Seems like an extremely expensive vanity project. Is that wise for a middle income country where hundreds of millions of people live in abject poverty?
China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains
241–250 of 503 posts
Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains
#242Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Nobody is inherently against public transit. I knew plenty of people in the suburbs of Dallas who were against public transportation and any expansion of DART out to their towns. It was usually accompanied by talk of "that element" coming up from the city to rob their houses. It was fucking ridiculous, but unfortunately these people exist and need to be dealt with in order to get transit projects through.
Option seems simple, don't give them a choice in the matter. Say we're building X, it will be done to improve public transit.
The problem is DART needs the outlying towns to join it in order to run anything there. The NIMBYs simply pressured the town into not agreeing to join, so there was no way to do this.
Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains
#243So, 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…
The simple truth is, transportation projects are not created to solve problems but instead of pay off political affiliates, be they donors, family members, political parties, or the unions. Democrats have no more interest in high speed rail or energy independence than Republicans and for the same reason. Oh they will pay lip service saying otherwise but you can see the results of all those years they have made their…
> advent of self driving and electric cars will doom them regardless
It makes a lot more sense to have a self driving car drive you to the high speed rail station, and then drive you from the train station to your final destination. Self driving cars don't run at 160+ mph, but high speed rail does.
Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains
#244Why? Why would anybody build trains like that instead of adopting the hyperloop technology which is faster, much more cheap and more safe?
These are maglev trains in vacuum tubes. What's the difference?
Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
The simple truth is, transportation projects are not created to solve problems but instead of pay off political affiliates, be they donors, family members, political parties, or the unions. Democrats have no more interest in high speed rail or energy independence than Republicans and for the same reason. Oh they will pay lip service saying otherwise but you can see the results of all those years they have made their…
> high speed rail is romanticism from bygone days when rail was the only alternative to long distance travel. air travel pretty much superseded it and is doing so all over the world. This isn't true. High speed rail is alive and well in Europe. Geography, politics and history are all significant factors that you can't explain so easily. > the advent of self driving and electric cars will doom them regardless Highly s…
But there are plenty of chinese infrastructure projects that have languished for lack of use. Look at the olympic venues. Once the novelty of ribbon cutting is over, once the recuring costs start piling up, this project too may slow down.
Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
> using a car is more pleas sent then sharing a bus or metro with strangers Not when it means you're stuck in a traffic jam. In a big city I'd take decent metro system over a car any day.
I certainly think it's better to be stuck in a traffic jam and sit in your own car than stuck in a traffic jam inside a packed vehicle full of other (sometimes extremely unpleasant) people.
Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains
#247Who'd they steal it from this time?
Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
The alternative to being stuck in traffic for hours is flying. A major problem with train systems in the United States (and this is both short and long haul) is that almost the entire country is sprawl - built around the automobile. In dense environments (China and the north-east coast of the US (which has Acela), it's great to take a train into the core -- you beat traffic and are near your destination. In sprawling…
> A major problem with train systems in the United States (and this is both short and long haul) is that almost the entire country is sprawl - built around the automobile. this is an excuse i have repeated myself, but it is just that, an excuse. have you actually been to china? i have never seen such sprawl. shanghai is massive and sprawling. but yet, they (china) have extremely efficient and unbelievably cheap train…
Shanghai is massive but that's just the sheer size of its population. It's the most populous city in the world on some measures; they've planning for 30 billion by 2030. It's built much denser than most US cities, which means it's much more walkable, and the subway network also makes it much more practical to travel by train because it means you don't need a car at the other end.
You have to start with getting rid of parking minimums and "green space" and building dense, walkable cities. Once you have those it makes a lot more sense to connect them with trains or similar.
Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Every time California's high speed rails come up on HN it's obvious that everyone here hates the idea California's major cities are almost in a line along the coast. That's the route that makes sense. California's HSR instead took a tour through the Central Valley's farming communities, taking a slam dunk pitch for linking San Francisco and San Diego via L.A. and turning it into a carcass.
Unless you wanted to build an HSR line through a long coastal mountain range most of way from SF to LA further driving up the cost, having it go the majority of the distance through a relatively flat valley definitely has its benefits. I do think that the line should have paralleled i-5 instead of going through Bakersfield and Fresno, but that's not the choice that was made.
Bakersfield and Fresno metro's are about half a million people each. And also the current planned route is close to Santa Cruz and Monterrey Counties which adds another 3/4 of a million people.
No matter how you slice it the original route is going to leave some people out.
Re: China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains
#250So, 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…
You will get more depressed if you visit Shanghai and compare it with Manhattan.