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> oil company build a pipeline This happens. > rail company build a high speed train track This doesn't. There are actually companies that want to build oil

> oil company build a pipeline This happens. > rail company build a high speed train track This doesn't. There are actually companies that want to build oil pipelines. How many privately funded companies are there that want to (and have the means to) build a high-speed rail line?

jungturk 10y ago
There's one in Texas attempting to do so: http://www.texascentral.com/project/ http://www.texascentral.com/project/ Serious hyperloop contenders may well emerge soon, too.
- jdpedrie 10y ago
  I'd love to see that rail happen. Nowhere near Texas, but it would be cool. That said, Texas isn't really representative of the rest of the country.
vkou 10y ago
How many privately funded companies would even consider doing so in the current regulatory climate? There's a bit of survivourship bias at play, here! Likewise, if the oil were extracted by the state, rather then a private firm, it would also not have any problems with piping it over private property.
- jdpedrie 10y ago
  Perhaps, but it's not as though the popularity of oil pipelines is especially high. They still get built! If anything, much of the bureaucracy and public would far prefer to build high speed rail in place of a pipeline. Certainly neither face a particularly positive regulatory environment. I'm not sure what your second point is getting at. Rail lines face pretty huge eminent domain burdens along with everything else. My point was mostly that the hurdles of building rail and pipelines are both quite high. The economic benefit of oil pipelines are enough to make them worth the trouble to a private firm. Rail, not so much.
  - vkou 10y ago
    They don't have to be popular, but the regulators are happy to disregard that problem, and fast-track approval. On the other hand, none of the regulators would even consider doing that to lay a train track. My point is that nobody tries to build a rail line, because they know it's a hopeless affair - they will never get approval.

jungturk 10y ago

There's one in Texas attempting to do so: http://www.texascentral.com/project/ http://www.texascentral.com/project/ Serious hyperloop contenders may well emerge soon, too.

jdpedrie 10y ago
I'd love to see that rail happen. Nowhere near Texas, but it would be cool. That said, Texas isn't really representative of the rest of the country.

vkou 10y ago

How many privately funded companies would even consider doing so in the current regulatory climate? There's a bit of survivourship bias at play, here! Likewise, if the oil were extracted by the state, rather then a private firm, it would also not have any problems with piping it over private property.

jdpedrie 10y ago
Perhaps, but it's not as though the popularity of oil pipelines is especially high. They still get built! If anything, much of the bureaucracy and public would far prefer to build high speed rail in place of a pipeline. Certainly neither face a particularly positive regulatory environment. I'm not sure what your second point is getting at. Rail lines face pretty huge eminent domain burdens along with everything else. My point was mostly that the hurdles of building rail and pipelines are both quite high. The economic benefit of oil pipelines are enough to make them worth the trouble to a private firm. Rail, not so much.
- vkou 10y ago
  They don't have to be popular, but the regulators are happy to disregard that problem, and fast-track approval. On the other hand, none of the regulators would even consider doing that to lay a train track. My point is that nobody tries to build a rail line, because they know it's a hopeless affair - they will never get approval.