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189 Comments
- SpaceDreamer, on 03/04/2008, -10/+50Trains?
Wow, slow down, we haven't reached that century yet.
Let's finish the 18th century first.: How about the separation of church and state, or the metric system... - imacommi, on 03/04/2008, -3/+39This is something that every country needs, especially the US. I can't help but think we would have had this kind of stuff a long time ago if our elected officials weren't such crooks. Clean, Fast, Reliable public transportation... who would have thunk it was possible?!?
- PATSCRU, on 03/04/2008, -5/+41the fact that the US has almost no highspeed lines pisses me off.
- ALyken, on 03/25/2008, -7/+40This is magnificent! It's time us South Americans get noticed for something this big.
- inactive, on 03/04/2008, -5/+34The USA could run high speed rail from coast to coast for a fraction of the cost of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
- sotopheavy, on 03/04/2008, -0/+27The fact that it's 28 hours and $117 from Dallas to Chicago for a ONE WAY train ride pisses me off. Driving costs gas + 16 - 18 hours. Flying costs $100 + 2.5 hours.
- minusxthexbear, on 03/04/2008, -1/+23damn. Why can't we have one of these going from the Southern California coast to Las Vegas.
- gypsi, on 03/04/2008, -4/+20it is pretty bizarre that america lacks a high speed line
- carectomy, on 03/04/2008, -5/+20Hmmm... I don't think "New World" has a value attached to it, and doesn't come with an economic stigma... has more to do with the fact that they're countries colonized by Europe. I don't think Supernova's comments bashed Argentina or any other country - except for the UNITED STATES. The point is that the U.S. is the world's richest country and doesn't feature mass transit that's on par with most of Asia or Europe - and now some other "American" countries as well.
- SillyRabbits, on 03/04/2008, -4/+17Geographical constraints make it a little too impractical in most of the US. If you look at the actually distances involved in Europe, it's like shuttling people around something not much bigger than the state of Texas (I know that doesn't include all of Europe, but it covers a large percentage of it) . It's much easier to have a high density of railways going to everywhere wanted - and with reasonable travel times. Even with high-speed railways, people in the US aren't going to spend an entire day (or longer) on a train to get from NY to LA. It's the same reason that public transport works in places like NY and Boston, but doesn't in Houston or Atlanta. It's a matter of population density and distances.
And, it's not like the US doesn't have a rail system. It's just that nobody uses it. When's the last time you used AmTrac for a vacation? - FaithclubDotNet, on 03/04/2008, -0/+12Yah, but where does the guy escape to when he sells the Monorail? North America? No way, he might have a layover in Ogdenvile or North Haverbrook.
- canewediggit, on 03/04/2008, -3/+15so no more 16 hour bus rides with 20 year old vhs movies and knee jarring shocks? sweet.
- Peko, on 03/04/2008, -1/+13You're so vain, I bet you think this description is about you!
- inactive, on 03/04/2008, -1/+13I ride public transportation daily and I'm far from poor, you elitist prick.
- jesuswuzanalien, on 03/04/2008, -3/+14Yeah you're right it is magnificent! Now there's something to take our attention away from all the crime!
- gypsi, on 03/04/2008, -1/+12what the *****? high-speed rail has been around since the sixties you cave troll
- thefirelane, on 03/04/2008, -0/+11Well, I actually live in a place where they are trying to put in a Maglev train (Munich) and I can tell you that I, and most of the population, are completely against it! Am I some sort of backward hick as the article alludes? No. The simple answer is Maglev is too damn expensive and complicated. The budget for the Maglev (which means it will be more) is about 500 EUROS per CENTIMETER of track. (1.8 billion euros is budgeted)
These things are expensive on a massive scale. However, the blog linked appears to have blinders on, being singly focused on "removing cars".
Well, guess what... cars are a transportation tool. In some places the cost/benefit equation makes sense to use them. In others it makes sense to use a train. However, it is unfair to simply leave out the cost from evaluating maglev. - hockeyplayer66, on 03/04/2008, -2/+13We don't need it here in the USA. We're building more highways. The plan is to use them as high speed bike paths when we run out of oil.
- jerryparid, on 03/04/2008, -2/+12You wanna go from NY to LA. You wish to carry more luggage than planes allow. You don't feel like driving solo over 2500 miles. Don't you wish there was a high speed rail (20 hour) across the coast.
Operation Iraqi Freedom probably cost/will cost 20x as much as one of these rails. - ggacid, on 03/04/2008, -0/+10I was gonna say the same thing. I'm suprised they haven't put in bullet trains from San Diego to Los Angeles to Las Vegas.. I know for a fact that alot of people would take it if it was cheaper than flying.. I always drive from L.A. to L.V.. takes 4 hours without traffic (75-80 mph)
- blankoboy, on 03/04/2008, -3/+12The reason the US does not have high speed rail or high speed internet infrastructure (100+ MB) for that matter is because the US government has you all over a barrel and f*cking in the ass big time with a giant cucumber. You are all sitting their watching your country fall off the map. Get up and do something already.
- buddahead9, on 03/04/2008, -0/+8It was pretty sweet in Japan... you send your suitcases the day before to the airport. you hop on a train... get off... hop on a faster train. Then you're at the airport. No worrying about luggage as you switch trains. no security checks. grant it, Japan is the size of California... with the population of the US all jammed in to CA....
- rot13ubercrypto, on 03/04/2008, -1/+9If they can pull this off, it'd be a great idea. The drive from Chile (Santiago) to Argentina (Mendoza), while spectacular, is a 6 hour bounce-fest of truck-clogged windy narrow disintegrating roads, and the air trip from Santiago to Buenos Aires has only recently become somewhat attractive, with GOL (Brazilian low-ish cost carrier) entering into the market.
The old Ferrocaril Transandino (AR-CL) is an incredible feat of engineering -- a now-abandoned narrow gauge single track route that goes over some of the most insane topography you could possibly imagine for a train route. The thing literally clings to vertical rock faces -- our neighbor in Santiago says that when he was a kid, they used to sometimes spend a day in the thing while avalanches or mudslides were cleared away.
I somehow have my doubts that this will work, but I wish them the best. Anyone who's been through that part of the world can attest to the fact that the Andes are a geological and geographic nightmare for construction. It's a _massive_ stretch. Funny though, if they fail, I don't think it'll be for lack of engineering acumen, but more from corruption and bureaucratic *****-ups (more likely on the Argentine side.) Nonetheless, I really hope they get this going, though -- it would be an _awesome_ connection. - wageslaven, on 03/04/2008, -0/+7Stop watching the movies son. Ever been to a city and used the subway? Toronto? New York? Lisbon? Munich?
Get some knowledge or STFU. - u8myfoood, on 03/04/2008, -8/+15It is good to see that a country would actually look to benefit the wellbeing of the citizens, rather than investing trillions into a pointless war.
I highly doubt that people in the US will see this technology in the near future, considering even large cities such as New York is having trouble funding the public transportation system, despite being one of the centers of the US economy... - mikedeezy33, on 03/04/2008, -1/+8Instead they put millions into renovating I-15, over several years. Man, driving that stretch of road sucks, especially when your next to a semi. You know, some of the hotels have even considered funding it as it would bring in more business.
- teadrinker, on 03/04/2008, -0/+6I use it every month or two. Actually a lot of people use it. In the NE, there is a 5-6 car intercity train once an hour (each way) or more, and they are usually 80% full.
- inactive, on 03/04/2008, -0/+6What a wellrounded individual. I'd sponsor a nice vacation to Western Europe for him if I could and then force him to write down his insights. Countries clearly more affluent than the US, with extensive public transportation.
- digghasnoethics, on 03/04/2008, -0/+6Well actually on the right length and type of journey this is exactly what you do say.
For instance, people wanting to travel from London to Paris will tend to take the train. The car is slower, as is a flight once you factor in the faffing around getting to/from airports and the security theatre.
Look at the 200-400 mile region, between city centres, and rail is generally best. Plus you get to put your feet up and sample the bar. - rot13ubercrypto, on 03/04/2008, -0/+6Because
- It would cost a lot of money. Even if you could amortize that cost nicely over a few years, or recoup it via ticket sales, the up-front investment would be hairy. Especially considering that (a) it'd go enormously over budget, and (b) every corrupt half-assed cousin-of-someone in construction would want a cut.
- good luck getting it past interest groups. Eco-types would whine. You'd need to expropriate and demolish private property to build it (unless you put it up on existing tracks, meaning disruption of service on already ***** strained networks.)
- every ***** little local politician would get in your face unless you put a stop in his/her precinct. As far as I recall, that's one of the things that's killed most US attempts to build high speed rail lines in the past. Surprise: when a train stops everywhere, it's no longer high-speed.
I am all for the idea -- I think it'd be awesome to have some sort of San Diego-LA-San Jose-SF-Seattle-Vancouver high speed corridor, but I don't imagine it'll happen anytime soon. - smacksaw, on 03/04/2008, -1/+6I'm late to the party here, and I doubt many will read this comment, but I'll punch it out anyway.
I live in Vancouver, and there's electric lines for buses all over the city. It makes me wonder. With all of these electric/hybrid cars, why couldn't they just stick a line up and run free on them? Factor in GPS and adaptive cruise control and you've got a good way of cheaply transporting people in a safe and nonpolluting way.
In the US, there's two problems. Trains are fine for cities you can walk in. Most cities in the US are not suitable for walking. If you go there and have no car, you're stuck for storing your stuff, keeping your kids in line, etc. It's not really the most cost-effective way to get people around. The other is that train tracks go right through major roads. Every time a train comes, the gates go down and traffic halts. If you've ever seen the trucks the railways use, it has wheels for the tracks. Again, for a long distance, putting that on our cars would be great.
With Amtrak, you have cars on trains. Why not just have the cars on the track? Even better would be putting electrical in the rail and running the cars on electric, but better would be the trains on electric.
I just think that we need to adapt what we do to our existing infrastructure, not completely implement entirely new things. Why don't we tap out what we have now? - kelray88, on 03/04/2008, -0/+5We actually had a legitimate proposal for an intra-state high-speed train network in - of all places - Texas a few years ago, but we can thank Herb Kelleher (of Southwest Airlines) for killing that (by rallying the opposition of rural residents).
Why was he against it? Because: give me a high-speed train option, in a state that takes more than a day to drive across, and I'll skip driving or flying any chance I get.
High speed rail rocks...and we need it in the USA. Bad. Argentina will see benefits far into the future for investing now. - warrenterr, on 03/04/2008, -0/+5wow! lol. What facts and statistics do you have to generalize argentineans? I hate ignorant people that talk without any valid information
- inactive, on 03/04/2008, -1/+6Na bud, we like our fat lazy butts on a grimy stinking cloth sofa stained yellow like our backs......
- INDOAZZ, on 03/04/2008, -2/+7High Speed rail system to go along with their GOLD MEDAL in Basketball 04 Olympics
- arjung, on 03/04/2008, -0/+5It's Amtrak, and thousands of people use it to get to work every day. I live and go to school in the Boston-Washington corridor and Amtrak is able to fill up hundreds of trains every day with commuters. I think a high speed train from NYC to DC would be a great addition to our transportation.
- BlackJackJester, on 03/04/2008, -1/+6Operation Puppy Killaz
- nospinhere, on 03/04/2008, -2/+7Do you feel better now?
- ahac, on 03/04/2008, -2/+7Electricity?
Which can also be made from air (wind power) or anything else. - PATSCRU, on 03/04/2008, -0/+5we're talking about highspeed lines here, of which the US has none
- inactive, on 03/04/2008, -4/+9Not when you consider that our executive branch is run by an oil junta.
- ALyken, on 03/25/2008, -1/+6Friends and neighbours, here is why you read BEFORE you comment. All together now, READ BEFORE YOU COMMENT, READ BEFORE YOU (you know the rest.)
- Pherdnut, on 03/04/2008, -0/+4Unlike paying a bunch of charlatans to rebuild Iraq, there is a return on that investment.
- sotopheavy, on 03/04/2008, -3/+7A high speed train would likely be beneficial to the environment, economy, overall lifestyle of American citizens. Potential downfalls include the end of most airlines, and bad news for truckers, but they'll be screwed anyway once autonomous vehicles come out.
- ALyken, on 03/25/2008, -1/+5Why does everything go right back to America. Contrary to popular belief, it is in fact alright to give another country some web space. Just relax and breathe... in , out. Now, let's get back to South America.
- tas08, on 03/04/2008, -1/+5Hallelujah! I think I'm going to stop reading the comments now, there can't be another one this intelligent, I'm only gonna be disappointed.
- verkon, on 03/04/2008, -0/+4Funny thing though, USA, Libera and Burma are the only places which haven't officially adopted the metric system.
- mousky, on 03/04/2008, -2/+6Why "must' you commute 25 miles each way? Who is forcing you to commute via car? Why not live closer to where you work?
- Andres84, on 03/04/2008, -1/+5I´m from Argentina and, while this sounds good, money should be invested in more urgent needs rather than in a train for the rich. For much less money than this would take all current trains could be fixed and updated, benefiting millions of people... here is a pic that shows the state of affairs: http://bp3.blogger.com/_crAgYy1ItVU/RvklznMedxI/AA ...
Also, price will not be 1.35 billion dollars, but rather 2x or 3x that sum... so I doubt this will come true. -
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