[Ericthebean]

In our great country we don't have this

All over Europe you have this highspeed passenger rail system faster than a car

Italo Passenger Train Italy for example goes from Venice to Naples Italy (500-mile distance) in 3 hours at 180 miles per hour

[d4g4m]

If the fiasco in California is an indication of how high speed rail will be built and financed, we don't want it here. If a business thinks they can make money after spending billions with such a boondoggle, let them give it a try.

[Ericthebean]

How come in Europe they have it? And the Chinese have it now also. And the Japanese

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by Ericthebean

In our great country we don't have this

All over Europe you have this highspeed passenger rail system faster than a car

Italo Passenger Train Italy for example goes from Venice to Naples Italy (500-mile distance) in 3 hours at 180 miles per hour

Public transportation within the cities is very limited, so you'd basically be stranded without a car once you get off the train. You can drive from Orlando to Miami in 3.5 hours easily. It's be more convenient to drive and it would be much cheaper. European cities are different than most American cities. The focus should be building the local public transportation infrastructure, once that's done, then you can look at high speed rail.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by Ericthebean

How come in Europe they have it? And the Chinese have it now also. And the Japanese

Having been to China, Japan and various countries in Europe, I can tell you first hand that the cities are designed differently. They are more similar to NYC or San Francisco, where everything is walkable. Driving a car is expensive and a big hassle, where as most American cities are spread out and having a car is cheap and more convenient.

See the difference...

[Ericthebean]

Yes you're right !

Best candidate is San Francisco to LA but LA is more spread out like a Florida city


New York to Boston, being only 4 driving hours apart, the high speed time saved isn't enough to make the project worth the expense of doing

So for this reason there's no real American place for it

Maybe Chicago to New York

[Not_liking_FL]

Originally Posted by d4g4m

If the fiasco in California is an indication of how high speed rail will be built and financed, we don't want it here. If a business thinks they can make money after spending billions with such a boondoggle, let them give it a try.

You can't compare the two. Florida owned the land and it went right up the middle of an interstate on flat land. Not the case in California. Perhaps the government should get out of the road business as well.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by Ericthebean

Yes you're right !

Best candidate is San Francisco to LA but LA is more spread out like a Florida city


New York to Boston, being only 4 driving hours apart, the high speed time saved isn't enough to make the project worth the expense of doing

So for this reason there's no real American place for it

Maybe Chicago to New York

LA is spread out, but there public transportation system is quite extensive now. However, it takes awhile to go from place to place because of the large distance, but as far as public transportation reach, it's quite extensive. I think HSR would work in the Northeast because many of those cities are not car friendly. I once drove from NYC to Boston and it was a pain in the butt, not to mention parking was so expensive, so I think people would rather take HSR between the cities vs driving because driving in those cities is a pain and very expensive. My first HSR experience was from Seoul to Busan (South Korea), the distance is relatively short as well, but the cities are nightmares to drive around, so this is a popular option. I think too long of distance would be troublesome as well unless they can get trains that go faster than airplanes. A 4-hour flight would be much longer in HSR because it can't go in a straight line and the speed would still be slower than a plane.

[jambo101]

Originally Posted by Ericthebean

In our great country we don't have this

All over Europe you have this highspeed passenger rail system faster than a car

Italo Passenger Train Italy for example goes from Venice to Naples Italy (500-mile distance) in 3 hours at 180 miles per hour

Obviously it works there but it doesnt mean it will work here. Over there you have many other variables including the public transit infrastructure to support viable city to city high speed rail systems, here you have a state if not a nation designed around the car, public transit is not something many would consider,the very thought of going from SpringHill to Miami in anything but my car makes me wonder how i would do that and why.
Highspeed rail in Florida? it will never happen and if it does it will be a total waste of tax payer money.

[bale002]

Originally Posted by Ericthebean

In our great country we don't have this

There is an Orlando-Miami "higher" speed train in the works, it's called All Aboard Florida, and indeed the purported idea is to promote tourism, mostly international tourism, and maybe the occasional business trip. Please look it up and inform yourself before you post.

In any case, if it ever actually becomes operational, it will probably fail, or at least not be prosperous, much like the Trirail, and for various reasons, by design, as some posters have already described.

Tourism is wonderful and it makes great advertising copy and the national and international headlines, but by the actual numbers, if one cares to do actual research instead of repeating mass-media memes, it is NOT the major driver of the Miami economy nor of the Florida economy in general now and it should not be the main focus going forward.

If anything, the focus should be on intra-urban commuter rail, but right now there is little or no consensus in the US in general on how to fund new infrastructure, and not even on how to design it. But from the chatter I hear and what I see, whatever focus exists is still on roads and bridges, for better or worse, including major ongoing road construction in Miami.

And with domestic gas/oil production soaring and prices falling, even if a short-term phenomenon, what direction do you guess whatever feeble focus will take over the next few years?