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0 pointsoldpersonintx2y ago0 comments

it already has something much more sophisticated - a high-speed air network

think your train is efficient? a plane can fly in a straight line between any two points in the US! beat that! ever see a train cross one of the great lakes? no challenge for a plane! rerouting a rail line can cost billions...but only a tiny bit of fuel to reroute a plane...not to mention I can go coast to coast in five hours on a plane but the world's fastest train would take much longer...

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rsynnott2y ago

High speed rail is most competitive with short and medium range air. Say you want to go from SF to LA. That’s a 90 minute flight. Plus a few hours of getting to and from the airports plus faffing around within the airports. Or it’s a 6 hour drive. Or, with a top-quality high-speed line it’d be a little under two hours on the train, handily beating any current option.

High speed rail wouldn’t be all that competitive for going coast to coast in the US, definitely.

rangestransform2y ago

in the northeast I still prefer to take acela over being dehumanized by the TSA

chroma2y ago

TSA can screen people the same for rail, they just tend not to. Ideally we’d go back to pre-9/11 screening for everything.

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