Mr. lyer travels from Chennai to Chengam by a passenger train. There w...
Problem: Find the normal speed of a passenger train that travels from Chennai to Chengam and has to slow down due to railway track repair work.
Given:
- The train slows down to 80% of its original speed when there is railway track repair work.
- The train was late by 1.4 hours when repair work was at a distance of 80 km from Chennai.
- The train was late by 1 hour when repair work was at a distance of 120 km from Chennai.
Solution:
Let's assume that the normal speed of the train is 'S' km/hr.
When the train slows down, its new speed becomes 80% of S which is 0.8S km/hr.
Case 1:
When the repair work was at a distance of 80 km from Chennai, the train had to slow down for a certain distance, and then it continued its journey at the slower pace until it reached Chengam.
Let's say that the distance that the train had to slow down for is 'D'. The remaining distance that the train had to cover at the slower pace is (80 - D) km.
We can use the following formula to calculate the time taken by the train:
Time taken = Distance / Speed
So, the time taken for the first part of the journey (when the train was traveling at the normal speed) is:
Time taken for first part = D / S
The time taken for the second part of the journey (when the train was traveling at the slower speed) is:
Time taken for second part = (80 - D) / 0.8S
The total time taken by the train is the sum of the time taken for both parts of the journey, plus the delay of 1.4 hours:
Total time taken = (D / S) + ((80 - D) / 0.8S) + 1.4
Case 2:
When the repair work was at a distance of 120 km from Chennai, the train had to slow down for a distance of (120 - 80) = 40 km. The remaining distance that the train had to cover at the slower pace is (120 - 40) = 80 km.
Using the same formula as before, the time taken by the train for this journey is:
Total time taken = (40 / S) + (80 / 0.8S) + 1
We can now equate the two expressions for total time taken as the actual distance covered by the train is the same in both cases.
So, we get the following equation:
(D / S) + ((80 - D) / 0.8S) + 1.4 = (40 / S) + (80 / 0.8S) + 1
Solving this equation, we get:
S = 56 km/hr
Answer: The normal speed of the passenger train is 56 km/hr.