Why high speed rail is feasible in Europe but not the US.
Posted on 05/19/2015 4:52:36 PM PDT by presidio9
The Amtrak crash outside of Philadelphia was an invitation for practically every politician in the Northeast and every transit expert in America to complain about lack of funding for the county’s infrastructure.
They didn’t even wait to know what was the cause of the tragedy to take to the airwaves, and weren’t deterred when it emerged that the engineer had been going twice the speed limit around a tight curve when Amtrak Train 188 derailed.
They cared only for reciting the usual litany of laments for our “crumbling” infrastructure and our lack of high-speed rail, which is supposedly a stinging indictment of our shortsightedness and barbarity compared with our betters in Europe and Japan.
What these advocates rarely do is take account of Amtrak as it actually exists. It is a test case of a highly subsidized (and politicized) rail system.
Hideously inefficient and wasteful, Amtrak is rail brought to you by the federal government, with the results about what you would expect.
Amtrak is the DMV in an Uber world.
The system was slated for profitability in the 1970s, after a brief period of public subsidy. Not surprisingly, -SNIP-
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Why high speed rail is feasible in Europe but not the US.
You ain’t seen nothin yet. The Fresno/Bakersfield is going to be build by Hank.
...and run by Mooch.
....MORE MONEY....
Economic reality always ignored in the pet projects of the elite.
The democrat party is a political party or a crime syndicate?
Well, it’s not “feasible” there either—but because of the socialistic culture rather than the nature of the mode.
Thing is, they spend between $12 million and $45 million per mile on the stuff (depending on the gradient and the nature of the terrain) while the liberals here want to spend $100-200+ million per mile on it. Germany in particular builds new high speed rail lines alongside the Autobahn.
“Europe” has a very low amount of freight transported by rail compared to the USA—about 5 percent while the other 95% goes by road in trucks, and of course they think they have the moral high ground when it comes to preaching about “climate change”.
The crash had nothing to do with lack of funding. It had to do with an engineer speeding beyond the safe speed. Take a car and go around a curve that is clearly marked as 35 MPH and try to go around the curve at 70. Crashing and burning is in your future. (Just like the train) Again, nothing to do with infrastructure.
JOBS PROJECTS FOR LIBERALS
“”The Fresno/Bakersfield is going to be build by Hank.
...and run by Mooch.””
Guess freepers are all asleep already - give them time to think about it and they’ll get it...
I got it. Check my tagline.
The socialist love for trains is simple. You can control and monitor travel by the public and make it easier to implement an internal passport system on the masses. The proletariat gets to travel in boxes on wheels,live in box block housing soviet style,and gets boxed in on collective farms. The vanguard of the socialist revolution of course gets to travel in luxury cars on uncluttered roads, live in mansions, and of course receive a dacha in the country with plenty of green space since they work so hard to serve the masses.
Very good.....we’ll let the others sleep!
Take a car and go around a curve that is clearly marked as 35 MPH and try to go around the curve at 70. Crashing and burning is in your future.
Mo problem whatsoever if you have about million bucks to spend on a Pagani Zonda F.
Of course, only 25 of these were ever produced....
No problem... With the proper car setup. We used to go clover leafing late at night, no traffic at all, and take 15 mph ramps at 75-80. Piece of cake. Now cars are nothing like a train. Being locked into a track for the train would be somewhat similar to being tripped. I agree with you, I believe the train had a slim chance until the break was applied when entering the turn. I wonder why so fast? Hotrodding?
...or not...
>:
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Damn, that is good!
Even in Europe, high speed rail isn’t economical. The older, cheaper trains are popular, but people won’t pay a premium for the high speed trains.
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