Will you take high speed trains to go to Chicago when they are finished? (Columbus: renting, go bankrupt)

[ProkNo5]

It doesn't even need to be high speed for me to ride it, I would take the 9 hour ride from Cincinnati to Chicago on the Cardinal if it was RELIABLE and came at a DECENT HOUR. As an avid transit user, I find that slower travel speeds are worth it if I can accurately plan my arrival and if I have a comfortable work environment on the vehicle. Give me a 9 hour train with Wifi and working outlets and have 4 trains per day and have it be ON TIME. I'd easily pay $100 to ride that.

[pontiac59]

Laughable. Will never happen. Too expensive. Existing railroad corridors are privately owned. Can you even take a regular speed Amtrak train from Columbus... to anywhere? You also have to realize that the government's version of high speed is maybe 110 MPH, which is not really high speed rail.

[jbcmh81]

Originally Posted by pontiac59

Laughable. Will never happen. Too expensive. Existing railroad corridors are privately owned. Can you even take a regular speed Amtrak train from Columbus... to anywhere? You also have to realize that the government's version of high speed is maybe 110 MPH, which is not really high speed rail.

Too expensive... compared to what? And the idea is to bring back rail to Columbus, that's one of the points.

[tk3000]

It would take about 10 years to build a rail system linking Columbus to Chicago?! In 10 years time I may not be living in Columbus anyome, or may not even alive (who knows). The Chinese could build a top notch massive network of real bullet train system that is larger than that of Japan and Germany in only 7 (seven) years. And over here the initiative to build such a short track of rail (some ancient rail that already is in place) that is nowhere even close and up to standards of real bullet train speeds would take about 10 years; that is really sad…

The argument that China has more power over its population does not hold much bearing… If the post-war Germany would take 10 years to build a small track of trains, probably most of the German cities would still be in ruins by now. Besides the size, complexity, cost, and legalities of building the freeway system in the USA (with multiple large span lanes, gigantic overpasses, etc) far surpasses that of building a fast rail system

To make things worse, the cost of air-travel within the US is in all time high (during the heyday of airtravel [up to mid 90s] one could easily find a round trip airfare from New York to Los Angeles for less than $100). Comparatively, I can fly in mostly any other country throughout the world for a fraction (3 times less) of the price that I would fly in the US for equivalent distances; interesting enough it used to be the opposite (much cheaper to travel within the US.) Guess an alternative, effective, high performance, and widely available fast rail system linking highly populate metropolitan areas would also introduce a viable alternative of transportation for the populace and some healthy competition.

[ohioaninsc]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

Pretty sure our governor killed the train idea in Ohio...

Just one of the many wrong moves the idiotic governor has made...there is no reason the 3Cs shouldnt' be connected by high speed rail to each other and to places like Chicago. Yes i'd go see my stepsister much more often in Chicago if I could hop on high speed rail. I hate flying and the drive is too much on my older car.

[Natural510]

Definitely would have but it's a moot point now.

[woxyroxme]

Originally Posted by ohioaninsc

I hate flying and the drive is too much on my older car.

That is why I don't travel much either, it would be nice to be able to take a train to see places I would otherwise not be able to.

[Natural510]

Not to mention, you wouldn't have to worry about parking your car for $50/day or however much it is in downtown Chicago.

[jbcmh81]

Originally Posted by tk3000

It would take about 10 years to build a rail system linking Columbus to Chicago?! In 10 years time I may not be living in Columbus anyome, or may not even alive (who knows). The Chinese could build a top notch massive network of real bullet train system that is larger than that of Japan and Germany in only 7 (seven) years. And over here the initiative to build such a short track of rail (some ancient rail that already is in place) that is nowhere even close and up to standards of real bullet train speeds would take about 10 years; that is really sad…

The argument that China has more power over its population does not hold much bearing… If the post-war Germany would take 10 years to build a small track of trains, probably most of the German cities would still be in ruins by now. Besides the size, complexity, cost, and legalities of building the freeway system in the USA (with multiple large span lanes, gigantic overpasses, etc) far surpasses that of building a fast rail system

To make things worse, the cost of air-travel within the US is in all time high (during the heyday of airtravel [up to mid 90s] one could easily find a round trip airfare from New York to Los Angeles for less than $100). Comparatively, I can fly in mostly any other country throughout the world for a fraction (3 times less) of the price that I would fly in the US for equivalent distances; interesting enough it used to be the opposite (much cheaper to travel within the US.) Guess an alternative, effective, high performance, and widely available fast rail system linking highly populate metropolitan areas would also introduce a viable alternative of transportation for the populace and some healthy competition.

The Chicago-Columbus line, according to the planners, was/is set for a 2020 or earlier date of service. It will just come down to funding, I think. Right now, I believe the project is still in the environmental impact study. It's already done an economic feasibility one.

[Mplsite]

The downfall is that once you get to Columbus you still won't have any great mass transit to get around the city: at least there's that new circulator I saw and I was surprised that they even had maps of the route posted at each stop. Of course, if my parents move by 2020 this HSR line will be years too late for many people including myself.