China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains

Post by credit_guy » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 10:53 AM UTC

repolfx wrote: post #499

credit_guy wrote: post #490

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whatever baggage China had, France and Japan didn't, and they are criss-crossed with high speed rail. A flight from Paris to Marseille takes 1:20h and starts from $133 and a TGV takes 3:09 and starts from $35 [1]. I would take the train any time. I personally take the train even if the comparison is not that clear cut. Recently I travelled with Acela from NYC to Boston for journey time of about 4h. The flight time wo…

Both French and Japanese HSR were/are financial black holes that bankrupted the relevant railway companies. French TGV is nice but again, stations are often far outside the city centres. Compared to flying (profitable on its own) it's not at all clear any of these countries made the right decisions. WRT CO2, it's not quite so clear cut unfortunately. Planes emit more only because they travel further. Mile for mile th…

Post by credit_guy » Wed, Oct 09, 2019, 10:06 AM UTC

repolfx wrote: post #502

credit_guy wrote: post #501

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Planes emit more only because they travel further. Mile for mile they aren't that different these days. May I point out that electric trains have zero emissions?

Only if powered entirely by non-emitting power sources, which requires you to assume nuclear power creates no pollution. Not much CO2 I'll give you that, but no pollution, not the case.