I’ve been wondering about this question for a long time. Every single car in a train has its own brakes, so the train should stop in the same distance that it takes one car to stop. Why is this not the case? Or does each car take a mile to stop on its own?
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Usually, train brakes aren’t powerful enough to slow down the train as quickly as a car. On top of that, air brakes have a few seconds delay as the braking signal has to propagate from car to car. This is acceptable because there are more effective safety measures that can prevent the need for a train to brake quickly.
However, modern lightweight passenger trains can usually brake a lot quicker, in some cases nearly as fast as a car on regular tires. (If the track isn’t dirty)
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