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

asiatimes.com

121–130 of 503 posts

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

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume there are already tracks between the major cities, probably used today mostly for materials and not people, so can't you put a new track near the existing one, this land would already have low value since trains are already passing there.

Those tracks you reference are owned by the freight companies, not the gov. Even a good chunk of the rail lines that Amtrak uses are merely being rented from the freight companies. The Northeast regional line that connects Boston -> NYC -> DC is one of the few lines in which Amtrak themselves own it.

Thanks, I did not know this fact. So the only hope would be then that the private companies would invest into improving the tracks or the government nationalize the tracks(buy them most probably).

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

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I'm not convinced that, as you say, decreasing cost of land is the main reason. A simple counterexample would be London which has great public transport and ridiculous prices of land. On the contrary, public transport projects like Crossrail actually increase prices of land and property in affected areas.

Now try to force Americans survive in the abysmal living conditions of the average Londoner. That city is absurdly overregulated, and expensive as hell.

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

#123
If they can get vacuum tubes working cost effectively that would be amazing, no limit to max speeds then. I doubt they are practical currently. Low pressure Helium Oxygen mixture probably a better option, just enough Oxygen for humans to survive and enough Helium, for say 1/3 atmosphere pressure, would be far easier and cheaper to build/maintain and would still dramatically reduce friction/drag.

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

#124

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…

Infrastructure is easy (and cheap) when you don't have to respect property rights or do environmental impact studies. Skipping phase 0 design also eliminates any potential political and nimby dissent (where all options are ruled out as "unfeasible").

>Infrastructure is easy (and cheap) when you don't have to respect property rights or do environmental impact studies.

Is there no national/public interest exception in the constitution just for such cases? Where you take someone land buy you pay or give equivalent land back(I know some people would like to get rich quick in this situations)

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

#125
post #51

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…

I’m under the impression that the US public want cars not trains and even the current tech celebrity’s vision is to have self driving cars that work together as if they are train carriages and go in a tunnel as if they are metro train carriages. In the rest of the world, people are fine with ride sharing.

I understand this for inside a city, using a car is more pleas sent then sharing a bus or metro with strangers but when you travel a long distance you use a plane so all the comfort is gone, it would be better to have a high speed train , you still share it with strangers but if you are rich you can afford better accommodations including beds, you can walk and stretch your legs and there may even be spots for smokers. Maybe the average person travels only a few times with a plane so he can endure it.

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

#126
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.

Speak for yourself. In Chicago, we've got the metra [0] which goes to the far out suburbs (L goes to close ones [1]) and there are plenty of upper class people that ride it for their daily commute.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metra#/media/File:Metra-System...

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_%22L%22

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

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly disagreed with them on this particular thread, but I don't get why having pro-China views should be automatically considered "extremely suspicious"?

Obviously i am not "pro-China" lol. And i don't advocate actually destroying market economy and (less confidently), democracy. All i am trying to show is that public transport in the U.S. is such failure only as an undesirable externality of strong market and democratic institutions. We should probably bear with it because trying to fix risks, or directly requires, breaking too many other, important things. I would m…

Stop bullshitting. I've vetted your comment history extensively

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

#128

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…

My father in law can fly from Los Angeles to San Jose in an hour for $150 round trip. Not sure why we need to lay tracks all over the land when we have flying machines.

Maybe it could cost 50$ and take 2 hours, some people would appreciate having the choice.

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

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a horrible attitude to have. You're telling them that rather than push their country to be the best it can be, they should accept it for what it is and move if they don't like it? That's not what America is about my friend.

China, due to the nature of the country, has options at it's disposal that the US does not. Norway, the socialist paradise (where I live) , also does not have high speed rail BTW.

Yet "socialist" leaning countries like Spain, Germany, France, and Sweden do have high speed rail.

Sure, China's cheaper labor makes it easier for them to build out HSR quickly and affordably, but your implication that you need to be an authoritarian country for HSR to be feasible isn't accurate.

The lack of HSR in the US is due to several reasons. High construction costs, the fact that many cities are very spread out and cheaply served by domestic flights, and my earlier comment about NIMBYs blocking construction because they don't want it running through their farms.

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

#130

Has anyone else here ridden the maglev in Shanghai out of the airport? My 2c is that it was awesomely fast and convenient. BUT, I was a little unnerved by how much the train jostled at some points. It was like the supports for the track had sunk in some places leading to the tracks no longer being aligned. Not really informed by anything concrete, but I think there’s a disaster waiting to happen there. China has nowh…

>the safety culture I’m used to in the states.

From the Boeing 747 MAX incidents you can conclude that if there is a big pile of money involved then safety is a problem to be workaround of, though funny enough there are still people that blame the cause on the safety regulations, like if the regulations were not present then Boeing and the free market (with only 2 competitors) would solve the issues

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