The idea of building the system as a kind of Interstate System for the 21st Century is idealistic at best. As is being seen in California the best that can be hoped for is limited HSR service in congested urban areas like Los Angeles. In the San Francisco Bay Area the HSR plan is doomed to die a death by a thousand cuts via lawsuits and other forms of NIMBY-ism.
Oddly, a bad economy is going to be the best thing to prevent this from ever being built.
Hey, I want a map of unicorn farms and leprechauns with a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Nobody is going from New York to Los Angeles by "high speed rail."
That doesn't mean that high speed rail won't be practical between cities with much much intercity traffic.
It's not an enemy of highways or airlines, but something to help cope with and reduce congestion.
Yep. Just what we need: Another money sucking, worthless Government boondoggle.
So now, already wayyy behind sched and over budget, and IIRC with the technical jobs going to out-of-state and out-of-country (think china) companies, we are now told that by 2022, the thriving California financial centers of Madera and Bakersfield will (about 120 mi apart) be the first places linked by the new bullet train.
Think of this. The once-Golden state is spiraling toward financial ruin, yet we are spending billions and billions to link Madera and Bakersfield, which happen to already be connected by a very nice freeway..
Now who would not want to pay (lots) more $$$, wait around in an icky train station (and do the security xray) to go to Madera (ugh) and not even have a car when you get there?
I have no plans to ever ride this hideous waste of my money. Further, I know lots and lots of liberals and progressives (hey, this is California), and I have yet to hear from even one that he or she looks forward to taking the bullet train.
So, when this electrified choo-choo finally takes to the rail, I expect no riders after the first few days of operation. There is no genuine demand for this service. None.
And, relating all of this to the topic of the thread, one hopes that the remainder of the 57 states can observe the bullet-train-induced, job killing, capital-draining financial wounding of California before wanting such a platinum-plated loser of their own.
(Just noticed the length of my post. Can you guess that I get a little wound-up about this topic?)
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It’s Twu, it’s twu. I hope he didn’t spend twu much time on this since the route are just about a laydown the same as current Amtrak routes.
What the heck is mashup anyway?
They always talk about “High Speed” but when they get down to specifics we are talking about 80mph. In short spurts.
We already have high speed trains...they are called airplanes.
Southwest leaves twice an hour to almost anywhere.
Ray LaHood? Zero chance. :)
Willie Green memorial ping.
Willie Green memorial ping.
Willie Green memorial ping.
Willie Green memorial ping.
Willie Green memorial ping.
High speed roads would offer much more utility, and would allow the freedom of movement that we Americans want.
Imagine, hopping in the car at 8 AM in Nashville, TN, and being 600 miles away, in Jacksonville, FL in 3 hours or so. While still having your car, and your sidearm if you choose to carry. And anything else you want to carry with you.
HSR works in Europe, Japan and China because they have small amounts of land and are very densely populated. So train service can be quite profitable there even with government subsidies.
Here it would be a White Elephant. Expensive to build and maintain and impractical as day to day transportation. It is an Obamaphile’s wet dream though.
Which is why it periodically rises from the dead even after a stake has been driven through it. I don’t think it will become a reality, certainly not in my lifetime. HSR is just a hi-tech toy train fantasy.
Catch up with the rest of the world?
Whoopie!All of Europe is what? The size of California?
This article had to have been written by a very young kid, or a sub-70 IQ type.