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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

#41

Post by ElijahLynn »

yadaeno wrote: post #37
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

That makes sense on those tradeoffs, I'm just wondering how many people would use high speed rail by going to a station and waiting for it. Maybe if they could make the departure and arrival seamless. And also have frequent departure times it could work. I used to take the train a lot from New Jersey to NYC and the 1 hour gap made it kind of a PITA, 15 minute increments makes it so one doesn't have to plan so much around it, and it is thus more likely one can rely on it.

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

#42

Post by aerostable_slug »

Javalicious wrote: post #9
mariojv wrote: post #2

I wish the map were higher definition. I see a line from San Antonio (or Austin?) to El Paso, my most traveled route, but nothing in the text description about it. There are also some other lines linking the Texas Triangle which would be great! Regardless, I hope this plan sees fruition in a reasonable timeframe. Further investments in transit within cities themselves would be welcome too, given a lot of folks may be…

There's a _slightly_ better one on the DOT site ( https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/president-biden... ), and that site links to a PDF with some more in depth info on the projects ( https://railroads.dot.gov/elibrary/fy22-23-FSP-National-rail... ). The LA-Las Vegas route sounds interesting to me. That road tends to get really bad on the weekends, so I think it would serve a need for the bougie set that don…

> bougie

An LA-Vegas train would also be a boon for senior citizens (which make up a large percentage of gamblers), who often take buses to gambling destinations today.

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

#43

Post by mulderc »

ElijahLynn wrote: post #32

I took an Amtrak from Portland to Seattle recently and was amazed at how slow it was, it had to slow down and speed up a lot. I think it had to do with turns too.

They are working to improve it and service quite a few station between pdx and Seattle. Still it is around a ~3.5 hour trip which is only slightly longer than the ~3 hours it takes to drive.

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

#44

Post by jsutton »

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…

Key point: on weekends. Northeast corridor is high demand all week long. And much more of the national economy flows through that region. LA Vegas is mostly leisure.

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

#46

Post by mulderc »

germinalphrase wrote: post #39

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…

Different lines have different issues. Where I live the Amtrak cascades line is pretty good and I rarely had issues with it not being on time when I was using it regularly for over a year. The Coast starlight on the other hand was always late and you just had to build that into your plans.

A lot of this issue comes from freight stealing priority from passenger trains. By law, passenger trains have priority but Amtrak has no way to enforce this which makes Amtrak trains less likely to run on schedule.

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

#47

Post by mikecoles »

impulser_ wrote: post #38
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.

Mind the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves.

Stop wasting the money of other people. Rail sucks. Leave it for cargo.

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

#48

Post by shrimp_emoji »

mikecoles wrote: post #47
impulser_ wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Mind the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves. Stop wasting the money of other people. Rail sucks. Leave it for cargo.

But Rust and Ruby target completely different use cases.

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

#49

Post by mikecoles »

yadaeno wrote: post #37
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

"cars are bumpy trains are smooth "

Your delusions never cease to amaze.

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

#50

Post by davexunit »

mikecoles wrote: post #47
impulser_ wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Mind the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves. Stop wasting the money of other people. Rail sucks. Leave it for cargo.

Nah trains rule.
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