As the U.S. fantasizes, the rest of the world builds new transport system (2017) • Hacker News Board

Re: As the U.S. fantasizes, the rest of the world builds new transport system (2017)

#11

Post by marnett » Sat, Dec 22, 2018, 11:17 PM UTC

reindeerer wrote: post #3

Cue the zealots hailing second coming of the lord savior Musk who will cure all of the US from it's transportation problems by digging a dumbass service tunnel

Perhaps he realizes that politically fail is impossible in the US? Not defending the guy, and I would much prefer HSR, but at this point acknowledging that automobiles rule and must be a part of the solution is worth trying.

Re: As the U.S. fantasizes, the rest of the world builds new transport system (2017)

#12

Post by sputknick » Sat, Dec 22, 2018, 11:17 PM UTC

tomohawk wrote: post #5

High speed rail is a non-starter in the US, except for in certain regions. It's 2000 miles from Chicago to LA. Optimistically, if you had a train that averaged 200 miles an hour, it would still take 10 hours. That's just not competitive.

Make it an overnight train with a real bed and the train sounds more appealing to me. Do a days work in Chicago, go to sleep, wake up, do a days work in LA.

Re: As the U.S. fantasizes, the rest of the world builds new transport system (2017)

#13

Post by gitgud » Sat, Dec 22, 2018, 11:17 PM UTC

reindeerer wrote: post #3

Cue the zealots hailing second coming of the lord savior Musk who will cure all of the US from it's transportation problems by digging a dumbass service tunnel

"Hyperloop all the problems of space travel (vacuum, high speed, expensive) on the earth's surface!"

Re: As the U.S. fantasizes, the rest of the world builds new transport system (2017)

#14

Post by cobookman » Sat, Dec 22, 2018, 11:17 PM UTC

tomohawk wrote: post #5

High speed rail is a non-starter in the US, except for in certain regions. It's 2000 miles from Chicago to LA. Optimistically, if you had a train that averaged 200 miles an hour, it would still take 10 hours. That's just not competitive.

100% spot on. Many don't realize just how large the us is.

Going from SF to ATL is longer distance than Portugal to Belarus.

Re: As the U.S. fantasizes, the rest of the world builds new transport system (2017)

#15

Post by TaylorAlexander » Sat, Dec 22, 2018, 11:18 PM UTC

reindeerer wrote: post #3

Cue the zealots hailing second coming of the lord savior Musk who will cure all of the US from it's transportation problems by digging a dumbass service tunnel

Tunnels in cities and trains between cities are not at odds with each other. Let’s not be zealots about that. The tunnels seem fine to me within cities, but I am all for trains between cities.

Re: As the U.S. fantasizes, the rest of the world builds new transport system (2017)

#16

Post by randomsearch » Sat, Dec 22, 2018, 11:19 PM UTC

rdl wrote: post #4

We have $2/gallon gas, from massive domestic production (and similar or lower prices for Jet-A). There are traffic congestion reasons for mass transit in cities, but we're pretty sorted for inter-city.

What about climate change?

Re: As the U.S. fantasizes, the rest of the world builds new transport system (2017)

#17

Post by StorytellerCZ » Sat, Dec 22, 2018, 11:19 PM UTC

Texas Central is another interesting private initiative: https://www.texascentral.com/

Re: As the U.S. fantasizes, the rest of the world builds new transport system (2017)

#18

Post by haberman » Sat, Dec 22, 2018, 11:19 PM UTC

reindeerer wrote: post #3

Cue the zealots hailing second coming of the lord savior Musk who will cure all of the US from it's transportation problems by digging a dumbass service tunnel

I'm pro-transit (I vote for it whenever it is on the ballot, and take it frequently). I'm also skeptical of Musk at times, especially the promises about "full self driving" in Teslas.

That said, I find the urbanist/transitphile community's response to Musk's tunnel ambitions off-putting. Most of the criticisms I've seen seem to presume that a person who has revolutionized space travel and electric cars can't perform basic math about passenger throughput. Excuse me if I have more faith in Musk than the naysayers.

Re: As the U.S. fantasizes, the rest of the world builds new transport system (2017)

#19

Post by entity345 » Sat, Dec 22, 2018, 11:20 PM UTC

cobookman wrote: post #14

tomohawk wrote: post #5

High speed rail is a non-starter in the US, except for in certain regions. It's 2000 miles from Chicago to LA. Optimistically, if you had a train that averaged 200 miles an hour, it would still take 10 hours. That's just not competitive.

100% spot on. Many don't realize just how large the us is. Going from SF to ATL is longer distance than Portugal to Belarus.

China is the same size as the US.

Re: As the U.S. fantasizes, the rest of the world builds new transport system (2017)

#20

Post by lunchbreak » Sat, Dec 22, 2018, 11:22 PM UTC

Wendover had a good video about China's rail network a while ago. [1]

Major points are:

1. China is willing to build loves that aren't self sustainable - whereas the USA isn't (and the US doesn't factor in the social benefits)

2. China's airspace is mostly military - leading to only small flight corridors and therefore significant delays for flights - making trains more reliable

3. China is willing to make train lines that make no sense beyond connecting areas that are not as friendly to the government to areas that are in the hope of increasing government support in those areas

[1] https://youtu.be/0JDoll8OEFE