Question

A passenger train and freight train start from the same time and travel in opposite directions. The passenger train traveled 3 times as fast as the freight train. In 5 hours, they were 360 miles apart. Find the rate of each train.

Answer 1

Given that the relative distance between 2 trains, d = 360 miles

Time, t is 5 hrs.

Let speed of freight train be v, then the speed of passenger train will be 3v.

For relative speed, the speed of trains will be added.

Hence,

`\begin{gathered} 3v+v=(360)/(5) \\ v=(360)/(5*4) \end{gathered}`

Thus, the speed of freight train is 18 miles/hour.

And the speed of passenger train is 3v = 54 miles/hour.