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President Biden Announces Billions to Deliver World-Class High-Speed Rail

whitehouse.gov

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Re: President Biden Announces Billions to Deliver World-Class High-Speed Rail

#31

Post by ElijahLynn »

AcerbicZero wrote: post #5

With the amount of semi-trucks I see on the highway crisscrossing this country constantly it seems it might be better to just focus on getting our existing freight traffic off the roads before we worry about passenger traffic. *I'm not talking about last mile deliveries, or suggesting the entire trucking industry can be magically turned into railroad freight.

This is what Tesla Semi is focusing on. The demo from Elon many years ago showed the Tesla Semi trucks autonomously driving and following each other within a couple of feet so they could take advantage of lower drag. He specifically talked about how the Tesla Semi in trailer mode or whatever it is called will be able to be cheaper than rail.

Re: President Biden Announces Billions to Deliver World-Class High-Speed Rail

#33

Post by ElijahLynn »

niek_pas wrote: post #30
ElijahLynn wrote: post #29

So, wouldn't dedicated high speed lanes by autonomous vehicles be more flexible? They are talking 220mph here. I would think autonomous electric vehicles could do this too. Although, possibly rail might be safer because you can build fences to keep animals out. Maybe a mixture of both in the future?

What autonomous vehicles?

Waymo type vehicles.

Re: President Biden Announces Billions to Deliver World-Class High-Speed Rail

#34

Post by davexunit »

potatochup wrote: post #20
davexunit wrote: post #15

Pleasantly surprised by this. Finally some real investment in high speed rail. The LA to Las Vegas high speed line seems like an obvious mistake, though. Definitely excited about the northeast corridor improvements. They say the Downeaster line is going to be improved, but no details. I wish the Downeaster went further up the coast of Maine. edit: Looks like the Downeaster could get extended to Rockland. Neat! https:…

> The LA to Las Vegas high speed line seems like an obvious mistake, though I'm curious as to why you think this? LA Vegas on I15 gets supremely busy during the weekends. I dunno how much regular commuter traffic there would be during weekdays, but it seems like it would see high demand, especially if its a) faster than driving and b) you can drink on the train. My main issue with it is that it doesn't actually get v…

If the Biden admin truly cared about the environment, they wouldn't be making it easier to get to Las Vegas.

Re: President Biden Announces Billions to Deliver World-Class High-Speed Rail

#36

Post by sschueller »

mulderc wrote: post #16
j0hnyl wrote: post #4

The US would really benefit from a high speed rail network even if it connects just a few hubs imo.

Just getting freight railroad operators to follow existing law that gives passenger trains priority would improve things significantly. We could also upgrade existing track and trains to get top speeds of 125 and we would see large benefits for many regions.

It just takes one cargo company to fuck it up for everyone else.

The cargo car that had a wheel break in the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland created damage so bad that it will be closed until September 2024. 7km need to be completely redone at a cost of over 100 million.

All of this because some low cost cargo company ran their wheels way past expiration.

The train was inspected twice by humans and once by an automated system before it entered the tunnel but such catastrophic wheel failures are almost impossible to check for. It is up to the owners of these cars to ensure the equipment doesn't have too many km on it.

Additionally cargo cars are dumb pieces of steel so the train operator does not notice right away if a wheel is gone unlike with a passenger train. The locomotives have so much power they will easily keep chugging along dragging the damaged cars behind them ripping out the track.

Re: President Biden Announces Billions to Deliver World-Class High-Speed Rail

#37

Post by yadaeno »

ElijahLynn wrote: post #29

So, wouldn't dedicated high speed lanes by autonomous vehicles be more flexible? They are talking 220mph here. I would think autonomous electric vehicles could do this too. Although, possibly rail might be safer because you can build fences to keep animals out. Maybe a mixture of both in the future?

also vehicles would be

- 10x costs to maintain the vehicles (tires brakes etc) - 10x less energy efficient - 10x less comfortable, cars are bumpy trains are smooth

Re: President Biden Announces Billions to Deliver World-Class High-Speed Rail

#38

Post by impulser_ »

nathanaldensr wrote: post #21

Ah yes, billions more in spending that we can't afford. Keep emitting debt, US government, and keep generating more inflation while you're at it. Insanity.

We are talking about 8.2 billion dollars from a 6.5 trillion dollar budget. The US brings in 5 trillion dollars in revenue yearly.

This is like someone making 100k a year complaining about spending 16 cents on something because they have a loan to pay off.

Re: President Biden Announces Billions to Deliver World-Class High-Speed Rail

#39

Post by germinalphrase »

No amount of investment matters if trains can’t run on time. My experience with Amtrak has been that unless you are starting at a hub (e.g. Chicago/Seattle) there is almost a zero percent chance your train will be on time. Even worse, the discrepancy isn’t a matter of minutes but hours.

My latest - and last - attempt at taking the train from St. Paul to Columbus, WI (nearest stop to Madison) was scheduled to leave at 8 am. At 8:30, we were told by Amtrak staff they “expect the train within the half-hour”. They kept saying this until 1pm. I could have driven the route in less time than I spent waiting fruitlessly for the train to arrive.

Re: President Biden Announces Billions to Deliver World-Class High-Speed Rail

#40

Post by aerostable_slug »

dekhn wrote: post #19

I've tried to figure out the logisitics of having Caltrain and Cal HSR sharing two tracks in the SF Bay Peninsula corridor and I simply can't figure it out. There's no way you can get the Cal HSR at speed through the corridor with bidirectional Caltrain non-high-speed traffic, and there's no room to build more track. So the HSR would have to slow down to Caltrain speeds or they would have to modify the Caltrain sched…

What's insane is the fact that the issues you bring up could have and should have been hashed out via a whiteboard months or years before the first shovel hit the dirt. Figuring out how to solve fundamental architectural issues shouldn't be postponed until development has started, unless of course the real priority was getting dollars to the beneficiaries of taxpayer largesse — and looking good for the next election cycle.
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