How long does it take for a train to come to a complete stop?

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asked Nov 13, 2019 in Rail by travisstaggs (400 points)
How long does it take for a train to come to a complete stop?

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answered Nov 14, 2019 by Essmann (42,860 points)
A train that is traveling at around 55 MPH needs between 1 to 2 miles before it can come to a complete stop.

So if your car is stuck on a train track crossing the train coming needs to be able to start applying the train brakes between 1 to 2 miles before they reach the track.

So it's important to call 911 to get the train stopped because trains cannot stop very quickly at all.

So the train can take around 30 minutes to as long as an hour to come to a complete stop after traveling around 55 MPH.

It takes longer for a train to stop than it does for a semi and trailer to stop.

The train that doesn't have any train cars behind it could stop within around 5 to 10 minutes or less depending on the speed they are traveling.

The longer length of train cars behind the train and the faster the train is traveling down the train tracks the longer it will take to stop the train and all those train cars.

The average length of a freight train is about 1 to 1ΒΌ miles in length (90 to 120 rail cars) and needs around 1 to 2 miles to stop.

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