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The fact is Amtrak’s cost per passenger per mile on the East Coast is 50 cents. The East Coast is the most densely populated area of our country. Costs would be higher elsewhere due to population density and the fact that most of us in fly over country drive or take planes.
High speed rail is economically unfeasable just about everywhere. We can fly without any new infrastructure costs.
... Good luck getting the right of way to lay rails.
Eminent domain comes into play. Anyone in the US who owns property knows that part of it can't be built on by the owners. Most people know the most common which is the ROW of their property and the road it attaches too.
How fast does it go though? If it's as fast as a commercial jet or faster, and cheaper to utilize... then give it a shot somewhere to test it. If the top speed is 100mph/ish and run the east coast... itd be better to fly than train.
Plus, how many stops? Where are the stops? If it is only capable of stopping in major cities we will say the Florida Keys, then stop in Miami then stop in West Palm, then Orlando then St. Augustine then Jacksonville then Atlanta the major cities of the Carolinas and Virginia and up through jersey to NY
It wouldn't be worth it.
What would be worth it, if it does 800+mph and beats a plane from say Albany NY to West Palm or Ft. Lauderdale and doesn't stop. Just straight shot. Be in Florida in 2-5 hours, no layovers or stops, cost less to utilize, maintain, and goes faster than a commercial jet liner, then it's worth it.
Never mind the property debacle the NOT IN MY BACKYARD the safety Sally's about derailment and chaos that will ensue. And the environmentalists you can't build that there! So on so forth.
Eminent domain comes into play. Anyone in the US who owns property knows that part of it can't be built on by the owners. Most people know the most common which is the ROW of their property and the road it attaches too.
I think the focus should be on automated, unmanned aircraft that can take off in very small areas, or vertically, travel at relatively high speeds to the destination (not an airport). Rail requires too much land, right of ways, easements, huge capital, and ultimately government Eminent Domain which will anger A LOT of people.
As in the past, only rich land owners with large plats of land will tie up the courts. In the end all that does is get it redirected. Anyone who is from Long Island in NY who has driven on the Southern State Pkwy and wondered why there are curves in it, this is why. But in the end it still got built.
Exactly. Years ago, PSA was a "commuter airline" in California. It was far better than any high speed rail system.
There is no advantage to rail. You still have to get to the station, or from the station to your intended destination. And with rail, your still talking about short distances. I doubt there will ever be a need for high speed rail from San Diego to San Francisco, for example. Air travel is much faster.
So I can get by air - figuring all the getting to the airports, etc. - from the Bay Area to Santa Barbara in an hour or two? Downtown to downtown?
A HSR up the east coast is short distances. Boston to NYC would be about an hour.
Philadelphia to Savannah (Hilton Head) would be about 3.5 hours.
As far as "getting to the final", it sounds like you are not familiar with uBer - cheap.
Existing trip to Hilton Head by plane - often expensive (500+ per person).
1 hour - get to PHL airport and park and make it to terminal
1 hour - of course you need to get there one hour early.
2.25 hours - flight to Charlotte
1 hour - layover in Charlotte
1 hour - flight to Hilton Head Airport
.5 hours - get baggage and get to your house by uber, cab or pickup.
----------
6.75 hours - plus many delays (T-Storms in that Dash 8 will put the fear of death into you).
HSR
1 hour - to Train Station
.25 hours - you arrived at least 15 minutes early
3.5 hours - to Savannah
.25 hours - unload from train and Uber or other service comes by
.8 hours - get to your house in Hilton Head, Sun City, etc.
---------------
5.8 hours
The train is equipped with dining cars, sightseeing and you have vastly more room.
One thing people forget to consider with air travel is the amazing amount of infrastructure required at the airports to get you on that plane! Also, the schedules and prices often suck.
A reasonable percentage of the population is scared of flying.
Anxious about flying (18.1%)
Afraid to fly (12.6%)
That it itself is a big market.
No doubt in my mind an east coast HSR would be successful. Most people don't take the same stops - for example, people from DC or Baltimore might go to Jacksonville or even Myrtle Beach. The NE corridor from Richmond to Boston (and many from Portland, ME to Charlotte) is getting amazingly crowded on the roads. I remember when you passed DC the traffic was over (going south). Now I get traffic all the way from the NE to Florida.
China built 22,000 km (14,000 miles) of high speed rail in about 8 years, accounting for 65% of the world total, vastly transforming the rail transportation in the country. The US so far has built none, and one argument is that it is too expensive.
Admittedly it is much cheaper to build HSR in China than in the US. For China's case, it cost about $340 billion.
According to the world bank, it is 1/3 cheaper to build HSR in China than in developed countries. Let's say US cost is even higher and is three times as much. To build the same network it would cost US taxpayers $1 trillion.
Sounds expensive? Not really. During the same time China was building HSR, the US spent $2.4 trillion in the Afghanistan and Iraq war alone, enough to build the Chinese network 2.5 times.
Yet people still think it is too expensive to build high speed rail in the US, even in the densely populated coastal areas.
It is just unbelievable that there is not an outcry over such wasteful taxpayers money on foreign wars while not investing in the outdated infrastructure. For those who think "we have cars and planes, and we don't need the damn high speed rail", come on. That's just provincial because you have never taken a high speed rail.
It would have to be subsidized by government.
It would not make a profit to bank for repairs later, if it would bank enough to pay to run it, in the first place.(Amtrac)
Americans love their independence. With liberty to choose and fuel cost low enough(the reasons the want fuel cost to skyrocket) Americans will drive themselves.
Age 16 and the independence achieved is never given up. The same reason self driving cars will not be sustainable without government subsidizing. Who wants government to be able to lock you in your own car, and drive you to the police station for them.
It's amazing to think that a tiny fraction of the wasted "actions" (we haven't declared any ways) - all which served to undermine our economy and the world........would build the "bees knees" HSR network on a national level.
Ah, priorities. Let's arm up more!
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