79% of Travelers Would Prefer High-Speed Rail Travel Over Air Travel (politician, compared)
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HSR would be very feasible here in the Northeast. I wish it were more than a pipe dream to have high speed trains connecting cities such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, DC and and even as far as Chicago and Detroit and Atlanta. Electric trains are far more environmentally friendly than planes and can carry more passengers. If I were to use one of the European countries as an example, the advantage of train travel is that a train will whisk you right from the heart of one city into the heart of another. This saves having to take a taxi or rent a car and it saves tons of hassle checking in/out and dealing with annoying airport security.
Last time I went to London & Paris, I took the Eurostar. It was kind of pricy, but it actually blew me away. In 2 hours, I went from the center of one global city to another, in a hi-tech train that zoomed through the French & English countryside and under the sea.
If only we could cut the crap and invest in HSR. It would beat spending on pointless wars, or military crap.
Notice how Congress acted quickly to kill it. They are afraid people would ride it and demand more. A valid concern, look how popular HSR is in Europe and Asia. Of course they insist there is some geographic reason it can't be done here.
I am for it ... but I think it would be most practical here in the Northeast.
I would love to see my city, Philadelphia, be the rail transportation hub of the whole region because we are in the very center of the Boston-Hartford-New York-Baltimore-Washington-Richmond corridor. I can see another connecting line going from Philadelphia westward to Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Fort Wayne and Chicago.
Last time I went to London & Paris, I took the Eurostar. It was kind of pricy, but it actually blew me away. In 2 hours, I went from the center of one global city to another, in a hi-tech train that zoomed through the French & English countryside and under the sea..
Some things work well in some places, but not in others. HSR fits Europe much better than the USA. Population density is a big factor. In the USA, it's 83 people per sq mile as compared to 660 in the UK.
Have you seen the poll done by the airline industry. It says 79% of travelers prefer traveling by jets. I believe there was also one done by the automobile association that says 79% prefer cars.
What an idiotic study by the rail industry! As if there would be no security delays going on a train. Just another government run socialistic project that will continue the bankrupting process that Obama is intent on.
I would like to see Chicago become the hub of a Midwest High Speed Rail system, but don't hold out much hope. Is it any coincidence that the closest we have to High Speed, but laughable by world standards, is serves New York, home to more of the 1%, and Washington DC?
East of the Mississippi all our Cities are pretty close to each other. Pick a large city and i bet that city is at least a 5 hour drive from another large city. It makes no sense Flying from Atlanta to Birmingham so our only other choice is to use our cars. If we had another option (HSR) much more people would use it and it would be a huge success
Basically: Your Car should be used within a 3 hour radius of your city to use to get to work or go to the mall or whatever.... High Speed Rail should be used to travel to other Cities somewhat close to your house (Atlanta - Birmingham) (Richmond - Washington) (Chicago - Detroit)..... Air travel will be used for VERY far travels (New York - Los Angeles) (Dallas - London) (Toronto - Miami)
Some things work well in some places, but not in others. HSR fits Europe much better than the USA. Population density is a big factor. In the USA, it's 83 people per sq mile as compared to 660 in the UK.
The population density in the northeast isn't too different from Europe. Our cities are close enough together for it to be highly feasible and it would reduce the need for further road building.
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