>I also worked on track-based transport as a levitation engineer at Hyperloop between 2015 and 2018,
That's a big red flag as anyone with half a brain knew it was bullshit.
Why high speed rail hasn’t caught on
11–20 of 140 posts
Re: Why high speed rail hasn’t caught on
#12This is a very good article. It's interesting to see why HSR costs so much. For those TLDR. HSR fails cost/benefit analysis. The paragraph is very good : "By CA HSR’s own numbers, the completed system may carry 35 million passengers per year by 2040, or 100,000 per day. This capacity could also be served by a fleet of just 40 737s (less than current LAX-SFO traffic), of which Boeing makes more than 500 per year. Boug…
>HSR fails cost/benefit analysis It only fails the cost/profit analysis. The benefits are priceless when we consider the environmental impact.
Even ignoring the environmental impact, good train network is a benefit to a country. Too many people get stuck with the "train lines most be private and profitable" line of thinking.
Re: Why high speed rail hasn’t caught on
#13Riding the high-speed rail in China made me so envious of that setup. If we had that in certain locations in the U.S., it would be absolutely amazing. You just show up a half hour before your train (gotta get there earlier in certain huge stations) and basically walk on. The train ride is buttery smooth with a lot of space, and you can order food from the next station to be delivered to you if you don't want any of t…
But why do this over just flying. You can show up 30-45 mins before any domestic flight and leave as soon as you land on the other end.
Re: Why high speed rail hasn’t caught on
#14What I find odd about this is that... Trains are the go-to means of intercity transport across much of Europe. The term "High speed rail" isn't strictly defined, but seems to kick in somewhere between 110 and 155 mph. Pretty much every intercity train in the UK is running at 125mph for at least some of their journey. Europe is full of functioning high speed rail networks - TGV, ICE, Eurostar, networks in Spain and It…
In many HN publications the label "In USA" is applicable, the equivalent of "In mice" for many medical studies :)
Re: Why high speed rail hasn’t caught on
#15I don’t understand the point of high speed rail. You can just show up for a domestic flight 30 mins before and you get to your destination 4x faster. The only good thing about trains are the views.
Re: Why high speed rail hasn’t caught on
#16What I find odd about this is that... Trains are the go-to means of intercity transport across much of Europe. The term "High speed rail" isn't strictly defined, but seems to kick in somewhere between 110 and 155 mph. Pretty much every intercity train in the UK is running at 125mph for at least some of their journey. Europe is full of functioning high speed rail networks - TGV, ICE, Eurostar, networks in Spain and It…
From the article:
"Over longer routes, the relative hassle of getting to and from an airport instead of an HSR rail terminal is eroded by the higher speed of aircraft, even in places where the rail terminal is in a densely populated city center and the airport is way outside."
I think in the case of the US, the distance makes the difference. The trouble of checking in at an airport is factored out by the length of the journey. California to Los Angeles has a target time of 2 hours and 40 minutes. The train which I take in the UK most regularly runs for 2 hours, and that feels like a relatively long journey.
I think the issue is that in the US, most intercity journeys are much longer than this, which normalises air travel, meaning that rail ends up not getting a chance on the shorter routes on which it might be suitable.
Re: Why high speed rail hasn’t caught on
#17Riding the high-speed rail in China made me so envious of that setup. If we had that in certain locations in the U.S., it would be absolutely amazing. You just show up a half hour before your train (gotta get there earlier in certain huge stations) and basically walk on. The train ride is buttery smooth with a lot of space, and you can order food from the next station to be delivered to you if you don't want any of t…
But why do this over just flying. You can show up 30-45 mins before any domestic flight and leave as soon as you land on the other end.
*Usually
In practice we've seen hours long security/departure queues, having to wait for the luggage after landing, joining the wait for the expensive taxi/bus transfer from the airport, and many other issues which don't exist for train travel.
Then there's "yes you can show up 30min before, if you booked the plane ticket a week ago".
Having done both a lot, I'll take the train any time.
Re: Why high speed rail hasn’t caught on
#18Riding the high-speed rail in China made me so envious of that setup. If we had that in certain locations in the U.S., it would be absolutely amazing. You just show up a half hour before your train (gotta get there earlier in certain huge stations) and basically walk on. The train ride is buttery smooth with a lot of space, and you can order food from the next station to be delivered to you if you don't want any of t…
But why do this over just flying. You can show up 30-45 mins before any domestic flight and leave as soon as you land on the other end.
Trains can be more frequent and carry a lot more passengers
Re: Why high speed rail hasn’t caught on
#19Maybe the emphasis on high speed in not necessary. People already seem to love sitting around in all kinds of environments.. bars, watching netflix, or programming for a lot of people here. What if instead of figuring out what kind of rails would be needed to move a train at the speed of flight, we figured out what kind of rails were needed to economically move the equivalent of a first class lounge from Los Angeles to San Francisco in like seven or eight hours... or maybe it's an eco cruise ship, or a new bus design. Either way, for a lot of people who board just before 10AM on a Sunday, and watch two NFL games, the net travel time from Los Angeles to San Francisco could be close to 0.. and you can't beat that.
Re: Why high speed rail hasn’t caught on
#20I don’t understand the point of high speed rail. You can just show up for a domestic flight 30 mins before and you get to your destination 4x faster. The only good thing about trains are the views.
I was flying this summer in Europe and was asked to come to airport 150 minutes before departure.
> The only good thing about trains are the views.
And allowed baggage, and far more space...