Bucking Bar

Another cornerstone of our politically driven assault by our Department of Transportation on the airline industry seems to be falling apart as a result of the inevitable reality of economics:

So the 8 Billion in high speed rail study projects under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act appears to have been wasted.

$1.1 Billion spent on the "High Speed Rail" line between Chicago and St. Louis managed to speed the train up to .... wait for it ... 62 Miles Per Hour (would eleven exclamation points be too many?)

Mean while, development of next gen RNAV / RNP navigation needed to free up traffic in the NYC area and common sense solutions like Crew Pass are stuck over funding issues.

It is a no brainer that Congress is never going to fund a France style high speed rail system that (1) is just as fast as the cargo train already on the track and which (2) would require enormous subsidies to operate while it still failed to attract anyone who values their time.

Travel by airplane is far from perfect. But rewarmed 1800's technology is not going to be the threat to our profession some claimed it might be only two years ago.

Grumble

High speed rail is economical in smaller places like Japan and European countries, where the rail lines are

1.) Shorter and thus cheaper
2.) and where a 100mph train will actually beat a 450 knot jet taking into account the process for each

However trying to compete across a vast expanse like the US is just stupid. I actually looked at the price of an Amtrak ticket for the wife and I from CA to Chicago. Thought maybe it would be fun. $350 each, for COACH seats and it would take.... wait for it.... TWO DAYS. So for the same price as Southwest, I could sit in coach for TWO DAYS vice 4 hours?!?! Europe is broke for a reason, lets stop trying to chase them down the hole.

tortue

There is a reason why AMTRAK exists, because there's no way to make money off a national rail passenger system. The only route that I believe generates any decent amount of money is the Acela/North East Corridor.

Also, AMTRAK trains operate with the lowest priority when traversing UP/BNSF/N&S/CSX rails. They're frequently delayed up to several hours sometimes as higher priority freight goes by. Even if you could cruise at 79MPH or faster due to better quality gauge rails, whats the point if you're going to be waiting at signals or being stuck in a siding waiting for freight to pass at 30-40MPH.

There are certain corridors where high speed rail makes sense, but is Chicago - St. Louis really one of them? Besides, how about focus some of that money back into putting metropolitan rail/commuter stuff into being a priority. Traffic still sucks in many US cities.

scambo1

High speed rail is really cool. Last month I hopped a ride on the maglev in shanghai and it got up to 305kmh. But I think the posters are missing the point...

In the US high speed rail is a rabbit hole into which the Goobermint throws money. Once you accept this, it is more likely that you will become a high speed rail consultant and some of this (your) money gets put back in your hand.

Panzon

During 2010 AIN ran a great article on high speed rail in China. The gist of the article: HSR is highly competitive (in terms of cost and time) on many legs in China, and is seen as a direct substitute.

scambo1

In a command controlled economy, it is easy to make an assessment like that. In a capitalist economy, not so easy. In Shanghai, the maglev was built as a technology demonstrator/prover...because they can. If it had to make a profit, I'm not sure that the 30 or so people on the train were contributing to that. Capacity is about 300-400 people.

I thought we were going to beat the crew van to the hotel (30-40 minute drive), but when we went to check-in we (2 of us) were the last ones there. It was still worth doing at least once.

The Chow

A high speed rail may make sense in Florida. Right now Florida's population is expected to double in the next 15 years. Our highways seem as if they're always under construction and are always at maximum capacity. With only 3 main routes to cross the state from east to west (I10, I4, and alligator alley) HSR could alleviate some of the stress.

We can't keep paving the swamp.

tzskipper

May be on it's way.

Virgin enters race to secure US railway



FT.com / Companies / Rail - Virgin enters race to secure US railway

Grumble

If NY, IL, CA and other's keep raising taxes on their residents, the population is going to double in a lot less than 15 years.

tortue

Can't wait for UP/BNSF/CSX/NS to complain about the Virgin rail company not being owned by a majority of Americans. It will just be like Alaska complaining about Virgin America entering their precious market and throwing up billboards everywhere.