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Old 05-19-2010, 03:11 AM
 
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,720 posts, read 23,645,291 times
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If high speed rail was constructed in your area, would you use it? Lets say like in California, would you ride the rails from LA to the Bay area, or Las Vegas? Or Perhaps the Texas triangle (DFW/Austin-San Antonio/Houston), or maybe upgrade the Northeast corridor rails (the Amtak Acela train has got nothing on the TGV in France). Would you feel it was a better option as oppose to long road trips in your vehicle or short hop flights, or do you feel it is not worth the cost?
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Old 05-19-2010, 03:54 AM
 
Location: Honolulu, HI
698 posts, read 1,504,325 times
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I would definitely ride it. A train ride through the US can be quite scenic and relaxing. I wouldn't mind taking a train from lets say portland to san francisco and have it only be a 6 hour ride. The train rides are already very long and that keeps a lot of people from riding it.

However, on the contrary high speed rail still wont be faster than plane travel. Plane's have the ability to move in a straight line for long distances while trains have to make constant detours. Oh not to mention that a train ride from lets say Seattle to San Francisco with HSR would be probably around 8 to 9 hours while a plane ride is around 2 hours. Add in the time spent at the airport and it is even shorter.
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Old 05-19-2010, 04:35 AM
 
Location: Tower of Heaven
4,023 posts, read 7,342,548 times
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Quote:
Or Perhaps the Texas triangle (DFW/Austin-San Antonio/Houston)
Oh yeah.I think the US must develop high speed rail more, it's expensive I know, but it's a good thing for the future (less oil, fast, modern)
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Old 05-19-2010, 07:44 AM
 
Location: Orlando - South
4,194 posts, read 11,646,019 times
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my region is going to me the first in the US to get high speed rail (Tampa Orlando then eventually Miami). Honestly I wouldn't use it THAT often cause I don't need to go to Tampa that much. But when I do, I'm never gonna drive there anymore. I'll use it to get to the clear gulf coast beaches, and to get to a concert over there maybe. I think it will benefit the college kids though, a lot of kids from Orlando go to USF in Tampa for college and a lot of kids in Tampa goes to UCF in Orlando I guess just to get away but still be somewhat close to home. This rail will make there lives much easier, they can come back and fourth for holidays, breaks, etc much more efficiently

But when the Miami line opens up a few years later I can definitely see me using it a lot..
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Old 05-19-2010, 08:30 AM
 
Location: Lower East Side, Milwaukee, WI
2,943 posts, read 5,045,217 times
Reputation: 1113
Quote:
Originally Posted by caphillsea77 View Post
If high speed rail was constructed in your area, would you use it? Lets say like in California, would you ride the rails from LA to the Bay area, or Las Vegas? Or Perhaps the Texas triangle (DFW/Austin-San Antonio/Houston), or maybe upgrade the Northeast corridor rails (the Amtak Acela train has got nothing on the TGV in France). Would you feel it was a better option as oppose to long road trips in your vehicle or short hop flights, or do you feel it is not worth the cost?
Houston doesn't even connect to the rest of the cities in TX, it only connects with New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region.

Quote:
Originally Posted by HeyHolliday! View Post
I would definitely ride it. A train ride through the US can be quite scenic and relaxing. I wouldn't mind taking a train from lets say portland to san francisco and have it only be a 6 hour ride. The train rides are already very long and that keeps a lot of people from riding it.

However, on the contrary high speed rail still wont be faster than plane travel. Plane's have the ability to move in a straight line for long distances while trains have to make constant detours. Oh not to mention that a train ride from lets say Seattle to San Francisco with HSR would be probably around 8 to 9 hours while a plane ride is around 2 hours. Add in the time spent at the airport and it is even shorter.
SF to Seattle or Portland is too far and not part of any HSR plan that I've seen. Vancouver-Eugene is one corridor, SD-SF is another totally separate corridor.

Quote:
Originally Posted by GLS2010 View Post
my region is going to me the first in the US to get high speed rail (Tampa Orlando then eventually Miami). Honestly I wouldn't use it THAT often cause I don't need to go to Tampa that much. But when I do, I'm never gonna drive there anymore. I'll use it to get to the clear gulf coast beaches, and to get to a concert over there maybe. I think it will benefit the college kids though, a lot of kids from Orlando go to USF in Tampa for college and a lot of kids in Tampa goes to UCF in Orlando I guess just to get away but still be somewhat close to home. This rail will make there lives much easier, they can come back and fourth for holidays, breaks, etc much more efficiently

But when the Miami line opens up a few years later I can definitely see me using it a lot..
Unless you know something I don't, I'm pretty sure the Chicago-St. Louis corridor and the Chicago-Madison corridor are both going to be up and running by early 2013.
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Old 05-19-2010, 09:35 AM
 
Location: On the Rails in Northern NJ
12,380 posts, read 26,757,245 times
Reputation: 4580
Haha , the only True long Distance High Speed line to open this decade is the Northeast Corridor. Which will have Average speeds increased to 170mph and tops of 190mph. The Northeast Corridor is used by 460,000+ Daily , on 1,200+ Trains. The Northeast Corridor is expected to rise to 600,000 daily by the end of the decade. Which would make one of the busiest Rail corridors in the World. As for the Florida line , its a shame in many ways , way too many stations. My Japanese friend said it would only have a top speed of a 100 mph which makes it slower then some Electric lines up here. I doubt will see anything in Texas , in-till the 2020s. I think the California network will be built by the Chinese and not the our GOVT, since we seem to be having funding problems. As for the Cascades Corridor , i believe they will upgrade to to an average speed of 110mph with 125mph tops. They ordered more Diesel tilting Talgo trains.

Some High Speed Action along the Northeast Corridor.


YouTube - Acela Express High Speed Fly-By


YouTube - Amtrak Acela Express to Washington D.C. through Secaucus


YouTube - SB Acela Express


YouTube - Fast Paced Action at Kingston Station - Month of January 2010


YouTube - Acela Express 2170 meets Amtrak Regional 179


YouTube - Horn From Rear Acela Powercar! AGAIN!!!


YouTube - Railfanning at Kingston RI the day before Thanksgiving


YouTube - 2 trains pass at 110 mph


YouTube - Amtrak Trains past Martin State Airport


YouTube - SB NJ Transit


YouTube - NEC: Princeton Junction (HD)


YouTube - Amtrak NEC

I couldn't help but show off
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Old 05-19-2010, 09:54 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
10,138 posts, read 15,945,245 times
Reputation: 4047
Quote:
Originally Posted by jjacobeclark View Post
Houston doesn't even connect to the rest of the cities in TX, it only connects with New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region.
.
Yeah it does, I-45 north from Houston to Dallas, I-10 west from Houston to San Antonio, I-35 from San Antonio to Dallas. Houston and Dallas are the same distance from San Antonio. By the way, Houston does not connect more to New Orleans than it does to other Texas cities. It is 2 hours closer to Austin/San Antonio than New Orleans. New Orleans from Houston is a 5 hour drive, San Antonio and Austin each are 3 hour drives. I would know, I live in Houston and go to college in Austin, and drive to San Antonio all the time. The distance from Houston to Dallas is the same as New Orleans to Houston almost, the drive time is the same. I normally hate driving to either... hurts the shoulders. And Houston is a hybrid, it's a cross of two mega regions, refer to the map below to see what I'm talking about.



Caphill, I've been talking about this for a while too in the Texas forums, and yes our state government has laid out the groundwork for this project. So whoever up there said the Texas Triangle isn't getting it is dead wrong.

By the way, this is what all the "bullet trains" rapid transit system will look like when they're completed.

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Old 05-19-2010, 11:20 AM
 
1,251 posts, read 2,501,959 times
Reputation: 896
I sure would. It'd make for nice weekend get-away trips.
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Old 05-19-2010, 11:38 AM
 
Location: Orlando - South
4,194 posts, read 11,646,019 times
Reputation: 1674
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey View Post
Haha , the only True long Distance High Speed line to open this decade is the Northeast Corridor. Which will have Average speeds increased to 170mph and tops of 190mph. The Northeast Corridor is used by 460,000+ Daily , on 1,200+ Trains. The Northeast Corridor is expected to rise to 600,000 daily by the end of the decade. Which would make one of the busiest Rail corridors in the World. As for the Florida line , its a shame in many ways , way too many stations. My Japanese friend said it would only have a top speed of a 100 mph which makes it slower then some Electric lines up here. I doubt will see anything in Texas , in-till the 2020s. I think the California network will be built by the Chinese and not the our GOVT, since we seem to be having funding problems. As for the Cascades Corridor , i believe they will upgrade to to an average speed of 110mph with 125mph tops. They ordered more Diesel tilting Talgo trains.

Some High Speed Action along the Northeast Corridor.


YouTube - Acela Express High Speed Fly-By


YouTube - Amtrak Acela Express to Washington D.C. through Secaucus


YouTube - SB Acela Express


YouTube - Fast Paced Action at Kingston Station - Month of January 2010


YouTube - Acela Express 2170 meets Amtrak Regional 179


YouTube - Horn From Rear Acela Powercar! AGAIN!!!


YouTube - Railfanning at Kingston RI the day before Thanksgiving


YouTube - 2 trains pass at 110 mph


YouTube - Amtrak Trains past Martin State Airport


YouTube - SB NJ Transit


YouTube - NEC: Princeton Junction (HD)


YouTube - Amtrak NEC

I couldn't help but show off
The Florida line will reach speeds of around 200mph between Orlando and Miami. The Orlando to Tampa (the first high speed rail line in the US) line will only hit about 130mph because the cities are so close. But it will still cut the hour long drive into a 30 min train ride.
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Old 05-19-2010, 11:44 AM
 
2,413 posts, read 5,724,527 times
Reputation: 1221
I live in Tampa and go to Orlando once every couple of years usually to an amusment park. So I'll will use it so I don't have to sit in that horrible Orlando traffic anymore.
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