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It depends on where they're going the US does have Amtrak and the Acela.
Most Asia tourists are trying to see the Grand Canyon or some national park, or trying to get to Disneyland or somewhere like that...
The Amtraks just hook up downtowns like downtown Cleveland with downtown Cincinnati...and most American downtowns are so unsafe with so little to see...(with some great exceptions of course).
I don't know, it's just a different setup. We just don't have much tourist infrastructure at all in the U.S., unlike throughout Asia, where pretty much anywhere I want to see in Asia, I can easily do without a car.
Last edited by Tiger Beer; 01-23-2017 at 12:02 AM..
It depends on where they're going the US does have Amtrak and the Acela. I think it's partially a culture thing people in the US just love their cars and trucks and spend a lot of money on them. I know people that refuse to ride the bus or train to work even when they have the option to.
I think it's also because we spent too much on wars and therefore have relatively little to allocate to other things. The most egregious in recent years is the over trillion dollars spent directly on the Iraq War and the total 6 trillion estimated for the overall cost. If that were split among infrastructure, science research, healthcare, education, social services, debt servicing and defense evenly of a little under a trillion each then the US would be in a far different place. It's crazy to think about the tab that was wracked up for something so completely unnecessary.
Last edited by OyCrumbler; 01-23-2017 at 08:42 AM..
It depends on where they're going the US does have Amtrak and the Acela. I think it's partially a culture thing people in the US just love their cars and trucks and spend a lot of money on them. I know people that refuse to ride the bus or train to work even when they have the option to.
culture? It is like saying people in certain sub-saharan countries have the culture to walk 5 miles a day just to get water.
It is not culture. It is the lack of a better alternative. If you can travel from Los Angeles to San Fran in 2 hours, I am sure most people won't care about the car/truck culture.
culture? It is like saying people in certain sub-saharan countries have the culture to walk 5 miles a day just to get water.
It is not culture. It is the lack of a better alternative. If you can travel from Los Angeles to San Fran in 2 hours, I am sure most people won't care about the car/truck culture.
Culture is most certainly part of it. Trains will never be extremely popular in the US like I said I know people that won't use public transportation to go to work, even though they have the option to. People in the US like their cars and trucks it's partially a status symbol for many people and people spend a lot of money on them.
If there was large demand for it, it would have happened by now. Also you would have to factor in the cost of the private land between Los Angeles and San Fran. would you be willing to have your taxes raised to pay for it? Nothing is free. People just don't care enough about trains in the U.S. they see flying as the main alternative to cars/trucks. Like I said the U.S. already has Amtrak anyway and a lot of people don't even use it.
Culture is most certainly part of it. Trains will never be extremely popular in the US like I said I know people that won't use public transportation to go to work, even though they have the option to. People in the US like their cars and trucks it's partially a status symbol for many people and people spend a lot of money on them.
If there was large demand for it, it would have happened by now. Also you would have to factor in the cost of the private land between Los Angeles and San Fran. would you be willing to have your taxes raised to pay for it? Nothing is free. People just don't care enough about trains in the U.S. they see flying as the main alternative to cars/trucks. Like I said the U.S. already has Amtrak anyway and a lot of people don't even use it.
I agree that it's partially culture, but the culture that was established for cars was a very direct result of the situation set up by the US government where a large amount of resources and subsequent zoning and town/city/village incorporation laws were directly influential in the development of US car culture in the first place. Railroads and the businesses behind them were an extremely prevalent part of US culture prior to the Model T and the post-war US spending in the aftermath of World War II. Were our roads and expressways paid for via direct taxes (and direct is the keyword here) and tolls, then trains would be a very reasonable alternative in the US rather than just for a select few corridors in the US.
All of that spending doesn't necessarily mean it was a great idea though nor that it's a template that we should follow upon in the US forever.
I'm currently on a bullet train from Guangzhou to Yueyang, going about 307 kmh according to the screen at the head of the car 3 hours and $100 to go almost 1000km.... Not bad.
It cost 90% more to build rail lines for trains that travel at speeds of 350 kps than it does for trains of 250 kps.
Quote:
I think you mean kph instead of kps. Converting 250 kps ~ 900,000 kph ~ 56,000 mph. Upon re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere on May 26, 1969, the Apollo 10 Lunar Module reached speeds of 24,791 miles per hour, the fastest speed ever achieved by human beings.
Such cost comparisons are fairly typical in engineering.
The LGV Sud-Est is a high-speed rail line, which links Paris' and Lyon's suburbs, in France. It was France's first high-speed rail line. The inauguration of the first section occured on 22 September 1981. But the experimental X4300 TGS railcar had been tested at speeds up to 252 km/h in October 1971.
The Tōkaidō Shinkansen began service on 1 October 1964, in time for the first Tokyo Olympics. The first Shinkansen trains ran at speeds of up to 210 km/h .
The Acela Express is Amtrak's flagship service along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) in the Northeast United States between Washington DC and Boston via 14 intermediate stops including Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. Acela Express trains are the fastest trainsets in the Americas; they attain 240 kph.
So 250 kph was a speed that has existed for about a half a century. It is more than adequate for commuter lines or close intercity trips.
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3 hours and $100 to go almost 1000km.... Not bad.
