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I think this is super cool contrast with the US government's decision to expand the interstate highway system after WWII. While highways certainly were able to

by Kapura 10y ago

I think this is super cool contrast with the US government's decision to expand the interstate highway system after WWII. While highways certainly were able to connect American cities in ways which were never before possible, the bet on cars has had long-term repercussions, arguably contributing to the failing of many American metro commuter rail systems which, in turn, created the traffic problems that plague places like New York and LA. I would be shocked if this doesn't improve the lives of the average Chinese citizen, and I think it likely that a long-term move towards public transportation will help China meet its carbon emissions goals.

greglindahl 10y ago
China is also betting on cars.
kalleboo 10y ago
It also helps China's train industry develop - they're pushing heavily to win contracts to build rail in other Asian countries
- UnoriginalGuy 10y ago
  China building road and rail in neighbouring countries is MASSIVE both geopolitically and economically. This helps China on at least three fronts: - Make "friends." - Countries now owe China money over 30+ years. - Makes it easier for China to ship products into these countries helping China's economy.
  - oblio 10y ago
    I wonder if this will have the side effect of enriching and stabilizing the Central Asian countries. Many of them were quite rich in the days of the Silk Road and basically starved when China went down and most trade moved over to ships.
djsumdog 10y ago
The state of American rail is tragic. People continually make excuses about how America isn't structured for rail, but that happened systemically over the course of decades. Most small cities had street cars, but they were removed around the 1950s or 60s. Interstate highways barrelled their way though the hearts of cities, destroying poor/low-income neighbourhoods. If at any time US policy makers decide to push for rail, we could see dramatic turnarounds over the course of the next two decades. Seattle is building ST3 and California is building its high speed network. It's a start, and we're still ahead of Australia when it comes to inter-city rail, but no where near close for urban/light rail (which every Australian state capitol has except Darwin and Hobart). By comparison, Russia is less densely populated, yet they have a both better high speed rail and last-leg commuter rail between/in major cities and they are actively expanding their high speed systems. Self driving cars are realistically a decade away and they cannot solve the capacity problem: http://penguindreams.org/blog/self-driving-cars-will-not-solve-the-transportation-problem/ http://penguindreams.org/blog/self-driving-cars-will-not-sol... ..and they can only solve the last leg problem if we have better inter-city rail infrastructure.
- protomyth 10y ago
  > The state of American rail is tragic. https://www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P0362 https://www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P0362 The US has one of the best freight rail systems in the world. As a country we ship freight not people. Its not tragic, its damn amazing. I'm sorry they didn't specialize it for the use case you want.

by Kapura 10y ago

greglindahl 10y ago

China is also betting on cars.

kalleboo 10y ago

It also helps China's train industry develop - they're pushing heavily to win contracts to build rail in other Asian countries

UnoriginalGuy 10y ago
China building road and rail in neighbouring countries is MASSIVE both geopolitically and economically. This helps China on at least three fronts: - Make "friends." - Countries now owe China money over 30+ years. - Makes it easier for China to ship products into these countries helping China's economy.
- oblio 10y ago
  I wonder if this will have the side effect of enriching and stabilizing the Central Asian countries. Many of them were quite rich in the days of the Silk Road and basically starved when China went down and most trade moved over to ships.

djsumdog 10y ago

The state of American rail is tragic. People continually make excuses about how America isn't structured for rail, but that happened systemically over the course of decades. Most small cities had street cars, but they were removed around the 1950s or 60s. Interstate highways barrelled their way though the hearts of cities, destroying poor/low-income neighbourhoods. If at any time US policy makers decide to push for rail, we could see dramatic turnarounds over the course of the next two decades. Seattle is building ST3 and California is building its high speed network. It's a start, and we're still ahead of Australia when it comes to inter-city rail, but no where near close for urban/light rail (which every Australian state capitol has except Darwin and Hobart). By comparison, Russia is less densely populated, yet they have a both better high speed rail and last-leg commuter rail between/in major cities and they are actively expanding their high speed systems. Self driving cars are realistically a decade away and they cannot solve the capacity problem: http://penguindreams.org/blog/self-driving-cars-will-not-solve-the-transportation-problem/ http://penguindreams.org/blog/self-driving-cars-will-not-sol... ..and they can only solve the last leg problem if we have better inter-city rail infrastructure.

protomyth 10y ago
> The state of American rail is tragic. https://www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P0362 https://www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P0362 The US has one of the best freight rail systems in the world. As a country we ship freight not people. Its not tragic, its damn amazing. I'm sorry they didn't specialize it for the use case you want.