The possible comparison is the Boston–Washington corridor but that’s about it.
Actually, there are several other corridors besides Boston/Washington where there is sufficient population density to support high-speed rail.
Posted on 11/20/2009 6:26:24 AM PST by Willie Green
OSAKA (Kyodo) The Osaka Prefectural Government has come up with a plan that calls for scrapping Osaka airport at Itami in 2035 when maglev trains are scheduled to start running between Tokyo and Osaka, officials said Thursday.
The blueprint proposes using the site to build an international academic town for intensive English-language study with a population of 20,000.
The plan also envisages selling the airport site and using the proceeds to build a new maglev line linking downtown Osaka with Kansai International Airport in Osaka Bay.
The prefecture expects the plan to accelerate the flow of travelers to Kansai airport and make it an international hub accessible to residents in other major urban areas in and around Tokyo and Nagoya, they said.
Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto unveiled the plan during a meeting Wednesday of mayors and senior officials from 18 municipalities around Osaka airport.
Officially called Osaka International Airport, it is located in Itami, Hyogo Prefecture, and part of the Osaka Prefecture cities of Toyonaka and Ikeda. It is currently used mainly for domestic flights after international services moved to Kansai airport when it opened in 1994.
Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai), operator of bullet-train services on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line, plans to build the Chuo Shinkansen Line using magnetically levitated trains. It plans to construct the Tokyo-Nagoya section by 2025 and later extend the service to Osaka.
You have to admire the Japanese' foresight in this area.
They know it will take decades to fully convert their infrastructure and plan accordingly.
The dumbasses that we elect do nothing except sit on their butts and pretend the problem doesn't exist until there's some kind of "crisis". And even then they simply piss money down the drain instead of actually addressing the problem.
How did we ever get stuck with so many idiotic boobs in our elected offices anyway???
Japan has maglev trains and we have Amtrak.
Pack my bags.
You have to understand that the United States is a very low density country. If we had the same population per square mile as the United Kingdom, we’d have over 1 billion people.
So we’re several times larger then most industrialized countries and we’re several times not as dense. So not only do we have to build longer and more tracks (or wire for high speed internet) but they’ll only accessible (and paid for) a much smaller percent of the population then Japan or France. The possible comparison is the Boston–Washington corridor but that’s about it. (And guess where is one of the few places where Amtrak is profitable?)
For many short hop scenarios, it can be a good fit.
as to why so many dumbasses in elected offices
it is said they reflect their voters, an ugly thought
The possible comparison is the Boston–Washington corridor but that’s about it.
Actually, there are several other corridors besides Boston/Washington where there is sufficient population density to support high-speed rail.
General Electric and China’s Ministry of Railways has signed a strategic MOU (Memorandum Of Understanding) to advance opportunities for development of HSR (High-Speed Rail) in the US. “This collaboration will allow GE Transportation to be the first US locomotive manufacturer to more effectively compete for high-speed rail projects against global competitors.”
Communities and companies seeking to build high-speed rail systems haven’t yet received the $8 billion in stimulus money the Obama administration promised for the projects, and already they want more — a lot more.
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