Continental Europe: 3,600 miles of high-speed line, 2,000 under construction.
China: 30,500 km of new railways under comstruction, will connect all major cities with high-speed lines. 6,000 miles open by 2012.
U.S.: No high speed rail lines. None planned.
Silk Railroad?
Obama wants to throw a trillion at “choo choo trains” over the next century.
I just hope to gawd we don’t do it, its such a money losing proposition.
Parisians is already preparing the welcome parade for their now overlords.
“potentially cutting rail travel time between London and Beijing to as little as two days.”
And why would you take a two-day train-trip to a destination you can reach in just hours by airplane (and probably for a lower price as well)??????
It was modern commercial and passenger airplane travel that ended the popularity of the “orient express” as much as changed geopolitical factors. I don’t think an offer of a “high speed” two-day trip will change the situation that much. “High speed” rail, at present maximum rail speeds is more hype and “nationalist pride” that economically sound, in most cases (in most cases no different and no better, in economic fundamentals, than the Concorde supersonic airliner).
Not a bad idea.
We can have some Uighurs,Tibetans over in Paris and Rome.
I know how we can help these people put this together; send our lawyers and activists to assist with the paperwork related to environmental impacts and emdangered species along the route. let’s see; how much national debt can we settle by shipping a lawyer to China? I’m thinking we can value the exports just like the stimulus package; $300K per lawyer?
Well, in place of NASA and the space program (loss of 23,000 central FL jobs with planned cuts), Obama likes a high-speed “Boondoggle Special” train from Orlando to Tampa. Will a US company get the contract?
Russia would be the best route, as they are currently building high speed rail routes within the country. Furthermore, you would have only one sovereign country/bloc to go through.
I wanna get drunk at 300 mph on the Disoriented Express.