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I wrote about this a while back. Self driving cars are not a solution, at least in America where they won't solve the last leg problem from trains to home (beca
by djsumdog 9y ago
I wrote about this a while back. Self driving cars are not a solution, at least in America where they won't solve the last leg problem from trains to home (because we have so few trains or even express buses).
http://penguindreams.org/blog/self-driving-cars-will-not-solve-the-transportation-problem/ http://penguindreams.org/blog/self-driving-cars-will-not-sol...
Self driving vehicles on dedicated road ways can't even expect to match a tiny percentage of what trains or even express buses can deliver. Singapore already has autonomous fully automated trains. The same tech has been sold to Kuala Lumpar. London has several driver-less trains with more of their underground being switched over to semi/full-autonomous as well.
We've already had two articles on HN about NYC's crumbling rail infrastructure (both the subway and Penn Station). Chicago hasn't expanded their lines in decades. Our two biggest European style rail cities are not expanding, and are actively falling apart.
There is hope though. Seattle is expanding with ST3 and Florida's high speed line just went operational, with additional stops opening over the next few years which will eventually connect Miami with Orlando. Now if California doesn't fuck things up, we might finally have two real high speed lines in this country (and no, I'm not counting the Acela).
- mratzloff 9y agoSeattle's light rail isn't bad, but it's expanding slowly and has a long way to go before it even comes close to matching NYC's breadth of transit service, let alone someplace like Tokyo. Investment in the NYC lines is continuous, and although much more could be done to upgrade switching infrastructure and renovate some aging stations and train cars, it's still a remarkable achievement.
- StudentStuff 9y agoSeattle's light rail should just about triple over the next 6 years, adding 42 miles of new track, from Northgate to Kent to Bellevue and Redmond. We also maintain our rail, unlike NYC. Chronic underfunding of rail maintenance (in favor of unneeded station upgrades) is tanking reliability on light rail lines in NYC and DC currently, and its only going to get worse so long as critical maintenance is delayed.
- mratzloff 9y agoSeattle has 22 miles of track. NYC has 850.
- adventured 9y agoYou can add Texas to that list. They're aggressively working on building high-speed rail. They will beat California to it and do it at a far cheaper cost. Once they build the first line from Dallas to Houston, I think it's extremely likely they'll continue building more lines between other major cities. You do Dallas to Austin & San Antonio. Then you look at Dallas to Oklahoma City. They'll show it works, that it's financially beneficial, and that it can be done within a reasonable cost. https://www.dallasnews.com/news/transportation/2018/01/29/texas-central-announces-downtown-dallas-high-speed-rail-passenger-station-site https://www.dallasnews.com/news/transportation/2018/01/29/te... https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/business/Dallas-Terminal-Renderings-Maps-Released-in-Bullet-Train-High-Speed-Rail-Project-471650694.html https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/business/Dallas-Terminal-Renderi...
- StudentStuff 9y agoThe outskirts of Austin are much emptier and flatter than what they're building rail through in California. Both of those facts make it magnitudes easier to acquire a dead straight & flat right of way, which is what high speed rail needs!
- gamblor956 9y agoIf Texas can't build a HSR on flat terrain at a cheaper cost than a HSR that must go over/through/around mountains, above valleys and rivers, around world-famous national parks and forests, and is twice as long...quite frankly, they're doing something wrong. The CA HSR authority has fucked many things up, but you're comparing apples to oranges here.