3 ms·
> (a) Vastly more efficient But without occupancy/ridership figures and precise fuel consumption statistics (including the amortized energy expenditure used to
by temphn 15y ago
> (a) Vastly more efficient
But without occupancy/ridership figures and precise fuel consumption statistics (including the amortized energy expenditure used to build the train), it is not at all obvious that trains beat cars from a fuel-efficiency-per-passenger standpoint. Given the price tag on the train, it is not obvious that it is more efficient from a cost-efficiency-per-passenger standpoint either.
> (b) Much faster (SF -> LA in < 3 hours, versus ~6.5 for a car)
But the door-to-door time is what truly matters. You aren't factoring in travel time to and from the train station, or wait time at the stations.
> (c) Not subject to traffic (which can greatly increase the latter time)
As noted above, the first and last legs (involving getting to the train station) are subject to traffic. The train leg itself is subject to wait times as it won't be running 24/7 with a new train leaving every minute. In addition, there will likely be nontrivial TSA/VIPER security checkpoints that will further slow down travel.
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/06/tsa-swarms-8000-bus-
stations-public-transit-systems-yearly
Think you could avoid the TSA's body scanners and pat-
downs by taking Amtrak? Think again.
> (d) Much more comfortable (compare Amtrak to a private automobile)
This is highly arguable. You can directly control the cleanliness/comfort/appearance of your own automobile, but you cannot control the cleanliness of public transport.
Moreover, you can leave items overnight in your car, play music without headphones, and have a full volume conversation on a hands-free headset (or with a passenger) without someone else overhearing. You can't do this on a train.
- Anechoic 15y ago>In addition, there will likely be nontrivial TSA/VIPER security checkpoints that will further slow down travel. If Amtrak's experience is any indication, this won't be an issue: http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/t/188504.aspx?PageIndex=1 http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/t/188504.aspx?PageIndex=1
- temphn 15y agoUnfortunately, VIPR does not seem to be going away. Your article was from March of this year in Savannah. As is common practice at most federal agencies, TSA paused the program for a bit till the outcry blew over. Then they started it up again. Take a look at this clip from October. http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/10/like-tsa-youll-love-vipr/247221/ http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/10/like-tsa... "Today's VIPR searches did not come from any particular threat" "Where is a terrorist more apt to be found? Not these days on an airplane more likely on the interstate," said Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons. http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/10/28/1921254/tsas-vipr-bites-rail-bus-and-ferry-passengers http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/10/28/1921254/tsas-vipr-bi... According to TSA Administrator John Pistole's testimony before the Senate last June, 'TSA conducted more than 8,000 VIPR operations in the [previous] 12 months, including more than 3,700 operations in mass-transit and passenger-railroad venues.' He wants a 50% budget increase for VIPR for 2012. Imagine what TSA would do with the extra funding." The TSA Administrator himself says 3700 operations were done "in mass-transit and passenger-railroad venues". One of them got blogged, which is why there was an outcry and temporary pullback. But major news stations have just ignored this or bent over (see the Tennessee report above), though even the VIPR name is like a parody from a bad movie. Any train that costs $XX billion dollars is going to be deemed a terrorist target, so you can expect insane TSA/VIPR searches. This will further erode any purported time/convenience advantages.
- Anechoic 15y agoVIPR also operates on roadways (highway rest stops, truck weigh stations, etc) so in comparing car vs train delays, at best it's a push. >Any train that costs $XX billion dollars is going to be deemed a terrorist target, so you can expect insane TSA/VIPR searches. If that was true, we'd have insane VIPR searches right now on the Northeast Corridor, not to mention we would be seeing terrorists targeting HSR in Europe and Asia.
- temphn 15y agoVIPR is ramping up now, and their budget will be increased next year. Here's one more link to an Amtrak/VIPR search from earlier this month, indicating that the Amtrak head of police only succeeded in slowing rather than stopping the program. http://blogs.sacbee.com/crime/archives/2011/11/tsa-conducts-vipr-operation-at-amtrak.html http://blogs.sacbee.com/crime/archives/2011/11/tsa-conducts-... November 4, 2011 TSA agents search Amtrak trains in Sacramento Transportation Security Administration agents boarded Amtrak trains in Sacramento today to conduct one of their periodic VIPR operations, officials said. Our priors appear to be different on (a) whether the TSA's VIPR is likely to gain power and (b) whether they will start with centralized arteries like trains. From a practical standpoint, they can't set up checkpoints at every traffic intersection in the country, but they can set up checkpoints at every train station. Thus I don't agree that the two situations are equivalent in expected VIPR delay, and I do believe that we are going to see sharply increasing searches of Amtrak/train passengers, as nothing else TSA has done has been seriously resisted, let alone rolled back. But opinions may differ, so I'll leave it at that.
- waterlesscloud 15y agoIt's also not 6.5 hours to drive from LA to SF. I've gone from city to city, door to door, in roughly 5 hours, a number of times.
- VladRussian 15y agoknow some people enjoying 110-120+ mi/hour on that route :)