Knock yourself out.

Using the models we discussed in your HSR diary
DoDo:

If it is easy to implement, I'd suggest you refine your model with these next simplest assumptions:

1. give 40 km/25 miles and 10 minutes each for the acceleration and deceleration phases (the latter is in reality much shorter, but let's have buffer for city entrances),
   
2. calculate the rest at maximum speed, if you're a bit bolder, 220 mph (which is a bit under the 360 km/h max for the next generation of Shinkansens),
   
3. accept half-hour distances as minimum.

Final point: what about Houston-NOLA, St. Louis-NOLA, Jacksonville-NOLA? All seem to be within the scope of your rules (and all would be great to serve some major sub-million cities along the way, too).

I get

          town minutes

1     Aberdeen 138

2  Aberystwyth  63

3   Birmingham  36

4      Bristol  37

5      Cardiff  47

6        Derby  39

7        Dover  26

8    Edinburgh 109

9       Exeter  52

10     Glasgow 110

11   Inverness 148

12       Leeds  58

13   Liverpool  59

15  Manchester  56

16   Newcastle  80

17     Norwich  37

18  Nottingham  39

19      Oxford  27

20  Portsmouth  26

21   Sheffield  49

22 Southampton  27

23        York  58

for non-stop journeys from central London. It probably makes sense to round to the next higher 10 minutes.


We have met the enemy, and it is us — Pogo