Trains for America

[babylonsister]

http://business.theatlantic.com/2009/05/trains_for_america.php

Trains for America
Ryan Avent


Transportation secretary Ray LaHood has been having himself a nice little trip around Europe over the past few days to see what he can learn from folks who know how to do rail right. The Spanish leg of the journey, which included a nice tour of the country's new high-speed rail network, prompted coverage from the New York Times, which noted:

As has happened elsewhere, the high-speed train is stealing passengers from the airlines: The 2.5-hour route between Madrid and Seville claims about 89 percent of railway and air traffic between the cities, according to Renfe, the state railway operator. In its first year, the Madrid-Barcelona route lured nearly half the five million passengers who would normally fly between the cities, Renfe said.

To which I say: bring it on.

Many of the nation's important metropolitan corridors manage to have unbearably congested highways and airports. In the few places where intercity rail has the capacity and speed to be competitive with alternatives, Amtrak has no problem filling its trains. Rail construction obviously has high upfront capital costs, but they're likely to prove worth it in the long run, particularly given that trains can run on electric power, which will grow steadily greener and become increasingly attractive in a world of rising oil prices (check).

And of course, airline service has not only become miserable and unreliable as the system has become overburdened and unprofitable, but it's also pretty dirty, in terms of carbon emissions. The standard approximation has planes emitting as much per mile as cars, but of course planes travel much longer distances and at higher altitudes, where emissions have a more significant effect.

Word is, the president really wants to leave office with a high-speed rail network as part of his legacy. Sounds good to me.

[Captain Hilts]

1. Count me in. nt

[bemildred]

2. Word. nt

[drmeow]

3. The Renfe train ride

from Madrid to Barcelona (average speed - 300 kph) was one of the most pleasant traveling experiences I've ever had. I would pay extra to take a high speed train rather than a plane if I could. It was low stress, comfortable, fast, and I got to see the countryside as we rode through.

[Captain Hilts]

8. I have to admit to not wanting to go THAT fast. nt

[drmeow]

11. It doesn't seem like you are

going that fast. It felt very secure. The train didn't cross any streets - just rolled through the countryside. It helps that it was traveling through what looked like farm country. The only reason I knew the speed was cause the sign at the front of the train showed it.

[Hannah Bell]

14. feels *way* safer than 300 kph in a car. or even 70 mph in a car on the freeway with 5 lanes doing

the same.

[babylonsister]

10. I was on a train from Hamburg to Berlin several

years ago. I don't know what the line was called, but it went so fast, it was difficult to see the countryside. I must add that long stretches of landscape can run into each other. But it was very relaxing; we all napped.

[drmeow]

12. I think 'cause the countryside

was much the same in the area of Spain we were traveling through it wasn't difficult to see. You couldn't really tell how fast you were going unless we were paralleling a road and passing the cars!

[NYC_SKP]

4. Right on... Recommended.

Of course you'd get more recs if you had worded the subject line differently.

ie: "After Four Months-Still no Bush-Obama High Speed Rail!!!

:evilgrin:

[Capt. America]

5. I am soooo excited about the notion of a high speed rail. I hope it gets "off the ground".

[Lorien]

7. Literally. Maglev is the way to go:

you can build the monorails in existing highway medians. It's virtually silent and sips energy.

[annabanana]

6. I think I would prefer train travel to any other kind.

(except maybe horseback)

Better than driving, bus or plane...

[old mark]

9. The few times I have done it, I really enjoyed traveling, not merely

tollerated it as I do when flying. I really hope this gets done, and done right.

They should check other nations health care systems while they are at it....


mark

[tavalon]

17. My grandfather was a train conductor

I grew up on his magic carpet. I love trains. I still take AMTRAK to Vancouver occasionally. I'm in heaven. I love riding on trains. Well, I think I do. Truth be told, I usually fall asleep like a baby within the first 30 minutes - this from a chronic insomniac!

[depakid]

13. If America doesn't beef up and expand its rail service, it's going to be in deep, deep, dogshit

sometime during the next decade. This sort of deal needed to be done yesterday.

[BlooInBloo]

15. I'm in. I train from SEA to PDX routinely. Would go all the way to SFO if it were faster.

[bananas]

16. topography

http://cahsr.blogspot.com/2009/05/west-coast-high-speed-rail.html?showComment=1242070140001#c8925916781048351164

Alex said...

One look at this map equals a thousand words.

A Vancouver BC - Seattle - Portland - Eugene definitely looks doable from a Geography point of view.

Not sure the last leg of that (100 miles) for the 300k people of Eugene would be worth it though.

May 11, 2009 12:29 PM

Zoom out and scroll down on that map to see the topography down to SFO (and from there down to SAN).
High-speed trains are best on long flat straight stretches.
With mountains, you either go around the mountain (curves slow it down),
or over the mountain (climbing slows it down),
or through the mountain (tunneling is expensive).

[rosesaylavee]

18. New York to Chicago minimum 17+ hours currently.

Great price for all that but 17+ hours if you take the 'quick' train.

[DCKit]

19. Strange that they omitted the fact that the 2.5 hours mentioned...

is city center to city center.

It takes longer just driving to a suburban airport, boarding, sitting, taxiing to the runway then all the same in reverse on the other end. Sure, the flight is only 30 minutes, but it takes half a day for all the rest. Doh.

[Johnny Noshoes]

22. Exactly why I take Amtrak from NYC to Boston.

I have family living in New Hampshire and when I visit I take the train to Boston - well Route 128 actually since its easier for my brother-in-law to pick me up from there as opposed to Boston South. Oh I could fly but why spend more money and put up with the hassles at both airports. The train ride is comfortable and I can read, listen to music, or oh my god actually talk to the person sitting next to me. I had a great conversation with this wonderful woman on my way home last xmas time. The time flew by and before I knew it she was getting off at her stop in Connecticut. Train travel seems more civilized and at a human scale. I say we save the auto industry and all those jobs by retooling them to build high speed rail and the trains to use it.

[Forkboy]

20. It will be a massive job building the dedicated rail lines these trains require.

And I think that would be a great thing. I think it would be a huge project requiring a bunch of workers to do it. We've badly dropped the ball on this for a couple of decades now.

[Vidar]

21. This would be a worthy project for Obama's stimulus initiatives.

[Cybergata]

23. We love our RailRunner which goes from Belén to Santa Fé in New Mexico

http://www.nmrailrunner.com/