2 ms·

Rather that go through all that nonsense, why not focus on connecting the airports to downtown more efficiently — such as how Heathrow has done it. 15 min from

Rather that go through all that nonsense, why not focus on connecting the airports to downtown more efficiently — such as how Heathrow has done it. 15 min from heathrow to paddington. Flying is the best mode of long distance travel in the United States — you don’t have to pay for thousands of miles of track, instead you just need to focus on connecting to airports with the cities more efficiently. With airplanes, you can route however you want, scaling with demand. But with a train: what happens if Chicago-NY becomes unprofitable? You’ve spent billions connecting cities rather than simply improving airports. Airports can serve all city pairs, a train is a permanent connection of city pairs. It’s interesting how people here are ok with spending billions to run track, build stations, but nobody has brought up the simplest solution: improve airports and the airport UX. That would be cheaper and benefit more people — not just those living in a major city.

Johnny555 9y ago
That's only half the battle since you still need to get past the TSA checkpoint so if the flight is important to you, you'll get to the airport an hour early just in case the line is significantly longer than usual. Over the past 6 months, I've spent nearly 60 minutes in security more than once due to equipment failure and/or understaffing. Trains are a good backup to airports since airplanes can be grounded (or highly delayed) due to weather, security concerns, equipment problems at the airport, etc. Trains are not (generally) subject to the same concerns so make a good backup. I was in Japan recently and my intercity flight to a city 300 miles away was canceled due to an incoming Typhoon. I was able to book a high speed train that got me in there to catch my flight (and depart before the typhoon hit that airport too). When a blizzard hits NYC, all you can do is sit it out and wait for flights to resume and it can sometimes take days to find an available seat.

Johnny555 9y ago

That's only half the battle since you still need to get past the TSA checkpoint so if the flight is important to you, you'll get to the airport an hour early just in case the line is significantly longer than usual. Over the past 6 months, I've spent nearly 60 minutes in security more than once due to equipment failure and/or understaffing. Trains are a good backup to airports since airplanes can be grounded (or highly delayed) due to weather, security concerns, equipment problems at the airport, etc. Trains are not (generally) subject to the same concerns so make a good backup. I was in Japan recently and my intercity flight to a city 300 miles away was canceled due to an incoming Typhoon. I was able to book a high speed train that got me in there to catch my flight (and depart before the typhoon hit that airport too). When a blizzard hits NYC, all you can do is sit it out and wait for flights to resume and it can sometimes take days to find an available seat.