Imagine if the US joined the rest of the civilized world and built high speed rail networks
this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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There is only one country that built a high speed rail network of length and ubiquity that would meet their needs, and that is China. Even then, the country has a lot of underutilized high speed rail infrastructure and built a lot of the network for other than economic reasons.
Even if the USA was to start a massive federal level HSR program tomorrow, it would likely be several disconnected networks which may never connect across the Rockies. The city pairs just aren't there.
Even if the USA was to start a massive federal level HSR program tomorrow, it would likely be several disconnected networks which may never connect across the Rockies.
So what? You gotta start somewhere
I'm not saying you shouldn't start, just that I wouldn't expect a Spokane to Missoula or a Boise to Salt Lake City segment any time soon.
I'm curious, why wouldn't Japan or France qualify as countries which have "built a high speed rail network of length and ubiquity that would meet their needs"? Yes, China has by far the most HSR infrastructure and world-leading HSR expertise, but surely at least a few other countries can satisfy such a mediocre standard as "meeting their needs"?
Both Japan and France have great high speed rail systems, but they are on par with a built it California High Speed Rail, maybe with connections to Nevada and Arizona. They may be national networks, but the size in the USA would put them more at the size of an individual state.
The scale of HSR required to take a trip like shown in the video would need to be on a system the scale of China's system, not Japan or France.
And note that I didn't say that high speed rail in the USA is bad, just that it probably wouldn't be one full network; there would likely be gaps in coverage.
They mean meeting the needs of the US. France is the size of Texas. What works in France doesn't translate to the US because of our sheer geographic size. China is the only country with high speed rail that compares in geographic size to the US.
But we absolutely could and should have high speed rail corridors that cover the east coast and west coast separately.
Exactly. The USA should have high speed rail, but it isn't going to be one continuous network. We also shouldn't set the expectation for transcontinental high speed rail trips as the marker for success because that is going to lead to poor investment in HSR.
Yeah honestly northeast corridor is the way to do it and just explode the investment in the DC to New York space.
After that it can expand north and south to cover more of the East Coast. Hopefully west coast can do their own and then maybe express train connections to cities in the center to fill in over time
What are "city pairs"?
Two cities of a certain size that are within the distances that high speed rail makes sense over driving or flying. It makes sense to connect Los Angeles to San Francisco, for instance. However, there isn't that much density in a large part of the country to justify the cost of high speed rail currently.
Hell, a big complaint with California's HSR implementation is that it isn't initially connecting either of the two main cities; those segments are still under design.
So a high speed rail trip cross country isn't going to be viable any time soon, and likely shouldn't be planned for beyond mandating a federal electrification and signaling standard.
Thanks for the explanation!
Psssh amateurs, I did over 120 hours greyhound Victoria -> Toronto. Worst decision I ever made.
I've always wanted to take a train across the U.S. with a sleeper car, but I couldn't handle sitting up for that long.
Also it's insultingly expensive. I had an opportunity to do it for a work trip but couldn't justify the thousands of dollars vs the way cheaper and quicker flight.
Honestly, taking a transcontinental train is less a form of transit and more kind of land cruise.
The slower speed is why it’s so expensive. Instead of employing a pilot, co-pilot, and flight attendants for a few hours, you have to employ engineers, conductors, and car attendants for days. Labor is one of any business’s highest expenses, and when you require 10x as much for the same result…
I think you forgot to factor airports, ground crew, atc, and federal flight infrastructure in
It’s roughly equivalent to maintaining train stations (some of which see less than one train, per direction, per day), FRA oversight, rental fees to the host railroad outside of the limited tracks Amtrak owns, locomotive and car maintenance, etc.
I've done Seattle to Richmond, VA. Would just about rather hitchhike.
Who is miles ?
He's in transit.