How many trains that can run faster than its current top speed?

[Prestige15]

We all know that the HST did reach over 140mph, as well as 91/MK4 did about 160mph and apparently a 156 once hit 90mph (im guessing during testing when they were new). Is there any other stock that has traveled faster than its current top speed?

Class 8XX will no doubt can and I think the Voyager could also do 140mph (When Virgin Trains made an order they said their new trains can go upto 140, so that would include the Voyagers)

I'm not sure if class 67 has ever went faster than 110mph despite its top speed of 125mph

 

[Some guy]

An 802 managed to do 148 mph last year on the east coast although was a complete accident

 

[800301]

A 387 will accelerate past 110 very easily

 

[43096]

We all know that the HST did reach over 140mph, as well as 91/MK4 did about 160mph and apparently a 156 once hit 90mph (im guessing during testing when they were new). Is there any other stock that has traveled faster than its current top speed?

Class 8XX will no doubt can and I think the Voyager could also do 140mph (When Virgin Trains made an order they said their new trains can go upto 140, so that would include the Voyagers)

I'm not sure if class 67 has ever went faster than 110mph despite its top speed of 125mph

Class 67 was tested at 125mph.

 

[yorkie]

Is there any other stock that has travelled faster than its current top speed?

I've read on here numerous times that all stock is tested at speeds of up to 10% higher than the regular top speed; can anyone confirm?

 

[cool110]

Stadler don't seem to know how fast the 777/1 will go on battery. Their spec sheet says 100km/h (62mph), but the press release says 80km/h (50mph).

 

[D6130]

Is there any other stock that has traveled faster than its current top speed?

Class 20 locomotives originally had a maximum permissible speed of 75 mph (later reduced to 60) and class 37s 90 mph (later reduced to 80mph). I'm not sure whether or not class 20s ever reached 75 between Derby and Nottingham on the Summer weekend Skegness trains, but East of Nottingham the line speed limit is 60 or less. In the mid/late 1960s a small group of Landore-based 37s were specially modified to run at 100 mph double-heading Paddington-Bristol services. Certain Eastfield-based 37s also occasionally stood in for non-available 27s on the 90 mph Glasgow-Edinburgh push-pull services in the early 1970s.

 

[Whistler40145]

I've had a pair of 37s doing 100 on a railtour

 

[Flange Squeal]

I believe Class 458s were originally designed for 100mph operation, but in reality were only permitted to do 90mph. In more recent times their reconfiguration into 458/5s saw this reduced to 75mph, however this does mean the current units (including coaches pinched from the Class 460s) will have in the past travelled faster than their current maximum speed perfectly legitimately during their brief original spell on some outer suburban mainline workings when new. The current scheme to reconfigure the units once again back into four car units will, I believe, see them given 100mph capability.

 

[YourMum666]

A 8xx could definitely hit 160 if given enough space to do it, a 387 would hit 125 easily

 

[HOOVER29]

We all know that the HST did reach over 140mph, as well as 91/MK4 did about 160mph and apparently a 156 once hit 90mph (im guessing during testing when they were new). Is there any other stock that has traveled faster than its current top speed?

Class 8XX will no doubt can and I think the Voyager could also do 140mph (When Virgin Trains made an order they said their new trains can go upto 140, so that would include the Voyagers)

I'm not sure if class 67 has ever went faster than 110mph despite its top speed of 125mph

During testing in Spain I’m sure I read somewhere that 67002 hit 143mph

 

[hexagon789]

We all know that the HST did reach over 140mph, as well as 91/MK4 did about 160mph and apparently a 156 once hit 90mph (im guessing during testing when they were new). Is there any other stock that has traveled faster than its current top speed?

Class 8XX will no doubt can and I think the Voyager could also do 140mph (When Virgin Trains made an order they said their new trains can go upto 140, so that would include the Voyagers)

I'm not sure if class 67 has ever went faster than 110mph despite its top speed of 125mph

HST - 148, record run
IC225 - 162, in testing
80x - 154, in testing/at least 148 in non-test conditions
22x - 137.5 in testing
67 - 143, in testing
156 - at least 85, unofficially and in service on several occasion

Class 20 locomotives originally had a maximum permissible speed of 75 mph (later reduced to 60) and class 37s 90 mph (later reduced to 80mph). I'm not sure whether or not class 20s ever reached 75 between Derby and Nottingham on the Summer weekend Skegness trains, but East of Nottingham the line speed limit is 60 or less. In the mid/late 1960s a small group of Landore-based 37s were specially modified to run at 100 mph double-heading Paddington-Bristol services. Certain Eastfield-based 37s also occasionally stood in for non-available 27s on the 90 mph Glasgow-Edinburgh push-pull services in the early 1970s.

Although it has been stated in a few places that the 37s were modified for the 100mph GWML services, in actual fact, nothing was altered from the base design. As built, the 37s shared the same bogie design as the Deltics with the same 106mph gearing.

Some members were later 80mph max, as they had new, reduced gearing bogies fitted.

During testing in Spain I’m sure I read somewhere that 67002 hit 143mph

Yes, recorded as 230km/h - but that is basically 143mph.

 

[RichJF]

Wasn't a Class 321 tested up to 117 mph on Stoke Bank? Or is that an urban legend?

Pretty sure there's an account of a 4REP doing 110 mph+ near Staplehurst during the pre-Eurostar testing.

 

[BluePenguin]

An 802 managed to do 148 mph last year on the east coast although was a complete accident

How did that happen?

 

[AlterEgo]

All stock can in practice travel faster than its theoretical design speed.

How did that happen?

A TPE Class 802 got up to 145mph - A record?

Gareth Dennis mentioned that tpe pushed the 802 up to 148mph? in the last week or so. Hence stealing the crown for fastest non high speed rail service in UK? (Altho didn't hst do 153?) Curiously not seen this anywhere in the press. Supposedly it was a mistake.

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[BluePenguin]

All stock can in practice travel faster than its theoretical design speed.

A TPE Class 802 got up to 145mph - A record?

Gareth Dennis mentioned that tpe pushed the 802 up to 148mph? in the last week or so. Hence stealing the crown for fastest non high speed rail service in UK? (Altho didn't hst do 153?) Curiously not seen this anywhere in the press. Supposedly it was a mistake.

www.railforums.co.uk

Thank you

 

[CW2]

When class 90s deputised for unavailable 91s on the ECML services, their 110 mph top speed was often exceeded, especially when driven from the DVT, until the loco owners (RfD) caught on and cracked down on it.

The maximum speed of all class 37s was reduced to 80 mph after the refurbishment programme started, as it was deemed "too difficult /confusing" to have some locos passed for 80 mph and others for 90 mph. By that time the use of 37s on class 1 passenger services was much diminished in any case.

 

[Class15]

When class 90s deputised for unavailable 91s on the ECML services, their 110 mph top speed was often exceeded, especially when driven from the DVT, until the loco owners (RfD) caught on and cracked down on it.

Yep. The owners weren’t very happy at all.

The maximum speed of all class 37s was reduced to 80 mph after the refurbishment programme started, as it was deemed "too difficult /confusing" to have some locos passed for 80 mph and others for 90 mph. By that time the use of 37s on class 1 passenger services was much diminished in any case.

So basically they couldn’t be bothered to have subclasses?

 

[D6130]

So basically they couldn’t be bothered to have subclasses?

I think the problem was that there were already too many sub-classes....and that's where the confusion could have arisen.

 

[75A]

In the early 80's there was a 00:01 turn on Boxing Day morning, to take a pair of 73's 'light' from Brighton to Victoria for the Brighton & Eastbourne paper trains. It would take less than 40 minutes and the limit of a 'Shoebox' was 90mph..............

 

[AM9]

Dare I say it, the class 769 was reported to be capable of 100mph in EMU mode (verifiable as a fully loaded class 319 could just about reach 100mph in service), and 90mph as a DEMU, (the 75mph limit was imposed as a restriction to reduce track charges as the additional weight of the gensets under the driving cars might increase track maintenance requirements).

 

[Ash Bridge]

A class 86 E3173 (later 86204) reputed reached 129mph/208 kph during a test run on the WCML between Leighton Buzzard and Tring in 1970. I’m going to admit to being old enough to recall this being covered in the railway media back at the time.

E3173

E3173 as fitted with a streamlined nose cone that was made at the plastics development unit Derby...E3173 was involved on sunday speed trials between Tring and Leighton Buzzard in Oct/Nov 1970 and reached a speed of 129mph...the nose cone looks very similar to the later prototype HST and these...

www.flickr.com

 

[SteveM70]

I’m sure I’ve read somewhere (maybe on here?) of a 158/pacer lash up being driven from the 158 and the driver forgetting the other half of his train wasn’t supposed to go that fast

 

[MrJeeves]

The Class 442s did the third-rail speed record of 109 mph. Their official top speed was 100 mph.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I'm not sure overspeed testing runs are of any relevance to passengers on regular trains.
I expect all new trains will have limiters in place, either by the manufacturers or operators, or by the signalling (eg ETCS) imposing ATC limits.
There will always be a safety overlap between maximum service speed and train capability.
Controls can be turned off for testing, but then you run into risks like the TGV derailment in 2015 at Eckwersheim (near Strasbourg) where the crew of a test train did not observe the reducing line speeds approaching the end of the high-speed section.

 

[gingertom]

When class 90s deputised for unavailable 91s on the ECML services, their 110 mph top speed was often exceeded, especially when driven from the DVT, until the loco owners (RfD) caught on and cracked down on it.

pretty sure I read that the classv90s were designed and built as 125mph locos, but were restricted to 110mph until modifications to the brakes were carried out? These mods were never carried out (= too expensive?) so 110mph they remained.

 

[InTheEastMids]

Interesting, all the differences between
- testing / 1-off special situations (or what might be technically feasible)
- drivers inadvertently exceeding the maximum speed of the train
- where the design speed is higher than the service speed

On the last point, given the IC225, 390 and 80x are all (I believe) designed for 140mph operation, then there's been 40y of (over?)-specifying intercity trains with 140mph capability, but other than HS1, basically no 140mph infrastructure, which I think is also noteworthy.

 

[karlbbb]

Stadler don't seem to know how fast the 777/1 will go on battery. Their spec sheet says 100km/h (62mph), but the press release says 80km/h (50mph).

Guess it's a good job the new up and down Headbolt lines are only 20/40 limit on the non-electrified part

 

[mp01]

Class 20 locomotives originally had a maximum permissible speed of 75 mph (later reduced to 60) and class 37s 90 mph (later reduced to 80mph). I'm not sure whether or not class 20s ever reached 75 between Derby and Nottingham on the Summer weekend Skegness trains, but East of Nottingham the line speed limit is 60 or less.

I'm pretty sure pairs of 20s did more than 75mph on the downhill run in to Sheffield on SO Skegness to Sheffield in the 1980s.

 

[YourMum666]

390s could do 155mph maxed out I believe