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HSR only makes economic sense in the northeast. Everywhere else is too spread out for rail to compete with air travel. The most popular air route in the western
by chroma 3y ago
HSR only makes economic sense in the northeast. Everywhere else is too spread out for rail to compete with air travel. The most popular air route in the western US (SF-LA) isn’t worth making high speed rail between. The project is expected to cost over $30 billion. Assuming 100% of air passengers use rail (4 million per year), at $150 per ticket it would take 50 years to break even… and that assumes zero maintenance costs. Also it would be slower than taking a plane.
- Lammy 3y agoRequiring freedom of movement to operate for profit is such a needlessly self imposed limit. This would be a solved problem if our government truly operated for the good of the people instead of for Continuity Of Government. The Department of Defense budget was 1.52 Trillion for FY2023 alone while we're arguing over an order of magnitude smaller: https://www.usaspending.gov/agency/department-of-defense?fy=2023 https://www.usaspending.gov/agency/department-of-defense?fy=... They already own most of the necessary land anyway: https://www.blm.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2023-07/BLM-Administrative-Units-2023-36X40-508.pdf https://www.blm.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2023-07/BLM-Adm...