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Personally, I care because it diverts attention and thrust from developing proven alternatives to air travel, such as HSR. When something that big hinges on a n

Personally, I care because it diverts attention and thrust from developing proven alternatives to air travel, such as HSR. When something that big hinges on a narrow swing in public opinion, and someone starts dangling a pie in the sky idea, the result can be abandonment of the main idea, at the service of an unlikely moonshot by a big ego.

throwaway2048 6y ago
Here is an excellent article that discusses this (surprisingly old) phenomena http://www.cat-bus.com/2017/12/gadgetbahn/ http://www.cat-bus.com/2017/12/gadgetbahn/
leetcrew 6y ago
I don't see HSR as a good alternative to air travel in a country as spread out as the US. a proper HSR route for the northeast corridor would be great; it's kind of ridiculous that a plane is the best way to get from boston to DC. when you start looking at traversing entire coasts, it's really hard for a train to compete with air travel. a non-stop flight from seattle to LA takes about two and a half hours, plus all the security nonsense. at 200mph, a train that makes zero stops would take about six hours. once you factor in travel to/from the airport and security, that's actually not too bad, but nonstop train routes are uncommon. the situation is even worse for cross-country flights. NY to LA is about six hours by plane; it would be about fourteen hours on a (highly unlikely) nonstop train. frankly (as an east-coaster) I would be happy just to see the existing rail lines be price competitive with airlines. I greatly prefer traveling by train, and I would be willing to accept a longer transit time if it were not both slower and more expensive.
- ihaveajob 6y ago
  Both Europe and China are of comparable size to the US, and they enjoy high speed train since decades ago. It won't replace a NYC-LA trip anytime now, but the coastal corridors and various regional hubs (Texas triangle, lake Michigan, etc) are perfectly sized.

throwaway2048 6y ago

Here is an excellent article that discusses this (surprisingly old) phenomena http://www.cat-bus.com/2017/12/gadgetbahn/ http://www.cat-bus.com/2017/12/gadgetbahn/

leetcrew 6y ago

I don't see HSR as a good alternative to air travel in a country as spread out as the US. a proper HSR route for the northeast corridor would be great; it's kind of ridiculous that a plane is the best way to get from boston to DC. when you start looking at traversing entire coasts, it's really hard for a train to compete with air travel. a non-stop flight from seattle to LA takes about two and a half hours, plus all the security nonsense. at 200mph, a train that makes zero stops would take about six hours. once you factor in travel to/from the airport and security, that's actually not too bad, but nonstop train routes are uncommon. the situation is even worse for cross-country flights. NY to LA is about six hours by plane; it would be about fourteen hours on a (highly unlikely) nonstop train. frankly (as an east-coaster) I would be happy just to see the existing rail lines be price competitive with airlines. I greatly prefer traveling by train, and I would be willing to accept a longer transit time if it were not both slower and more expensive.

ihaveajob 6y ago
Both Europe and China are of comparable size to the US, and they enjoy high speed train since decades ago. It won't replace a NYC-LA trip anytime now, but the coastal corridors and various regional hubs (Texas triangle, lake Michigan, etc) are perfectly sized.