A Need For Speed?

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  Posted By: Georg @ 07/26/2009 7:08:31 PM

  Even if your article showed China with the fastest train, it should be mentioned that this train is based on German technologie which was copied by the Chinese after Germany sold one train to connect Beijing and Peking.
  But as you mentioned in "Germany's Green Technophobia" it was never given a chance in Germany because of the environmentalists. A possible track in northern Germany was canceled because of environmental reasons. Another one in southern Germany fell victim to political turf wars and therefore exploding costs.
  
  A German who left Germany ten years ago working in New Mexico in the flight simulation industrie

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  Posted By: SpyGlass @ 07/25/2009 6:36:57 PM

  Spot on. Amtrak has yet to function smoothly throughout the country, especially in regional areas. In New England, the Amtrack trains stop at the Massachusetts border, severing Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine from the rest of the country.
  
  In the South West, there is NO direct route-train or bus- connecting Los Angeles, CA to Phoenix, AZ. An Amtrak ride from Phoenix to LA is 12 hours long, when in a car only ~6 hours.
  
  A train ride from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara (2 hours drive) for some reason is $60-Not much of an incentive to use the trains. Same with Los Angeles to San Diego, $60 for a 2 hour ride (Boston to Providence, RI- a 1 hour commuter ride- is only $10)
  
  Though I will give Amtrak credit; The Massachusetts commuter rail is highly effective for the suburbs immediately surrounding Boston. And they do have a cross country route from Boston to Los Angeles that is only 36hrs long, and only requires 2 train changes in Albany and Chicago. It makes you wonder, though, why one needs to make 6 train/bus switches to get from Phoenix to LA, but only 2 changes from coast to coast.

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  Posted By: ctamirisa @ 07/22/2009 10:33:27 AM

  This Newsweek hardcopy magazine report article chart showing the anticipated costs of high-speed rail especially in the face of the demand for it from the various states as reported by the analyses of America 2050 and Transportation for America (t4America.org) is miniscule as compared to the cost of the financial markets bailouts so far. The irony of these bailouts is that had that money been invested by the financial markets on projects such as these we would be on our way to robust growth by now.