5 ms·

While I agree with your point in general, this route is not really comparable to the Shinkansen’s route in Japan. Tōkyō Station to Shin-Ōsaka station (the orig

While I agree with your point in general, this route is not really comparable to the Shinkansen’s route in Japan. Tōkyō Station to Shin-Ōsaka station (the original Shinkansen route) is about the same distance by car as San Jose to Los Angeles Union Station. 303 miles versus 340. Along this route there is Nagoya in the middle, whose greater metro area is 10x the population of Fresno. There are also lots of other towns and vacation spots, like Mount Fuji and onsens. While it would be fairer to look at the populations in Japan before the Shinkansen rather than after, the value proposition does not seem as strong. Also this is a state level project while the Shinkansen was built by JNR, essentially part of the government of Japan.

secabeen 8y ago
I do wonder how much the WWII firebombings cleared land allowing the government to more easily setup the necessary rights-of-way. The 60's was 15 years after the war, but still. The Shinkansen route also looks less mountainous than the California HSR routing. They could run the Shinkansen along the coastal plains most of the way.
- bobthepanda 8y ago
  The Shinkansen was late and over budget as well. JNR was privatized in the '80s because Shinkansen debt made it become insolvent.
zanny 8y ago
Are those population figures taken from the 60s when the trains were being built, or from now half a century later after the profound force multiplier of having high speed rail on that scale have enabled substantial density and growth along its length? People talk about these train projects like you build them and take 20% of the cars off the congested highways and thats it. You don't build trains just to meet existing demand. You build trains to create demand, increase efficiency, and cause substantial economic growth and development as a result - in the long term.

secabeen 8y ago

I do wonder how much the WWII firebombings cleared land allowing the government to more easily setup the necessary rights-of-way. The 60's was 15 years after the war, but still. The Shinkansen route also looks less mountainous than the California HSR routing. They could run the Shinkansen along the coastal plains most of the way.

bobthepanda 8y ago
The Shinkansen was late and over budget as well. JNR was privatized in the '80s because Shinkansen debt made it become insolvent.

zanny 8y ago

Are those population figures taken from the 60s when the trains were being built, or from now half a century later after the profound force multiplier of having high speed rail on that scale have enabled substantial density and growth along its length? People talk about these train projects like you build them and take 20% of the cars off the congested highways and thats it. You don't build trains just to meet existing demand. You build trains to create demand, increase efficiency, and cause substantial economic growth and development as a result - in the long term.