Why isn't the U.S putting high speed trains here?

The Joker

The Joker

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Rest of world has some sort of high speed trains how come we aren't doing it? We still have old style tracks dated back in 19th century. Why aren't we building something like this?

800px-Taiwan-HighSpeedRail-700T-testrun-2006-0624.jpg



[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpNkpS-klks[/ame]

Why cant we start building tunnels for high speed tech?
 
Money.

There isn't any.

That and sadly in the US the mindset is not (and may never be) public transportation oriented.
 
What DeafDucky said plus some places are too densely populated for putting in tracks - w/o using eminent domain to tear down houses & buildings (like the interstates did back in the 50's/60's)
 
Well they should be. Like for long distance travel like why not take your car like the train in U.K

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFeh-vCxu6c[/ame]

I say Amtrak should have High Speed auto train. Services between these cities

West Palm Beach FLA- Landover MD
Landover MD - Boston Mass
Boston Mass- Chicago Ill
Chicago Ill-Dallas TX
Dallas TX - LA Calif
L.A-Calif-San Fran Calif
 
The Joker said:
Well they should be. Like for long distance travel like why not take your car like the train in U.K

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFeh-vCxu6c

I say Amtrak should have High Speed auto train. Services between these cities

West Palm Beach FLA- Landover MD
Landover MD - Boston Mass
Boston Mass- Chicago Ill
Chicago Ill-Dallas TX
Dallas TX - LA Calif
L.A-Calif-San Fran Calif
Click to expand...

Talk to your congress peeps. They decide how much they'll subsidize Amtrak - which is waaaayyyyy less than they subsidize the airlines and the roadways.

You can take the Auto Train from Sanford, FL to Lorton, VA if you want to take your car with you.
 
Wow! Trains look fancy! I hope we catch up in few years.
 
DeafDucky said:
That and sadly in the US the mindset is not (and may never be) public transportation oriented.
Click to expand...

Ditto to this, there have been many programs that attempt to convert cities to focus more on public transportation but they either fail or have limited success.

One factor that is going against public transportation is the cost of gas is relatively cheap here compared to other countries. Gas in the UK costs at least 2 twice more and gas is expensive as well in Japan. If you think about it, why put up with smelly homeless people hanging around in the train if you can afford your own car and you can drive whenever and wherever you want?

The only US region that I do see public transportation doing well is NYC and that's, again, due to the cost of owning your own car. It's just too expensive to own a parking spot and it's more cost effective to either hire a cab or ride the subway.

I could see trains and other forms of public transportation taking off if the gas prices rise so high that it's cheaper to ride the bus than drive your own car.
 
LoveBlue said:
Talk to your congress peeps. They decide how much they'll subsidize Amtrak - which is waaaayyyyy less than they subsidize the airlines and the roadways.

You can take the Auto Train from Sanford, FL to Lorton, VA if you want to take your car with you.
Click to expand...

Yeah only 75MPH it takes 16-18 hours :roll: When an 200MPH train can get you there less than 8 hours
 
One thing that makes it harder for USA to have high speed trains verses other countries is our size.

USA is so much bigger than other countries which makes it alot more expensive to build and harder to maintain.
 
Secretblend said:
One thing that makes it harder for USA to have high speed trains verses other countries is our size.

USA is so much bigger than other countries which makes it alot more expensive to build and harder to maintain.
Click to expand...

Agree. We tend to forget how big we are compared to other countries.
 
DeafDucky said:
Money.

There isn't any.

That and sadly in the US the mindset is not (and may never be) public transportation oriented.
Click to expand...

LoveBlue said:
What DeafDucky said plus some places are too densely populated for putting in tracks - w/o using eminent domain to tear down houses & buildings (like the interstates did back in the 50's/60's)
Click to expand...

Plus the money needed goes up because of the distance involved in getting across the US compared to many countries (such as those in Europe).
 
Yes, this is one of biggest reason. It all goes down to supply and demand. The supply needed to run high speed rail is so high that the demand for the high speed rail is too low to support the system.

In China and Japan, there are so many people in each square mile, so crowdy that its easy to get enough customers paying to support the system. If it were not for their overpopulation, they won't have these fancy high speed rail system, simple as is.

Secretblend said:
One thing that makes it harder for USA to have high speed trains verses other countries is our size.

USA is so much bigger than other countries which makes it alot more expensive to build and harder to maintain.
Click to expand...
 
With all the train accidents we been having lately maybe it's a good thing we don't have high speed trains here. There was just another accident recently a person was going twice the speed limit and people got hurt.
 
LoveBlue said:
California MAY be getting high speed trains some day.
Click to expand...

California has started construction on the first phase of our Bullet Train, which will eventually run from San Francisco to Los Angeles which will cost $68.4 billion. First phase began in the Central Valley north of Madera and is proceeding south towards Bakersfield at the south end of the valley. It will continue into the high desert and the city of Palmdale and then into the San Fernando Valley and the Los Angeles Basin terminating in Anaheim. Phase one is planned to end in 2029. The Bullet Train travels 220mph.
 
The Joker said:
Yeah only 75MPH it takes 16-18 hours :roll: When an 200MPH train can get you there less than 8 hours
Click to expand...

and then what happens next once you arrive at the destination? you'll need a car.
 
The Joker said:
Well they should be. Like for long distance travel like why not take your car like the train in U.K

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFeh-vCxu6c
Click to expand...
bringing a car via train in America? that's just silly and impractical.

The Joker said:
I say Amtrak should have High Speed auto train. Services between these cities

West Palm Beach FLA- Landover MD
Landover MD - Boston Mass
Boston Mass- Chicago Ill
Chicago Ill-Dallas TX
Dallas TX - LA Calif
L.A-Calif-San Fran Calif
Click to expand...
lol wtf? completely silly and impractical. you know what's much cheaper and less damaging to our environment? FLY!

our weathers here can easily destroy those high-speed rails. and earthquakes.
 
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