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I had a chance to ride Acela a month ago and loved it. If we could improve on making it faster, I definitely wouldn't mind spending the extra $100 bucks to ride it.
I think we should make high speed rail regional meaning, instead of trying to do a cross country deal, focus on connection major cities with smaller cities within the region. A good example, having a high speed rail in the Midwest and making Chicago the hub and having service to Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, Minneapolis, St. Louis, etc.
We however need to get realistic though. Right now the country is broke. Until we get serious about getting our priorities straight, we will never be able to compete with Europe, China, or Japan when it comes to transportation infrastructure. Instead of wasting money on wars, a huge bloated DoD budget, and tax cuts for millionaires, we could have used the money to invest in our country, but we will never be able to get this done until we stop putting these wingnuts in office.
I had a chance to ride Acela a month ago and loved it. If we could improve on making it faster, I definitely wouldn't mind spending the extra $100 bucks to ride it.
I think we should make high speed rail regional meaning, instead of trying to do a cross country deal, focus on connection major cities with smaller cities within the region. A good example, having a high speed rail in the Midwest and making Chicago the hub and having service to Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, Minneapolis, St. Louis, etc.
We however need to get realistic though. Right now the country is broke. Until we get serious about getting our priorities straight, we will never be able to compete with Europe, China, or Japan when it comes to transportation infrastructure. Instead of wasting money on wars, a huge bloated DoD budget, and tax cuts for millionaires, we could have used the money to invest in our country, but we will never be able to get this done until we stop putting these wingnuts in office.
I agree 100%
High speed rail is ideal for distances up to 400 miles. Anything over that then flying probably works better.
I tend to agree. We can't afford this. I'm for infasturcture spending, but unless the cost of plane flight becomes exorbitant, Americans won't use it.
I suppose it depends on the alternatives and on the need/market. Take the NE corridor. The roads are congested and the airports are at capacity. It would cost far more to add a lane or two to I95 or to add capacity at the airports than it would to build HSR especially if they can piggy-back off existing track.
Japan? Oh, its been done. Well, in this country we should not waste our money building one. The country is too big, and we need our cars too much to become train-dependant. Once you get off the train, what are you going to do? You'll have to rent a car. Now, if there were $1 an hour car rental companies then this idea might work and I'd be all for it but until then we shouldn't get on board the train idea.
OK so we are going to build a high speed train. So the question is where should it be built?
Preferably in Obama's rectum.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KevK
I am not against speedy rail service but it seems that the best place to start such a thing would be in highly congested areas with a medium to high population density. I would say Boston to Richmond VA would be the ideal place to start on the east coast and San Diego to San Fransisco on the west coast. But there are other proposals. What do you think?
I not against high-speed rail either. I love rail travel. It's my preferred method of travel in Europe. It might seem un-American to have Japanese, German or French engineers to design and build them, but I don't really trust American engineers who don't have any experience. Most likely, this will end up being an "ear mark" thing and it'll be built in all the wrong places, end up failing and being shut down.
With paying a little bit more for high speed rail, think of how much you will SAVE on gas once it's built out.
Pay now, save later.
How about the whole east coast? Miami-Orlando (with Tampa connection)-Jacksonville- then maybe north to Atlanta? - Greenville - Charlotte - Raleigh - Richmond - BosWash. Maybe a branch along the seaboard with Savannah - Charleston - Wilmington - Norfolk etc.
Eventually we need high speed rail cris-crossing the nation.
I see a lot of people proposing lines including Kansas City and eastward - let's extend that to the Denver area shall we?
Japan? Oh, its been done. Well, in this country we should not waste our money building one. The country is too big, and we need our cars too much to become train-dependant. Once you get off the train, what are you going to do? You'll have to rent a car. Now, if there were $1 an hour car rental companies then this idea might work and I'd be all for it but until then we shouldn't get on board the train idea.
Trains, planes and automobiles ..... all have their place in an integrated transportation network. There are trips for which each makes sense. For city to city, 400 miles or less, then trains can make more sense than driving or flying.
The same is true for building infrastructure. There will be occasions where building a rail line is far more cost effective than increasing road or airport capacity. The NE corridor or Los Angeles to San Diego are both good examples of this.
Doesn't matter as long as the passengers that use it, pay for it in their ticket prices.
That is fair Just as drivers should pay the real cost of roads and airplane travelers should pay the real cost of building and operating airports.
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