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I was just reading about China's new high speed rail trains that are now operating as it's top speeds of 245 mph crushes the closest competitor from France costing them $16 billion to construct. The article states that California is getting ready to construct high speed rail simular to these speeds from LA to San Francisco over to Sacramento costing $10 billion.
One concern about these trains going so fast are the safety mechanisms working properly that constantly monitor the tracks and trains.
Considering the track record of Chinese manufacturers I wouldn't get on one of those for any amount of money. Even if it doesn't crash it's probably full of toxic materials.
Our nation's infrastructure is crumbling and mostly antiquated; while China and Europe forge ahead our country is quickly becoming "second rate"; only our military keeps us at the forefront. That cannot last long as our economy/infrastructure "tanks"....I remember Rome going through a similar scenario and we all know how that story ends. WE BETTER WAKE UP!
Our nation's infrastructure is crumbling and mostly antiquated; while China and Europe forge ahead our country is quickly becoming "second rate"; only our military keeps us at the forefront. That cannot last long as our economy/infrastructure "tanks"....I remember Rome going through a similar scenario and we all know how that story ends. WE BETTER WAKE UP!
Pitt
Well spoken as that was my take of the article that how a country that's still years behind us in technology is able to build an high speed train that can go 245 MPH when we still have antiquated Amtrac and rail service in our country.
I heard some of the estimates at 2.2 trillion dollars for all the infrastructure needs in the entire county.
Well spoken as that was my take of the article that how a country that's still years behind us in technology is able to build an high speed train that can go 245 MPH when we still have antiquated Amtrac and rail service in our country.
I heard some of the estimates at 2.2 trillion dollars for all the infrastructure needs in the entire county.
It really is absurd...the money we wasted on a "personal Bush vendetta" on Iraq would have reinvigorated our economy and created millions of jobs as we replaced our antiquated/crumbling infrastructure; preparing our nation to compete with other economies in the 21st century.
Our once superior infrastructure built decades ago is the main reason we initially rose to become an economic powerhouse and just as surely it's crumbling is stifling our economic resurgence. In addition many lives are lost and it will get worse like the interstate bridge collapse in Minneapolis has proven....IMHO. American Civil engineers have recently given our infrastructure a grade of D-......PATHETIC!
High speed rail is a huge waste of time/money in our country. Airplanes are extremely efficient in getting people to where they need to go.
In China, the government just takes the land and forces people to work. In America, we actually have property rights that prevent the government from doing such things.
High speed rail is a huge waste of time/money in our country. Airplanes are extremely efficient in getting people to where they need to go.
In China, the government just takes the land and forces people to work. In America, we actually have property rights that prevent the government from doing such things.
Very few Americans are going to opt to take a train for a shorter trip when they can take a car....or for longer trips when they can take a plane.
In the long run, it may be a good thing since the hotel/restaurant/shopping business depends on this revenue generated by car travel.
We'll save on fuel....but jobs will be lost.
Very few Americans are going to opt to take a train for a shorter trip when they can take a car....or for longer trips when they can take a plane.
In the long run, it may be a good thing since the hotel/restaurant/shopping business depends on this revenue generated by car travel.
We'll save on fuel....but jobs will be lost.
http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/2094/highspeedrail4.jpg (broken link) VS. http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/5183/gridlock420x0.jpg (broken link)
When I drive 45 minutes to visit friends out of town, if I had a choice between:
A. Sit in your car and stop and go and stop and go at ½ m.p.h. for who knows how long, or:
B. No construction zones, no idiotic ***hole drivers, no accident scenes, just kick back and browse the web on my iPhone or maybe take a nap the whole way there.
High speed rail is a huge waste of time/money in our country. Airplanes are extremely efficient in getting people to where they need to go.
In China, the government just takes the land and forces people to work. In America, we actually have property rights that prevent the government from doing such things.
Our US gov subsidizes hundreds of millions of $ per year to keep the airlines afloat (and many still file bankruptcy) - Efficient? Not for me, never even been on a commercial plane but my tax dollars help others fly around using airlines that file bankruptcy every so often then get restructured to better use the subsidies all because (as we have heard too many times) they are too big to fail. hmmm. I say build the rails - raising a several thousand ton vehicle to 10 -20,000 ft above the ground to move a few hundred people a few hundred/thousand miles while burning several thousand gallons of fuel and depositing it directly into the upper atmosphere is dumb as........
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American Civil engineers have recently given our infrastructure a grade of D-......PATHETIC!
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