Time for a "Super Super-C"?

Dominic Mazoch posted:

Coal is off.  Other items are off.  Fuel is rather cheap.

So this might be the right time for the railroads to try something.  Take/build some spine platforms, place high speed trucks on them, and run a "Super Super-C".   If it works, great.  If not, well, they tried.

The railroads need to be bold!

First, there would have to be customers willing to pay a premium for such service. More than 10 years ago, BNSF and NS instituted a premium run-through service between New Jersey and Los Angeles, for UPS. the first test trains were successful, UPS seemed interested, and when further investigations into locomotive truck designs for the higher sustained speeds and the associated costs, UPS was not willing to pay THAT much extra. Thus, the whole "idea" was dropped, mainly do to lack of customer interest.