This is one of the goals of socialism (democrats)
that’s why they love this stupid rail crap
they hate we have cars and can be independent and free to go where we want to
The people don’t care one wit about a trail system but hey, gotta create more jobs for the TSA.
With our present form of Government, the US can build no public project cheaply. We have the most expensive and complex Gov’t in the world.
This is all a pipe-dream.
If you’re going to do it, do it like Japan were EVERY RAIL LINE IS PRIVATIZED.
Where will the government find enough cash to keep such a money sink afloat? Mass transit has ever been a money losing proposition.
And as much as I am a train watcher and supporter; if I'm an investor, this is a non-starter. It would cost probably 2X in ticket pricing and 3X in travel time (I'm also not buying that 'under 18 hours' bit). So why even consider this?
I'm sorry, but train travel is great for cargo (and should be expanded where possible for that purpose), but the convenient of air and even car travel is far more advantageous for passengers. So yes - I would defund Amtrak if I were in charge.
We could have had that and more out of the private rail industry, if the federal government had not both regulated/taxed the railroads out of existence and “competed” against them buy building the infrastructure of other transportation modes with tax dollars. What an awesome “thank you” the feds gave the railroads after WWII for their service during that war, eh? (Most of the technology used in high-speed rail would not have come to pass if not for US technology developed by people like Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse among others.)
is it shaped like a bankrupt white elephant?
And we had a poster here once who was a fanboi of lightrail.
He had no problem with government forcing us to subsidize it.
Haven’t stopped laughing yet! I thought flying cars were the wave of the future!!!!!
Whether on paid business travel or on vacation, my time is worth $50/hr. Only on short trips of <360 miles is a train not going to make my trip vastly more expensive.
Say someone is making $25/hr, an additional 6hrs on the train equals $150. And the last time I checked, AMTRAK was already more expensive than flying.
Also, driving inside of 250 miles is almost always faster than total trip time of flying, from home to final destination.
Finally, with relatively little additional cost, current trains could be running at 100mph over most lines, but they don’t because it would be more expensive.
I like trains, but even ignoring the “We don’t have $500 billion to build a rail system that will need ongoing subsidies even if we thought the government should be running passenger rail service” argument, it is solving a problem we do not have.
Claiming that the proposal will connect 80% of Americans is ridiculous, unless you can bring your car along. Sure, if you take the train to Manhattan or Chicago, you can take a frequently occuring train/bus to other points in that city. But suburban coverage is much spottier. The USA is not Europe. Our businesses and people are not organized around downtowns.
Once done with the cherry picking in the northeast corridor, the drop-off is very fast. LA to Vegas to SF might get decent ridership. Chicago to where ... Cleveland? St. Louis? New Orleans? How many trips on the schedule? How many cars can you fill?
You live in Hoffman Estates, a suburb of Chicago. You want to go to St. Louis, to see the Rams game in person. Should be a pretty ideal trip, right? Okay. Well, first you have to face Chicago traffic when you drive from Hoffman Estates to Chicago. That should be good for almost 45 minutes, assuming traffic is light on Sunday morning. Now, you get to park your car somewhere in the vicinity of Union Station. That should run you $40 or more for the day. You have to get there a bit early, as TSA hangs out at Union Station. (”Nice doggie!”) say 30 an hour. It still isn’t as bad as the airports. Of course, so far you are farther from your destination than when you started. Pay your money, hop on board, and relax. And only two hours later, you are in downtown St.Louis, and the Stadium is within easy walking distance, and you don’t thave to pay for parking on the stadium end.
That’s a pretty ideal scenario, and still you saved HOW much time? About half an hour. And the cost of your trip was certainly greater, especially if you tend to take friends with you to the football game.
What’s more, long haul trains are subject to more delays than flights, and MANY more than hopping in your car when you feel like going.
IF freight were running on the same rails, we could talk, since the rails would serve multiple functions. But freight ain’t gonna ride those rails. Freight trains are for SLOW and HEAVY. 90%+ of the time those rails are gonna go unused. Planes fly in the air. Pretty cheap infrastructure once up there. We need roads anyway for the last mile, may as well let cars use them for the whole trip by connecting them all together! Oh ... we did that already.
Oh, and Americans like/need to take their stuff with them.
Trains ... a 19th century solution for 21st century transportation needs.
The map “could” look like that but the cited speeds (220 mph) means someone is drinking a lot of bong water. I’ve seen figures that would imply that to get all that trackbed able to sustain those speeds - let’s say you’re talking billions PER MILE. Ain’t never going to happen. The “shovel ready” projects back in 2008 consisted of union workers and companies owed by brothers-in-law filling potholes and causing interstates to filter down to one lane roads for a net gain of ZERO. Basically we can’t do infrastructure any more in this country. To the extent that we pretend to do so, it’s just a means of stealing money from the govt. (which in turn has stolen or printed the money) and causing traffic delays. /rant
You forgot to add “built and run by China” as a means of paying the ‘interest’ on the debt criminally created by the traitors in our government to them.
Last time I heard, California has spent many, many millions of dollars on "High Speed Rail", and has yet to put down even a single meter of track.
all this will do is make travel more difficult and give tsa more power to restrict people’s movement. plus it will never ever break even, it will be a huge money loser, like all passenger rail service is. fast amtrak. that’s it. only losing money a lot faster than amtrak.
next we’ll be forced to take it. we need to prop up rail by letting the highway system go to hell.
Gosh! Why that's faster than...um...it used to be.
And in one third of the time you could fly it for a Hell of a lot less money than any HSR would have to charge even with a hefty subsidy from the taxpayers.
Welcome to the liberal mind thought of "moving forward." Choo Choo trains, windmills and electric cars.