Re: The joy of actual numbers, was Democracy

On 02/11/2024 23:23, rbowman wrote:

On Sat, 2 Nov 2024 19:23:44 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
 

If air travel becomes impossible high speed rail would suit the USA
perfectly. Plenty of empty space.
>
I think current top speeds are around 200mph.

 The US struggles with low speed rail.
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_High-Speed_Rail
 https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-03-21/high-speed-rail
 That's the poster child for screwing up high speed rail.
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acela
 Acela is more successful but when it averages out at 70 mph it isn't
exactly high speed. The problem with plenty of empty space is that it's
more or less empty. No large metropolitan areas, no ridership, no money.
 This city has two train stations and no passenger service. The Milwaukee
Line is gone completely. The station is the home of the Boone and Crockett
club abd much of the right of way has been converted to bike trails.
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missoula_station_(Northern_Pacific_Railway)
 The other still has tracks. The coal trains wave as they pass by.

Don't panic. The same is true of all countries - rail suffered because cars came.
BUT the Japanese have high speed trains running through empty places to full ones just the same
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinkansen
I am not saying that right now its all easy peasy profit making stuff. Just that trains already exist that will, on the standard rail gauge, do 200mph or more.
The USA already has the transcontinental tracks, they just need upgrading.
The key feature is that most passengers now choose air, because its cheap, and the freight gets hauled by road or very slow train.
These are economic decisions.
If high speed rail freight became cheaper than a truck, people would switch to it.
And if fuel travel became too expensive, and electric cars didn't have the range, then concerting main roads to railways, and putting the electric cars on board a train to recharge, is not so stupid.
The history of transport is absolutely dominated by economics. Sailing ships were way cheaper than a horse and cart. Trains were cheaper and faster than a stage coach or the Pony express.
In the UK we built canals, which were cheaper than horse and cart, but then the railways came, and they were even cheaper, and finally we had motor vehicles and they were cheaper still.
If it turns out that high speed rail is cost and time competitive with aircraft, that's what we will get.
--
"I guess a rattlesnake ain't risponsible fer bein' a rattlesnake, but ah puts mah heel on um jess the same if'n I catches him around mah chillun".