Railroad services – most efficient countries 2019It probably comes as no surprise that in a global 2019 survey of railroad efficiency, the top two places went to Japan and Hong Kong, with scores of 6.8 and 6.5 (out of seven) respectively.
Why don t freight trains go faster?
Another reason why freight trains are slower is that they are limited by the slowest car in the line. If one wagon can only move at 40 miles per hour, then the whole train will have to honor that speed limit. These speed limits exist for specific commodities in part due to slack action.