4 ms·

Unless the original high speed rail plan has been scrapped, it is far more sophisticated than "just" a link from the east coast to the west coast: http://www.w

by m0th87 16y ago

Unless the original high speed rail plan has been scrapped, it is far more sophisticated than "just" a link from the east coast to the west coast: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/16/a-vision-for-high-speed-rail/ http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/16/a-vision-for-high-sp...

VladRussian 16y ago
>There's no reason why we can't do this. This is America. Exactly. It isn't China, France, Spain or Japan. People in this countries are : 1. used and able to [relatively comfortable] live very close to each other and 2. not able to live far apart - not enough cars, land, etc... In short - they don't have choice. The 1. and 2. are completely reversed for America. I personally like it this way. I spent enough years doing public transportation to value what i have here (Bay Area). Add: and don't tell me about global warming - will talk about it once everybody get really serious. Even today there is enough technology do avoid it - nobody [with real political and economical power] just care about it. For example (do you own research) - 20-30KWt/Hr batteries (300-450Kg) can get you 100-200 miles range. Even at today's prices (no economy of scale) $1000-500 per Kwt/hr - lets say $20K (though you can do even with $10K). Minus complicated engine, transmission and other related stuff (around the same weight) - pretty much the same price of the car. Gas station infrastructure - complete saving. Instead of all these underground and transportation gas tanks, safety measures, etc... - each existing gas station _already_ has high-amperage electrical connect to it - the only investment is a plug with card reader attached.
dantheman 16y ago
Sorry if my comment above was unclear -- there is no plan for a highspeed rail across the US, I was mentioning specific plans in FL and CA. Both of which do no make sense when you run the numbers, and are the ones that are the furthest along in planning.

by m0th87 16y ago

VladRussian 16y ago

>There's no reason why we can't do this. This is America. Exactly. It isn't China, France, Spain or Japan. People in this countries are : 1. used and able to [relatively comfortable] live very close to each other and 2. not able to live far apart - not enough cars, land, etc... In short - they don't have choice. The 1. and 2. are completely reversed for America. I personally like it this way. I spent enough years doing public transportation to value what i have here (Bay Area). Add: and don't tell me about global warming - will talk about it once everybody get really serious. Even today there is enough technology do avoid it - nobody [with real political and economical power] just care about it. For example (do you own research) - 20-30KWt/Hr batteries (300-450Kg) can get you 100-200 miles range. Even at today's prices (no economy of scale) $1000-500 per Kwt/hr - lets say $20K (though you can do even with $10K). Minus complicated engine, transmission and other related stuff (around the same weight) - pretty much the same price of the car. Gas station infrastructure - complete saving. Instead of all these underground and transportation gas tanks, safety measures, etc... - each existing gas station _already_ has high-amperage electrical connect to it - the only investment is a plug with card reader attached.

dantheman 16y ago

Sorry if my comment above was unclear -- there is no plan for a highspeed rail across the US, I was mentioning specific plans in FL and CA. Both of which do no make sense when you run the numbers, and are the ones that are the furthest along in planning.