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China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

asiatimes.com

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Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

#41
post #19
post #3

As fast as a jetliner, and way more efficient. Can be powered without fossil fuels. This is the future. Where is America on HSR?

American here. Public transportation is seen as inconvenient and for lower class people, so large transit projects like this get no traction. You will never see executives or politicians taking trains to work like you do in European countries. Except in NYC.

A lot of executives and politicians take the train between DC and NYC/Boston. The reason they do it is because the trains in the NE Corridor don't suck. This whole thing is kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy: build crappy trains, people hate them. Build nice ones, people like them.

Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

#42
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American here. Public transportation is seen as inconvenient and for lower class people, so large transit projects like this get no traction. You will never see executives or politicians taking trains to work like you do in European countries. Except in NYC.

Other, and actually main, reason is that good public transport decreases cost of land, it is basically designed to do so: it makes more places liveable/jobs reachable, so there is effectively more land for the same amount of people. So everyone will vote against or they lose their pensions. Want to fix this? Sure, easy, just scrap the democracy and just don't ask people, send those who object, to "re-education" camps…

“Want to fix this? Sure, easy, just scrap the democracy and just don't ask people, send those who object, to "re-education" camps. Or scrap market economy: if all land is government-owned, it won't be an issue at all.“

Ever been to Japan?

Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

#43

dang, can we ban this account? It looks very suspicous (posting a lot of pro-China stuff, username, etc.)

I see two posts that can be construed as pro-China within the last year (This being one of them).

I count at least three. No way this isn't an shill account.

Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

#44
post #19
post #3

As fast as a jetliner, and way more efficient. Can be powered without fossil fuels. This is the future. Where is America on HSR?

American here. Public transportation is seen as inconvenient and for lower class people, so large transit projects like this get no traction. You will never see executives or politicians taking trains to work like you do in European countries. Except in NYC.

>Public transportation is seen as inconvenient and for lower class people, so large transit projects like this get no traction. You will never see executives or politicians taking trains to work like you do in European countries. Except in NYC.

I disagree. This is a chicken-or-egg problem. Nobody is inherently against public transit. Having commuted in a few cities in North America, it's far more comfortable than sitting in traffic. If you have a good system, i think people would use it. The GO Train in the Greater Toronto Area is a good example; it's filled to the brim with white-collar city workers.

Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

#45

So, as someone that lived in New York for 6 years and California for 6 years, stories like this are incredibly depressing. The US is the world's largest economy and should be the shining example of amazing infrastructure, high-tech, green cities, and forward thinking policies. California is an especially egregious example in terms of infrastructure investment: If California was a country it would be the world's fifth…

>Why on earth isn't there a high speed rail between these cities?

The cost of labor, the cost of environmental studies, the cost of materials, and the need for the project to show a profit.

All of these factors are much different in China.

Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

#46

And San Francisco is struggling to add 1 mile of underground track. The project is postponed (again) to open in 2022.

Be careful comparing a system which can simply take the land and labor it wants to one in which people have rights.

Yes, such a land compares poorly to China. /s

Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

#47
post #19
post #3

As fast as a jetliner, and way more efficient. Can be powered without fossil fuels. This is the future. Where is America on HSR?

American here. Public transportation is seen as inconvenient and for lower class people, so large transit projects like this get no traction. You will never see executives or politicians taking trains to work like you do in European countries. Except in NYC.

This is a common misconception. Overall US transit riders earn about the same as drivers. In metro areas like Chicago, SFBA, or Washington DC, the median income of transit users is significantly higher than drivers.

Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

#48

And San Francisco is struggling to add 1 mile of underground track. The project is postponed (again) to open in 2022.

Be careful comparing a system which can simply take the land and labor it wants to one in which people have rights.

Land and labour get taken from plenty of Americans too— it's just usually for the benefit of wealthy private corporations rather than to advance a public good such as dignified, quality, low carbon mass transportation.

https://money.cnn.com/2005/06/23/news/fortune500/retail_emin...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/23/prison...

Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

#49
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American here. Public transportation is seen as inconvenient and for lower class people, so large transit projects like this get no traction. You will never see executives or politicians taking trains to work like you do in European countries. Except in NYC.

Other, and actually main, reason is that good public transport decreases cost of land, it is basically designed to do so: it makes more places liveable/jobs reachable, so there is effectively more land for the same amount of people. So everyone will vote against or they lose their pensions. Want to fix this? Sure, easy, just scrap the democracy and just don't ask people, send those who object, to "re-education" camps…

Very interesting conclusion there, "all countries with good infrastructure are not democratic" , it also contradicts the fact that you have public roads, you logic applies perfectly for that too.

Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

#50

dang, can we ban this account? It looks very suspicous (posting a lot of pro-China stuff, username, etc.)

Why not debate the article, there are many anti-China articles on the first page too, like in this case is very interesting to see what the technical issues are and how can be work around them.

Sure, but pro-China shills should not be allowed to post on HN, period. It's in violation of the policies. Dang, can you look into this?
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