Quote:
Originally Posted by Combwork
Fair points all. Even though you guys are unhappy about rising fuel prices, they are still about half the UK price. Railways will never be as local as they once were; flexibility of personal transport has seen to that but remember, a car is just a mobile power station that carries people. However much fuel costs rise, unit for unit large static power stations are much more efficient. High speed comfortable transport city to city makes sense but 300+ mph? That's what the Japanese are aiming for. Imagine looking through the window and seeing the country flash by that quickly. Scary..............
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Having lived in Germany for 11 years, I'm a big fan of passenger rail service (over there anyway). The scale of things here is much different, as is land use planning in urban areas and the prevalence/quality of public transport vs. Europe.
What America does have is a world-class freight rail system. But corn, soybean, and coal don't care if it takes a couple of days of round-the-clock travel to get somewhere.
I think the desire for high-speed rail is some sort of penis-envy with respect to the Chinese. This up-and-coming economy can do it. Why can't we?