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Map Shows Where 220mph Trains Would Go in the U.S.

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Re: Map Shows Where 220mph Trains Would Go in the U.S.

#71

Post by glenra »

ronaldj wrote: post #61
nostromo wrote: post #53

It's fun to look at, but the trip from LA to New York would be about 13 hours -- and that's ignoring the time stopped at stations and assuming you can go 220mph the entire trip. New York to some other city would be even worse. For example, New York to Seattle and you're approaching something like 20 hours. I really love trains for short trips (NY to DC), but I just don't see the actual demand these long distance line…

I'd take a high speed if it was cheaper than flying and didn't require all the security.

We could solve the security problem with the stroke of a pen - just abolish the TSA. It is a horrendous waste of money, a ludicrously expensive tax on our time that we choose to pay out of pure paranoia. Is it really worth building an entire hugely slower alternate infrastructure to avoid this tax, when we could just opt to stop paying it?

Contrariwise, if we are that committed to TSA, whatever brain-dead political calculation forced us to waste an extra hour in the airport before every flight would almost certainly cause us to do the same before every train trip.

Re: Map Shows Where 220mph Trains Would Go in the U.S.

#72

Post by smackfu »

grandalf wrote: post #47

Making Chicago a hub would be a nightmare. The city is already home to the worst highway gridlock in the US. The hub should be shifted further west to help create another metro area, not to just add to an existing one that happens to also be very corrupt.

Isn't Chicago already the big rail hub for Amtrak? I think all the East to West traffic in the Northern half of the country goes through there.

Re: Map Shows Where 220mph Trains Would Go in the U.S.

#73

Post by luser001 »

mark-r wrote: post #68
luser001 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fuel efficiency of a vehicle rolling on rigid steel wheels on a rigid steel track is FAR higher than that of a vehicle rolling on pneumatic tires on asphalt. The number I have seen quoted is that a train can move 1 ton 400 miles using 1 gallon of diesel.

That is an incredible number - I'd love to see a citation.

Yep. https://www.google.com/search?q=train+fuel+efficiency+400+mi...

One of them: http://www.ctls.uconn.edu/do-csx-trains-really-move-1-ton-of...

Re: Map Shows Where 220mph Trains Would Go in the U.S.

#74

Post by ScottWhigham »

kylemhill wrote: post #5
david_shaw wrote: post #2

I think that now, perhaps more than ever, America and Americans would benefit from domestic high-speed rail. As someone who travels occasionally--albeit somewhat infrequently--for both business and pleasure, I share the opinion that flying is not altogether pleasant. From arriving at the airport several hours early, to dealing with TSA, to sitting in the cramped aircraft seating, it's not a stretch to say that it's a…

Do you not think that a major government initiative in HSR (which it would require, tax dollars or not) wouldn't come with the standard TSA security theater in tow?

I think there will certainly be a measure of security with such a system, but it wouldn't need to be at the level of air travel. The danger of someone hijacking a train is finite - it has a definite path and that pathway can be planned to avoid Problem X or Problem Y. That's very unlike a commercial jet.

Re: Map Shows Where 220mph Trains Would Go in the U.S.

#75

Post by rtpg »

kylemhill wrote: post #5
david_shaw wrote: post #2

I think that now, perhaps more than ever, America and Americans would benefit from domestic high-speed rail. As someone who travels occasionally--albeit somewhat infrequently--for both business and pleasure, I share the opinion that flying is not altogether pleasant. From arriving at the airport several hours early, to dealing with TSA, to sitting in the cramped aircraft seating, it's not a stretch to say that it's a…

Do you not think that a major government initiative in HSR (which it would require, tax dollars or not) wouldn't come with the standard TSA security theater in tow?

hijacking a train is a lot less dangerous than a plane.

We don't put the TSA at the entrance of public parks either

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