[ELI5]Why does most locomotives seem to be not so aerodynamic compared to bullet trains?

Question

I’ve seen this in most local trains. They seem to be box shaped while bullet trains are more of an aerodynamic model.

In: Engineering

Answer 1

Efficiency vs cost.

As your average speed goes up, energy required to maintain that speed goes up by a factor of 2.

At slow speeds the lack of efficiency doesn’t overcome the cost of engineering, and constructing complex aerodynamic shapes. As speed goes up, operating costs go up unless your efficiency increases as well.

Cheap trains go slow,