3 ms·

That's entirely a California problem, not an America problem.

by NDizzle 4y ago

Shish2k 4y ago
Do other states have high-speed rail? (Or other large projects, but I’m personally a big fan of rail)
- exabrial 4y ago
  The question is pointless: Do other states even _need_ high speed rail? The USA is sparse. Most of the western United States is empty.
  - albertopv 4y ago
    East coast?
  - HDThoreaun 4y ago
    Yes, many regions would benefit greatly from high speed rail. Texas and Florida would see massive economic gain as well as the obvious east coast corridor.
  - melling 4y ago
    Not this argument AGAIN. “Why would anyone want to build a HSR from NYC to Los Angeles”. “Don’t you know the western US is sparse?”. What about the rest of America? There’s always someone who comes and tells us America is sparse so we don’t need HSR. There are plenty of places where there’s sufficient population density and sufficiently close.
  - twobitshifter 4y ago
    https://i.redd.it/d0ioc9idrtf31.png https://i.redd.it/d0ioc9idrtf31.png Look at this map - hsr is most useful for connecting nodes of mega regions that are often sparsely populated inbetween. Distance of about 600 miles or about from Canada to the southern tip of Nebraska. I can see many places it would work.
- svggrfgovgf 4y ago
  Does 125 mph count as high-speed rail? Brightline in Florida is scheduled to start service between Miami and Orlando in 2023. Brightline has been building a new rail line for the last couple of years (not exactly sure when they started). The rail between Cocoa and Orlando is definitely all new - I've watched that section being built from scratch over the last couple of years and it's nearly finished.
- 0xBDB 4y ago
  There is the 110mph Acela between Washington and Boston (with stops in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, etc.) I assume that the infrastructure required to put in a real bullet train, i.e., double the speed or more, is cost prohibitive. There are other routes where they would potentially make sense, such as between Dallas and Houston, where a Japanese company has been trying to put a 100% privately funded one in for a decade or more. I'm a rail fan and would love to see it. However, nothing has happened and I doubt anything ever will, not because of Southwest Airlines (anymore) but because landowners are opposed to having their farms cut in half and Texas Republicans are (not totally unreasonably) afraid that it doesn't really have a business case and that it will go bankrupt, leaving the state either holding the bag for operational or cleanup costs. And as unpleasant as going through the whole flight routine for a 50 minute flight is, planes do get the job done. There are other things to spend money on. I think that particular line would work (I would have used it when I made that drive regularly), but much as I love trains I think the critics generally have a point. The use case in America is very, very limited and quite possibly California is not it.
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That's entirely a California problem, not an America problem.

Shish2k 4y ago

Do other states have high-speed rail? (Or other large projects, but I’m personally a big fan of rail)

exabrial 4y ago
The question is pointless: Do other states even _need_ high speed rail? The USA is sparse. Most of the western United States is empty.
- albertopv 4y ago
  East coast?
- HDThoreaun 4y ago
  Yes, many regions would benefit greatly from high speed rail. Texas and Florida would see massive economic gain as well as the obvious east coast corridor.
- melling 4y ago
  Not this argument AGAIN. “Why would anyone want to build a HSR from NYC to Los Angeles”. “Don’t you know the western US is sparse?”. What about the rest of America? There’s always someone who comes and tells us America is sparse so we don’t need HSR. There are plenty of places where there’s sufficient population density and sufficiently close.
- twobitshifter 4y ago
  https://i.redd.it/d0ioc9idrtf31.png https://i.redd.it/d0ioc9idrtf31.png Look at this map - hsr is most useful for connecting nodes of mega regions that are often sparsely populated inbetween. Distance of about 600 miles or about from Canada to the southern tip of Nebraska. I can see many places it would work.
svggrfgovgf 4y ago
Does 125 mph count as high-speed rail? Brightline in Florida is scheduled to start service between Miami and Orlando in 2023. Brightline has been building a new rail line for the last couple of years (not exactly sure when they started). The rail between Cocoa and Orlando is definitely all new - I've watched that section being built from scratch over the last couple of years and it's nearly finished.
0xBDB 4y ago
There is the 110mph Acela between Washington and Boston (with stops in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, etc.) I assume that the infrastructure required to put in a real bullet train, i.e., double the speed or more, is cost prohibitive. There are other routes where they would potentially make sense, such as between Dallas and Houston, where a Japanese company has been trying to put a 100% privately funded one in for a decade or more. I'm a rail fan and would love to see it. However, nothing has happened and I doubt anything ever will, not because of Southwest Airlines (anymore) but because landowners are opposed to having their farms cut in half and Texas Republicans are (not totally unreasonably) afraid that it doesn't really have a business case and that it will go bankrupt, leaving the state either holding the bag for operational or cleanup costs. And as unpleasant as going through the whole flight routine for a 50 minute flight is, planes do get the job done. There are other things to spend money on. I think that particular line would work (I would have used it when I made that drive regularly), but much as I love trains I think the critics generally have a point. The use case in America is very, very limited and quite possibly California is not it.

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