[Army Air Corps]

Announce that we will have bullet trains criss-crossing this country in the next five years. Japan is celebrating the 45th anniversary of its first bullet train this year. Now they have dozens of them. Average speed: 165 mph. Average time a train is late: under 30 seconds. They have had these high speed trains for nearly five decades -- and we don't even have one!

Mikey needs to look at a map. There is a helluva lot of difference 'tween Japan and the US.

[Big_Monkey]

"There is a helluva lot of difference 'tween Japan and the US.

3,648,183 sq.mi to be exact. Japan is smaller than Kansas and just a little bigger than Ohio.

[GonzoGOP]

Announce that we will have bullet trains criss-crossing this country in the next five years. Japan is celebrating the 45th anniversary of its first bullet train this year. Now they have dozens of them. Average speed: 165 mph. Average time a train is late: under 30 seconds. They have had these high speed trains for nearly five decades -- and we don't even have one! Mikey needs to look at a map. There is a helluva lot of difference 'tween Japan and the US.

Mikey doesn't seem to understand that the Shinkansen only makes sense due to the extremely high cost of land in Japan. The Shinkansen is operated by the JNR (Government) and looses money by the basket full, but not as much money as would be spent building a freeway system, parking lots ect. to carry all the people the train does. So it only makes sense because the alternative is worse. In the US where land is relatively cheap the interstate makes more sense for passengers. Freight trains don't need 136 mph speeds, and can operate profitably on track that costs only a fraction of that required for high speed operation. That's why our railroads Carry freight, are profitable and pay taxes while the JNR carries mostly passengers, looses money, and consumes vast quantities of taxes.

Oh as an aside some of the smaller private railways in Japan do make money. But they operate on the American model, mostly freight at lower speeds.