This animated map shows how radically a high-speed train system would improve travel in the US

Source: YouTube
Published: Aug 14, 2016
Author: Business Insider
Post Date: 2016-12-16 11:28:49 by Willie Green
Views: 12821

The US's railroad network is made up of around 140,000 miles of track, but many of our trains are slow and outdated. Over the last couple of decades, countries like China, Japan, the UK, and France have made large investments in high-speed rail, and some groups in the US are urging that we do the same.

Here's what a high-speed rail network could look like in the US.

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#1: Roscoe    To: Willie Green (#0)

Roscoe posted on 2016-12-16 11:35:59   Reply   Private Reply

#2: jeremiad    To: Willie Green (#0)

Someone, anyone please tell me why you would take a high speed train instead of an airliner? If a train CAN reach 220 MPH, it means it will really only average about a 110. How many times will it have to stop and wait to be loaded and off loaded? High speed rail is a pipe dream as in literally, put down the OPIUM pipe dude.

jeremiad posted on 2016-12-16 11:41:30   Reply   Private Reply

#3: misterwhite    To: Willie Green (#0)

So, 17,000 miles of 220 mph tracks. The one thing your video didn't show was the cost of this boondoggle. From another article:

"The environmental analysis report for the California high-speed rail projects costs of $33 billion for 400 miles."

So we're looking at around $1.5 trillion for 17,000 m miles. With cost overruns, it'll be more like $3.0 trillion.

misterwhite posted on 2016-12-16 13:18:40   Reply   Private Reply

#4: Roscoe    To: misterwhite (#3)

So we're looking at around $1.5 trillion for 17,000 mil miles miles. With cost overruns, it'll be more like $3.0 trillion.

And yearly direct high speed rail track operations and maintenance costs of at least $200,000 per route mile. Plus 10% O&M overhead. Plus 10% of O&M for contingency spending.

Roscoe posted on 2016-12-16 13:32:36   Reply   Private Reply

#5: misterwhite    To: Roscoe (#4)

"And yearly direct high speed rail track operations and maintenance costs of at least $200,000 per route mile. Plus 10% O&M overhead. Plus 10% of O&M for contingency spending."

Plus the cost of the trains themselves.

And using Amtrak as a guide, 40% of the ticket price will be subsidized by the federal government.

misterwhite posted on 2016-12-16 13:46:42   Reply   Private Reply

#6: no gnu taxes    To: misterwhite (#5)

I love AMTRAK. It's often cheaper and quicker than bus travel and VASTLY more comfortable. However, without enormous government subsidies, there is no way it would survive.

I'll just have to leave it to the taxpayer to decide.

no gnu taxes posted on 2016-12-16 14:11:30   Reply   Private Reply

#7: Roscoe    To: no gnu taxes (#6)

I miss Trailways.

Roscoe posted on 2016-12-16 14:17:55   Reply   Private Reply

#8: Stoner    To: Willie Green (#0)

Willie, do you mess around with model railroads ?

Stoner posted on 2016-12-16 14:45:08   Reply   Private Reply

#9: misterwhite    To: Roscoe (#7)

Wow! You look at that picture and can almost see the Negroes in the back.

misterwhite posted on 2016-12-16 15:11:14   Reply   Private Reply

#10: misterwhite    To: no gnu taxes (#6)

"However, without enormous government subsidies, there is no way it would survive."

Without the Acela Express for members of Congress, it wouldn't get those subsidies.

misterwhite posted on 2016-12-16 15:14:41   Reply   Private Reply

#11: no gnu taxes    To: misterwhite (#9)

The odd thing is when I travel on public transportation is that black people prefer to sit near the back.

no gnu taxes posted on 2016-12-16 15:15:09   Reply   Private Reply

#12: Willie Green    To: Stoner (#8)

No

Willie Green posted on 2016-12-16 16:48:59   Reply   Private Reply

#13: Hank Rearden    To: Willie Green (#0)

Wow! You mean we could travel where, and when, the government and the union thugs say we can?

Wow!

Sounds great for poor people and those who don't have to get somewhere at a time convenient for them.

Nobody I know wants to travel to, or between, "major cities" - we avoid "major cities". But we can get into our cars, or on our motorcycles, and head out to any place we desire at any time of day, stopping where we wish for as long as we wish.

It's like being the opposite of a Euro Peon.

Hank Rearden posted on 2016-12-16 18:42:00   Reply   Private Reply

#14: paraclete    To: jeremiad (#2)

high speed rail doesn't do local it runs intercity so few stops and it doesn't run on local tracks so no slow freight in the way. What you don't realise is this has been successfully done in other places. You can't just keep loading up the skies with more and more planes and point to point high speed rail can be faster than airlines once you take travel time to and from airports and security restrictions into account

paraclete posted on 2016-12-16 18:43:23   Reply   Private Reply

#15: jeremiad    To: paraclete (#14)

People will have to travel to and from train stations, and security will have to be just as tight. For myself, I would rather drive. It is cheaper and you actually get to interact with new people.

jeremiad posted on 2016-12-17 01:08:28   Reply   Private Reply

#16: paraclete    To: jeremiad (#15)

good luck with that

paraclete posted on 2016-12-17 03:10:01   Reply   Private Reply

#17: Willie Green    To: Hank Rearden (#13)

Nobody I know wants to travel to, or between, "major cities" - we avoid "major cities".

Willie Green posted on 2016-12-17 09:09:29   Reply   Private Reply

#18: Roscoe    To: misterwhite (#9)

Memories, memories...

Roscoe posted on 2016-12-17 12:06:51   Reply   Private Reply

#19: jeremiad    To: Roscoe (#7)

I remember riding buses, and the prime seating was in the back. As a child I couldn't understand why negroes rebelled at sitting in the back.

jeremiad posted on 2016-12-17 12:13:11   Reply   Private Reply

#20: no gnu taxes    To: Roscoe (#7)

I remember 4 years ago, I left a terminal in Orlando for a couple of minutes. They thought I might have attempted to purchase alcohol. They wanted to search my my baggage. I let them, but also told them this was the last time I would use their service.

no gnu taxes posted on 2016-12-17 12:21:37   Reply   Private Reply

#21: no gnu taxes    To: jeremiad (#19)

I remember riding buses, and the prime seating was in the back.

That's exactly what I remember.

On the school bus the second best seat was the back seat. The best one the seat over the wheel which was about the third seat from the back. It offered a convenient foot rest.

no gnu taxes posted on 2016-12-17 12:26:11   Reply   Private Reply

#22: Roscoe    To: no gnu taxes (#20)

There's an idea. Sell drinks to the bus passengers, like on airplanes.

Roscoe posted on 2016-12-17 12:27:52   Reply   Private Reply

#23: Roscoe    To: no gnu taxes, jeremiad (#21)

I have read (and who knows what the truth is) that Rosa Parks wasn't actually refusing to sit in the back of the bus. She was upset when the driver forced to give up her seat in the section to a white passenger when there was no more room left in the front.

Roscoe posted on 2016-12-17 12:32:33   Reply   Private Reply

#24: misterwhite    To: no gnu taxes (#21)

"On the school bus the second best seat was the back seat."

Yeah. We liked it because A) it was farthest from the driver and B) everytime the bus hit a bump we'd all go flying.

misterwhite posted on 2016-12-17 12:48:09   Reply   Private Reply

#25: misterwhite    To: Roscoe (#23)

"She was upset when the driver forced to give up her seat in the section to a white passenger when there was no more room left in the front."

She had to be told?

misterwhite posted on 2016-12-17 12:49:39   Reply   Private Reply

#26: Roscoe    To: misterwhite (#25)

She had to be told?

Roscoe posted on 2016-12-17 12:53:08   Reply   Private Reply

#27: Roscoe    To: misterwhite (#24)

We liked it because A) it was farthest from the driver and B) everytime the bus hit a bump we'd all go flying.

And C) you can entertain yourself by doing things to piss off drivers behind the bus.

Roscoe posted on 2016-12-17 12:55:39   Reply   Private Reply

#28: Hank Rearden    To: Willie Green (#17)

Hank Rearden posted on 2016-12-17 14:21:01   Reply   Private Reply

#29: misterwhite    To: Hank Rearden (#28)

There's a Greyhound bus station in that photo somewhere.

misterwhite posted on 2016-12-17 16:07:49   Reply   Private Reply

#30: Hank Rearden    To: misterwhite (#29)

And no bus or train station here:

Hank Rearden posted on 2016-12-17 16:39:07   Reply   Private Reply

#31: Roscoe    To: Hank Rearden (#30)

Roscoe posted on 2016-12-17 16:44:53   Reply   Private Reply

#32: misterwhite    To: Roscoe (#31)

Oh, man! So that's where I parked it.

misterwhite posted on 2016-12-17 22:00:52   Reply   Private Reply

#33: jeremiad    To: Roscoe (#23)

I do know that Rosa Parks was a political operative who had planned this protest. It wasn't a spur of the moment thing, it was planned and publicized then used to effect change. She just happened to be the person chosen, she was no hero she was in no foreseeable danger.

jeremiad posted on 2016-12-18 18:37:00   Reply   Private Reply

#34: Roscoe    To: jeremiad (#33)

I do know that Rosa Parks was a political operative who had planned this protest.

And the idiot racists gave her cause.

Roscoe posted on 2016-12-18 19:32:22   Reply   Private Reply

#35: rlk    To: Roscoe (#1)

Oh shit!

rlk posted on 2016-12-18 19:59:17   Reply   Private Reply