a red smear down the side. Driver thought he'd hit small animal. Body parts found down the line. Manager had to bow low and apologise to passengers for the delay.
There's a train I sometimes take to visit my parents which flies through a decent sized station at 160 km/h. I always find it entertaining to see the station flying by. (Belgian intercity train)
I liked this video wow them trains do go past very fast i remember standing on a platform in bramhall not far from manchester and theres a curve about half a mile up the track i remember a intercity passenger train coming around the curve and this girl said too me i would stand well back if i was you and she was right about 15 seconds later the train flew past us just like the trains in this video only back then the intercity trains had about 13 carriages you wouldn't think it wen it went past to fast to count how many , i liked the little smile at the end, i love trains , godbless you,
@@sandybruce9092 I get to do that on the regular since I'm working at a railroad museum with several operational steam engines. I even get to drive and/or fire them myself every now and then and I've got to say: Driving a big express engine yourself is an exponentially more breathtaking experience than simply watching it thunder past or riding it in the back. The moment you open up the throttle just enough to start moving with the beefiest of barks is always as magical as the first time, no matter how many times you experienced it already. I really envy my parents who got to grow up with those mechanical marvels still in active service.....
I am a large size lady. i stood up , behind the yellow line to take a photo of the irish rail 201 class locomotive on the front of a Dublin to Belfast Enterprise train . The train damn near blew me off my feet. I say again that i was well behind the yellow line .
Was a Signal Electrician in Sydney back in the 70's. Use to get a birds eye view of them. Scary thing was the way the rails and sleepers went up and down. Was on the Granville "Up" platform when the Bold Street Bridge came down on the 108 train from Mt Victoria.
Many years ago at Stevenage where this video is, I got too close or within yellow area train shot past I felt my body being sucked in, scared living daylights out me quick reactions saved my life. I understand its do with vacuum train creates at speed faster train ie above 100mph creates like vortex wind tunnel or slipstream around it. U can be sucked in too close.
I nearly got sucked off on a platform when a high speed train went passed, unfortunately it scared the woman I was with at the time and she wanted to go somewhere safer to do it.
Been there, (San Mateo, CA) done that... (Saw the train coming, thinking it was a bit early, which should have warned me) and then saw the sign "Express". Realizing the express does not stop at San Mateo, immediately got as far back as I can and STILL got blasted a huge gust of wind. Almost blew my baseball cap off (was going into SF for a baseball game).
I was standing on the platform of a small station in the Netherlands’s when a German ICE train went through. We were literally blown backwards. It was quite frightening actually and no warning was given by the station master
Here in Georgia(in the states), we have our public transit MARTA and i say they can go pretty fast. It takes approx 20 mins from the Airport to the central station. Even if you stand a bit further back from the platforms edge, you can really feel it since it creates alot of pressure at the front every it slows down to a stop at each station.
I have actually seen a couple of trains flying by at a few stations before. Mainly some Amtrak trains around Pennsylvania and New Jersey, USA. Not as fast as the trains over in Europe like in the UK, but still pretty fast.
I love how Americans talk about trains as if they were some novelty or from outer space. Travel on trains regularly as we do in Europe, and this is everyday
this feels slow to what I was thinking. I live off the NE Corridor in the US and when the accella comes by (our only high speed line) even tho it's not going "high speed" (probably about 70mph when it passes the station) damn the whole place shakes, and that's on the inner two lines. They never run it that fast right next to the platform.
This reminds me of an occasion when I was at Brooklands College (I left at the end of the 2009-2010 college year), when I was standing on Platform 2 at Hersham (that's the south one), and I was facing west (I must also add I didn't have headphones in or on), and a train came past without stopping right next to the Platform (scaring the crap out of me), and about 10 seconds or so later an automated voice came over the PA System saying "the next train on Platform 2 is not stopping at this station" and I remember thinking something along the lines of "of course it's not stopping at this station, it's just come through here!
In the 1970s, I used to use Worksop station occasionally. The platforms were nowhere near as wide as at Stevenage in this clip. Coal trains used to come through taking coal to the power stations in the area. Although these were slower than the passenger trains in this clip, they were terrifying because I could feel the vibration from their passage through the platform I was standing on, and the hopper wagons seemed to bounce and lurch, and I used to think "what would happen if they derailed?"
When I went to work in disney land paris in 1992. I was standing at the yellow line on the platform at esbly train station. When suddenly a massive freight train came through the station blowing my aran wool hat right off my head. You only have a second before you hear it coming. They go through the stations at full speed. Ironically one of my friends from home who was in France with us didn’t make it home alive. He was hit by one of these freight trains. His mother was never told the truth. She was distraught and probably still is today 31 years later. She could never understand why it was a closed coffin. I know why. He was only 22 . R.I.P mate.
Meadowhall station back in 2001.My mum and i was well behind the yellow line when through the tannoy came 'please stand back from the yellow line,fast train approaching".Me 'I can't see it,it can't be that fast'.We soon did,literally less than 20 seconds and it took your breath away.Lesson learnt-when told to stand back,stand back!
Express services, local and intercity. Standard practice, even in the days of steam. Only you must stand back, because the maximum speed of these trains is over 125 mph and then minimum is over 50 mph. The resulting updraft of air is potentially lethal, hence the warning markings on the platform.
When I go to Europe, I'm just going to spend a day traveling around the great train system and being able to get to small towns and big cities and even other countries and just explore the European landscape!
I lived in Kaiserlautern near the Hauptbahnhof and also near Einsiedlerhof station for over a year. Things were a bit slower because of local traffic and the faster trains doing "bypasses" near Einsiedlerhof (feeder into K-Town). BUT being there when a highspeed came thru was amazing!!!!! I was a military member given a WONDERFUL chance to be there for 4 years total assignment with USAF (Ramstein). IT WAS A JOY AND A PRIVILEGE TO BE IN SUCH AN OLD, AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL AND HISTORICAL country. The welcome (depending on where you traveled) was not always gracious and accepting, but that attitude is understandable and I made it a point to be gracious and friendly (and helpful when I could). I love the people there and the opportunities to visit almost everywhere (Berlin, at the time, was a little challenging, to be sure, but once you were in, people were, for the most part, happy to see us). Thank you, Deutschland! For the incredible hospitality for which I will LOVE YOU, FOREVER!!😍🙂😀😁😊🥰❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Not American/USAF but lived there for quite a while too, didn't expect to see Kaiserslautern/Einsiedlerhof in a comment lol, truly a great place/country, fully agree 🙌🙌
I too was privileged by the military. USN sent me to London for 3 years in the early 90’s. The tube and British Rail were definitely not high speed but what a dream assignment!
WOW! Really surprised to see a direct K-Town reference. Also at Ramstein AFB (back when it was W. Germany). Grew up there, 13 years. 1st grade through graduation at K-Town Amer HS. Just loved riding the [DB] Deutsches Bahn. A 10-wheeled steam engine would come right by the house in the village we lived in. Lots & lots of special Memories. Especially Der Volksmärchen & die Bierzelt (Bier Tents) am Karnevals.
I'm not German but Dutch, but do speak it also, so let me speak on their behalf and say, on behalf of all Europeans, thanks for your service here, and I'm glad you liked it! This video is actually in the UK though!
One of the reasons why my country decided to put barriers on the platforms. Also to stop people from jumping in front of the train. Used to just be a yellow line lol
@@renakunisaki Yes -most people would be too guarded and go off the rails trying to rise themselves above their station - it's videography par excellence and should be acclaimed as one of the best train films ever made in my opinion ! Pure genius.Well fairly pure genius.
Some of the infra on the NEC is over 100 years old. Outside of there, Amtrak is at the mercy of the freight rails who like to run trains that are too long to fit in sidings.
@@railworksamerica It doesn't, but freight trains don't fit in sidings anymore because the Class Is don't want to pay for employees, track repairs, or... literally anything.
East Midlands Parkway a very quiet station in the middle of nowhere... The sound of running water from the cooling towers, birds tweeting... then "the next train on platform two, does not stop here. Passengers are advised to stand back from the platform edge" about 30 seconds later THWUM THWUM THWUM THWUM THWUM THWUM THWUM THWUM THWUM THWUM then all quiet again.
@AHJ99. yep there have higher gear ratios for their motors. Class 387s are likely capable of 120 if bypassing software limitations. Theoretically anyway. They are geared for higher speeds than 110mph. Given how quick they reach 100mph. Id wager they coukd reach higher speeds above 115mph.
You're supposed to stand back not just because it's "frightening" but because of the Venturi Effect. The velocity of the train can create a localized drop in fluid (air) pressure which can actually pull you into the tracks if you're standing too close.
i can remember in the early 1990s at clapham junction station a man jumped in front of a intercity 125 going over 100 mph through the station it was very messy
