Posted on 03/17/2020 6:50:48 AM PDT by karpov
In the midst of Sunday's presidential debate between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, Biden blurted out that his campaign's high-speed rail plan would take "millions of automobiles off the road."
This is the second debate in which the former vice president brought up the belief that bullet trains will get people out of their cars. This is, to put it mildly, extremely unlikely.
Biden's campaign site calls for "the construction of an end-to-end high speed rail system that will connect the coasts, unlocking new, affordable access for every American." Would bullet trains passing through major cities scattered across the U.S. actually get people out of their cars?
"The answer is no," explains Baruch Feigenbaum, assistant director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation. (Full disclosure: The Reason Foundation publishes this website.) "High-speed rail primarily takes customers from aviation. Car travel might be substitutable with inner city buses, but we don't really see it in rail. That's not why other countries have built high-speed rail."
Feigenbaum notes that countries that have built high-speed rail have typically done so to reduce crowding on existing rail lines, not as a substitute for roads. The sole exception was China, which used it as an economic development project during a time when its highway system was much less robust than America's.
"Basically, Biden loves rail," Feigenbaum says, noting the vice president's roots in the northeastern Acela corridor. Indeed, the first high-speed rail project Biden says he'll focus on is increasing the speed of trains traveling from New York City to D.C. That region is the only part of America where rail travel has been shown to be efficient and profitable. Taking that mentality and trying to stretch it across the U.S. is absurd.
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
Have you ever priced long-distance rail travel in the US? It would be cheaper to charter a Lear jet.
But that's a very controlled experiment on a short route through densely packed areas with lots of traffic where flying isn't an option. If I wanted to go to LA there's no way I'd commit to a couple of days to get there when I can do it in half a day on a flight, coronavirus notwithstanding. Joe is foolish to think the Northeast corridor = America at large.
Im Willie Green and I approve this malarkey message.
Its a political slush fund for Democrat politicians and their friends in construction unions.
You scratch my back, Ill scratch yours. The corruption possibilities present themselves. Geez.
“Trains are a bridge to the 19th century. Over 75% of the land species on this planet use flight as a means of locomotion. Only one species builds trains” - Burt Rutan
How many people actually drive from coast to coast?
And what do you do once you step off the platform in Quad Cities, Iowa, but you then need to go to Albert Lea, MN?
“Has to do with where choo-choo go.”
Top Kek. There aren’t enough qualified dot-not-feathers as it is.
The problem is even in Europe, Japan and China passenger trains are unprofitable and require government subsidies to keep running.
Theres no way HSR will become profitable in this country. Joe Biden is selling voters a bunch of malarkey.
For that reason alone, it will never be built. Period.
Just the incredible number of years to obtain right of way in this era will make it a project for the ages, LOL.
Theyre a nineteenth century technology. Have never figured out why liberals are so fascinated with the trains.
Most of the time, cars and planes are more convenient, cheaper and faster.
Why we would want to get rid of them, I havent the foggiest notion.
Probably match the sparkle of delight when he's feeling up some little girl in front of the cameras.
It’s a money laundering scheme. Look at who won the contracts to build the “train to nowhere” in the central valley of California. Why, it was none other than Diane Feinstein’s husband’s companies! What are the odds of that happening by chance? Hundreds of millions of dollars when into his pocket. I bet if we look back through projects like the cancelled “super-conducting super collider” that was built, then abandoned in Texas, we’d see something similar. The “big dig” in Boston is another example.
Someone please take Slo Joe out to the middle of the Black Rock Desert-—or the Mojave-—or the Great aAsin & drop him off without water—map—or compass.
He & his ilk have called the vast majority of this country “Flyover land” for so long that they have no idea how many people live away from the 2 coasts.
This is the same politician who had HIS OWN SPECIAL seating area on the commuter train between his home & Washington Dc. They held the train for him numerous times—at the expense of time for all the others on board. HE IS SPECIAL !!!
My theory is public transportation puts your movement in their control. For them, the entire game is all about holding power and control over others. They're sociopaths. I think in most cases they genuinely believe they can run your life better than you can, even if their own life is crumbling all around them. Most can provide no examples of any success for any of their ideas.
Not to mention a juicy target for wannabe terrorists. I would imagine derailing a train going 300 mph would be pretty spectacular and pretty easy.
Hmmm... you are right. If he wants to combine his hobbies, he is going to have to get a conductor's cap.
What a great idea in the age of COVID-19!
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