And I80 through Iowa and Nebraska. The drives are mind numbingly boring. EDIT: Oh I see you mean just skip them. I mean it would be amazing to never have to make those drives again and instead have some drinks or sleep going 200 mph in a train.
Also imagine how many fewer interstate deaths from car accidents there would be. Take a ton of cars off the interstate and have fewer mingled with semis and you eliminate a ton of tragic accidents. Really the only downside/challenge to high speed rail is money and location/access/engineering concerns.
would there be benefit to upgrading/cross utilizing existing rail versus all new construction? Looking at that Northwest grey line, I know the Amtrak Empire Builder runs close to that route Chicago-Seattle because we stayed at the Izaak Walton Inn outside of Glacier last summer and the Amtrak stops there twice a day. There was a freight train speeding by every 30 minutes at least as well. At least there would be greatly reduced land clearing, bridge building, and imminent domain...
It’s so obvious it might just work. Honestly I’ve never understood why that isn’t a thing. I’d assume it’s because these projects are all privatized from the start age there’s too much money in starting from scratch. See the bloated shitshow the Dallas to Houston project has become.
They were children when it was created. They don't get to claim the idea and investment in high speed rail. Fun fact: Obama set aside like 60 billion in 2010 in the financial crisis stimulus for high speed rail. It was a complete clusterfuck and really only went to upgrading existing lines because republican politicians killed all the initiatives.
So much opportunity for improvement. Arlington is a city of 400k that has a major railroad running right through the middle of it with exactly one overpass and one underpass to bypass. Could use the opportunity to crossfit with high-speed rail to sink those tracks about 25 feet and eliminate congestion...
For those who don’t subscribe to rail journal https://www.railjournal.com/in_depth/19-rail-projects-to-watch-in-2019/
for 8 years I worked at the airport and would sit in standstill traffic on 360 in 105 degree heat dreaming of light rail running right down the center. Now (pre-pandemic anyway) I do the same on the George Bush Turnpike on my way to Las Colinas. Of course now they are building toll express lanes down the centers of highways because drill baby drill
With how US politics work these days, a high speed rail will never happen. Too many powerful lobbies would be against it. Auto, Oil, Airlines. Not to mention the cost and too much private land would have to be acquired. The high speed rail in CA is a nightmare right now.
While I agree that it'll never happen I think pointing to the CA one or any other state level version is drawing the wrong comparison. The U.S. government has so much more at its disposal. If there was actually a well funded department dedicated to the thing they would be able to get shit done. But you need to political will which probably doesn't exist.
There's a passenger train that goes from Portland --> Seattle --> Vancouver. But it's a very dated Amtrak, takes like twice as long as driving, and isn't a very cheap option.
The biggest obstacles would be negotiating land sales and doing environmental impact studies. You can largely mitigate the first one if you're the federal government with an open checkbook. The second one would be a lot harder.
I didnt have a car for about 5 years and would take Amtrak from Chicago to StL. It wasnt awful. Took about 5.5 hours. The train had wifi. The fellow passengers being awful was a coinflip. But - round trip was like 45 bucks.
Right. All our shit is old and busted. We need the new hotness. This is one of those things that the rest of the world does really well and we don't because of lobbying basically.
They would have to eminent domain so much. Texans love their land. When Bush used eminent domain for the Border Wall, which most Texans supported, they sued and tied the project up in courts for over a decade. CA is doing what it can bc there's no federal help. But federally It would turn into a Dem vs Rep issue. And Reps wouldn't sign on bc it would make Biden look good. Even though it would help facilitate cheap travel and improve the economy and provide jobs
I've traveled between Seattle and Portland for work half a dozen times, always hoped to take the Cascadia Rail, and after looking at the logistics have flown every time.
Outside of China, most places benefit from being concentrated like Japan and Europe. They also don't have the terrain the US has. Really cuts down on cost
For sure. But we built interstates through mountains when my parents were children. Tons and tons of that map that I linked is flat. The political will just needs to be there.
They need to pass a 2 or 3T infrastructure bill and upgrade roads/bridges/dams and start in on high speed rail.
I know people who were in that lawsuit who voluntarily signed over their land when Donny T asked them to.
Somewhat off-topic, but was listening to a podcast and they touched on how boring America's infrastructure is, and how it's a reflection of the Boomer mentality that constructed it. Whitewashed, boring right angles, zero creativity and literally as bland as possible. A portion of other countries show their culture through their infrastructure -- artistic intersections, modern rail systems/bullet trains, they allow the younger generation designing future infrastructure to artistically express themselves. In the US, how shitty and dated are our public transportation systems? Beyond a rainbow crosswalk in some progressive cities, there is zero expression. I'm butchering the comparison, but the whole point was that an infrastructure overhaul in the US should allow the designers (hopefully from a younger generation) to showcase their artistry, infrastructure doesn't have to be boring and bland -- but it seems that in the US, it's just accepted that it will always be this way. When you have great mind that want to create, they sure as hell don't want to be restricted by what some octogenarian tells them.
So you're saying if we give Trump a cut of the cash, he could get his moron supporters on board to support such a massive, forward-thinking plan? May be worth it in the long run.
Get Boeing to build the train car bodies, sell tickets thru Delta, American, United, route the major nodes thru existing airports. There’s money to be made here if the right palms get greased. And if you upgrade existing rail lines nit THAT much land would need buying up and honestly that’s why imminent domain exists.
Let's give one trillion to IRS for forensic accounting and collections to get $20 trillion back in delinquent taxes. We can save money and bury them in a national park. Then we can put public restrooms over their graves. With the money the US could fund all the infrastructure, public transit & power grid projects nationwide.
It’s why I’ve never used it. It’s faster & as cheap to fly or we drive. You give me a high-speed train and I’m hanging out in Seattle all the time. If I want to travel around the city, it’s easy to rent vehicles through apps like you get an Uber these days. If I want to go camping and need to take my vehicle to the outskirts of Washington or someplace the amount of traffic drops significantly. Hell, the amount of people in states like Nebraska & Oregon that live in the bigger city (Omaha/Portland) and would take the train to watch football or basketball games on game day would eliminate 1/2 the cars on the road & drastically reduce drunk driving. God I hate our addiction to the vehicle in this country.