[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

Aerodynamic drag increases with speed. a lot of trains don’t really go fast enough for that to be a huge issue.

In the US for example, most freight trains max out at around 60 mph. The bullet trains can go as fast as 200 mph.

That means that a freight train will have only about 8% of the drag a bullet train will have, before you account for the aerodynamic shape.