Recently, President Obama announced the first round of funding to get high-speed rail developed here in the United States. The total investment came to about $8 billion, spread out across the country from the Northeast to California. It is really nothing but a drop in the bucket when you tally the total required investment; California’s proposed high-speed rail alone could cost $40 billion or more.
Over in the UK though, the government has proposed to drop a whooping £30 Billion (about $45 billion US) into developing high-speed rail across the country. And if anyplace needs high-speed rail, it is definitely the UK.
My cousin and I visited the UK during the summer of 2008 to go see my former roommate from college when gasoline prices were peaking. Many places were selling fuel for between $8 and $10 a gallon (I needed my roommate to do the conversion for me since they sell it by the liter). This meant bus passes were far more expensive than train tickets at the time, so on our way back to London, we opted to take a train. That was almost a disaster.
First off, the prices were cheaper, but just barely. There were supposed to be three stops on our ride home with us switching trains at the first stop. Unfortunately, that train never showed up. Instead we had to wait around an extra hour for the next scheduled train. That would have been fine, except that this train was crammed with passengers that the absent train was supposed to pick up, in addition to its regular road. We spent the next three hours crammed into the connecting tunnel between cars. I read War & Peace. My cousin just complained.
That is my one and only experience with trains in the UK, but apparently it isn’t unheard of. Trains in the UK have a reputation for being late, overpriced, and overcrowded, and it is only supposed to get worse. Passengers on trains are expected to triple by 2020, and the current network is woefully out of date. The the £30 Billion investment should go a long way to alleviating these problems. The plan is to build a high speed rail that would allow travel between London and Birmingham — about 90 miles apart — in just 45 minutes. The plan was proposed by Transportation Secretary Lord Adonis (awesome name, sounds very regal), who says the train could reach speeds as fast as 250 mph. Now THAT is high speed!
The project is not without its detractors; some people feel the rail line will spoil otherwise beautiful scenic areas as well as force 440 homes to be demolished along the route. Then there is the price tag. $45 billion is a lot of scratch, and construction wouldn’t even begin until 2017. Still, England is a small country and would benefit enormously from a well-planned high-speed railway. Plus, drivers wouldn’t have to contend with the curtain of speed cameras blanketing the country and the narrow, crowded motorways. Go UK!
Source: Inhabitat vis High Speed Rail UK
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About Christopher DeMorro
$45 billion in a country of 60 million…
The U.S. is ~300 million: 5 times larger than the UK.
So, we should invest 5 times more into high speed rail than the UK. That puts us at 45*5 = 225.
The U.S. needs to invest $225 BILLION in rail!!!
Only then would we in America have a worthwhile rail system.
$45 billion in a country of 60 million…
The U.S. is ~300 million: 5 times larger than the UK.
So, we should invest 5 times more into high speed rail than the UK. That puts us at 45*5 = 225.
The U.S. needs to invest $225 BILLION in rail!!!
Only then would we in America have a worthwhile rail system.
Sorry Kilhog, but comparing population sizes just won’t work. We have much more than 5 times the physical area. And then we should probably scrap our current track width and make it about 8 feet to allow for lowering the passenger floor to below the top of the wheels for better aerodynamics and ride control.
Sorry Kilhog, but comparing population sizes just won’t work. We have much more than 5 times the physical area. And then we should probably scrap our current track width and make it about 8 feet to allow for lowering the passenger floor to below the top of the wheels for better aerodynamics and ride control.
The USDOT/FRA needs to update/reevaluate the old current US HSR corridors(see attached)
CONSIDER THIS LOGICAL NEW TRUE 220 MPH HIGH SPEED RAIL(HSR) ALIGNMENT WITH THE MOST NATIONAL IMPACT IN LIEU OF MIDWEST OR OTHER US HSR PLANS
Regrettably we have lost site of the real rationales for true dedicated HSR: it being a SUSTAINABLE, NON-OIL DEPENDENT, SAFER, CLEANER, TRAFFIC MITIGATING, CBD DEVELOPING mode of transport. The following HSR system concept is that and needs to be employed first in the USA.
Please allow me to introduce myself and thank you for letting me briefly write about HSR technology, a new-dedicated true HSR model/alignment, and major city pair transport. I am a graduate student in Chicago researching geography, environment studies, energy and passenger rail systems around the globe; principally, the economics and justifications of past, present and future high-speed rail(HSR) development. Ultimately I would like to consult or work for a government agency or elsewhere in some capacity concerning the “signature ARRA budget item”, high-speed rail stimulus initiatives and future HSR projects beyond.
The true HSR model-concept white paper I created for a truly effective and significant first HSR system is available up on request. Research suggests this and only this new alignment has the greatest vital HSR transport impacts in the USA, it also being a natural next progression of the popular Northeast HSR Corridor/NEC. An Indiana branch is being studied.
Since we have entered the age of high-speed rail development in this country, hopefully the FRA, Amtrak, DOTs, congress people and state governors will be diligent and open to all alternate interpretations about what should be done in the effort to build potentially sustainable, non-oil dependent, clean, electric, European-Asian type high speed rail/or “bullet trains” in the USA, particularly to and from Chicago and for tens of millions of other US and global passengers.
Americans want now what’s being accomplished around the world for decades now in this exciting new worthwhile endeavor, investment and mode, fulfilled in the USA regarding TRUE 220 mph High Speed Rail (HSR) versus the current intercity(“higher speed rail”) plans… I am sure that for HSR in the USA to succeed by and large, this functional model should be the first and possibly the only new true HSR system implemented in the USA; connecting many major cities with populations of over one million people each from Chicago to Boston to Washington DC. Bona fide “world class” cities have real HSR yet Chicago has none!
The Great Lakes-Keystone-Northeast Main HSR line I propose offers Americans and others a safe, tangible, terrestrial connection to the geography, countryside, cities, topography, economy, history, and greatness of the USA at a practical speed… Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, New York-Jersey and Pennsylvania are where this new true HSR alignment is positioned so these high traffic states have the most need for enhanced designs, coordination and funds. By the way, there’s 1000s of daily commercial intercity flights amongst these very states(cities) right now!
Upgrades, repairs, and better efforts are necessary for the already functioning but serviceable conventional radial Amtrak routes emanating from Chicago as requested by the present Midwest intercity passenger rail plans. Nonetheless, for the most part, authorities believe that the freight RRs will most likely be strongly opposed to the current Midwest intercity shared track/ROW(right of way) plans due to severe limitations on their own operations and bottom lines…
Equally, isn’t the idea of stimulus/government money going to upgrade private RR track/ROW flawed? Does this amount to a huge handout to the already very profitable freight railroads? Shouldn’t the freight railroads have been upgrading their private tracks/ROW regularly all along so that Amtrak could have used them properly without all the inconveniences and poor publicity all these many years? Amtrak compensates them for just that service…(in contrast, this true HSR/ROW alignment will impinge just minimally on freight RR operations …)
California, Texas, Florida, and other regions of the world(even China and Russia) have “true” bullet train/HSR systems, plans or lines under construction. Texas(Texas TGV) and Florida(FOX) have rejected HSR plans in the recent past, so they should wait to get another chance at HSR. Going forward, alternatively, other states that have financially supported Amtrak all along should be rewarded for that and participate in the new HSR initiatives. (furthermore, the logistics of this new alignment connects 100 million more people than California’s competing new HSR plans!)
True electric HSR, when applied properly, is a superior substitute for gas guzzling polluting airplanes and is a key green part of the necessary diversification of transportation energy(like electric/hybrid cars, alternate transport fuels, etc) needed to reduce oil dependency.(keep in mind that 70% of oil use is for transportation/liquid fuels such as gasoline and jet fuel)
As for energy overall: coal is for electricity, natural gas is for heating, but oil is primarily for transportation and also some heating, plastics and chemicals products. Wind, solar, hydro/water, and nuclear powers are also for electricity-the US has plenty of varied electricity energy capacity to run trains/transportation of all sorts for a long long time!
The old paradigm of HSR use of freight RRs/ROW, slow incremental HSR projects of 500 miles or less only, and diesel locomotive power are over… People(voters) want valid world-class 220 mph HSR systems over 500 miles long to big cities using sustainable responsible technologies as electric HSR systems worldwide do now. Build baby build, don’t drill for more transport oil…
Finally, yes, HSR advocacy groups are fine fundraisers, environmentalists and organizers. Where they are deficient is in designing HSR models & networks. I am certain that international European-Asian HSR planners would embrace my concept as the one that should be realized first for true HSR in the USA and to and from Illinois/Chicago, connecting 45 major city pairs-the densities are there! (see highlighted new 550-mile ROW section of the true HSR multiple major city pairing illustration; connecting Chicago to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia to Cleveland, New York City to Detroit and on and on…) No Cleveland-Pittsburgh connection makes NO sense at all…
This is a national competitive grant setting(thus the many applications for HSR $). I ask?, is less effective, timid or piecemeal HSR the way to go? This new true HSR alignment with major national impact should be the next logical step, then other intercity or HSR systems can follow.
Please use this alignment as an option should sentiment for current Midwest incremental intercity-higher speed plans diminish or, instead; carry out what others and I would like to see… Implement this concept now as another, however true new HSR plan, which connects over 100 million people in conjunction with (or possibly even in place of?) the current 3000 mile Midwest/Illinois passenger rail plans… Please advise, thanks.
Regards,
Mike Lehman
3639 N Pine Grove, #21B
Chicago, IL 60613
usbullettrain@gmail.com
glhsr.jpg
203K View Download
The USDOT/FRA needs to update/reevaluate the old current US HSR corridors(see attached)
CONSIDER THIS LOGICAL NEW TRUE 220 MPH HIGH SPEED RAIL(HSR) ALIGNMENT WITH THE MOST NATIONAL IMPACT IN LIEU OF MIDWEST OR OTHER US HSR PLANS
Regrettably we have lost site of the real rationales for true dedicated HSR: it being a SUSTAINABLE, NON-OIL DEPENDENT, SAFER, CLEANER, TRAFFIC MITIGATING, CBD DEVELOPING mode of transport. The following HSR system concept is that and needs to be employed first in the USA.
Please allow me to introduce myself and thank you for letting me briefly write about HSR technology, a new-dedicated true HSR model/alignment, and major city pair transport. I am a graduate student in Chicago researching geography, environment studies, energy and passenger rail systems around the globe; principally, the economics and justifications of past, present and future high-speed rail(HSR) development. Ultimately I would like to consult or work for a government agency or elsewhere in some capacity concerning the “signature ARRA budget item”, high-speed rail stimulus initiatives and future HSR projects beyond.
The true HSR model-concept white paper I created for a truly effective and significant first HSR system is available up on request. Research suggests this and only this new alignment has the greatest vital HSR transport impacts in the USA, it also being a natural next progression of the popular Northeast HSR Corridor/NEC. An Indiana branch is being studied.
Since we have entered the age of high-speed rail development in this country, hopefully the FRA, Amtrak, DOTs, congress people and state governors will be diligent and open to all alternate interpretations about what should be done in the effort to build potentially sustainable, non-oil dependent, clean, electric, European-Asian type high speed rail/or “bullet trains” in the USA, particularly to and from Chicago and for tens of millions of other US and global passengers.
Americans want now what’s being accomplished around the world for decades now in this exciting new worthwhile endeavor, investment and mode, fulfilled in the USA regarding TRUE 220 mph High Speed Rail (HSR) versus the current intercity(“higher speed rail”) plans… I am sure that for HSR in the USA to succeed by and large, this functional model should be the first and possibly the only new true HSR system implemented in the USA; connecting many major cities with populations of over one million people each from Chicago to Boston to Washington DC. Bona fide “world class” cities have real HSR yet Chicago has none!
The Great Lakes-Keystone-Northeast Main HSR line I propose offers Americans and others a safe, tangible, terrestrial connection to the geography, countryside, cities, topography, economy, history, and greatness of the USA at a practical speed… Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, New York-Jersey and Pennsylvania are where this new true HSR alignment is positioned so these high traffic states have the most need for enhanced designs, coordination and funds. By the way, there’s 1000s of daily commercial intercity flights amongst these very states(cities) right now!
Upgrades, repairs, and better efforts are necessary for the already functioning but serviceable conventional radial Amtrak routes emanating from Chicago as requested by the present Midwest intercity passenger rail plans. Nonetheless, for the most part, authorities believe that the freight RRs will most likely be strongly opposed to the current Midwest intercity shared track/ROW(right of way) plans due to severe limitations on their own operations and bottom lines…
Equally, isn’t the idea of stimulus/government money going to upgrade private RR track/ROW flawed? Does this amount to a huge handout to the already very profitable freight railroads? Shouldn’t the freight railroads have been upgrading their private tracks/ROW regularly all along so that Amtrak could have used them properly without all the inconveniences and poor publicity all these many years? Amtrak compensates them for just that service…(in contrast, this true HSR/ROW alignment will impinge just minimally on freight RR operations …)
California, Texas, Florida, and other regions of the world(even China and Russia) have “true” bullet train/HSR systems, plans or lines under construction. Texas(Texas TGV) and Florida(FOX) have rejected HSR plans in the recent past, so they should wait to get another chance at HSR. Going forward, alternatively, other states that have financially supported Amtrak all along should be rewarded for that and participate in the new HSR initiatives. (furthermore, the logistics of this new alignment connects 100 million more people than California’s competing new HSR plans!)
True electric HSR, when applied properly, is a superior substitute for gas guzzling polluting airplanes and is a key green part of the necessary diversification of transportation energy(like electric/hybrid cars, alternate transport fuels, etc) needed to reduce oil dependency.(keep in mind that 70% of oil use is for transportation/liquid fuels such as gasoline and jet fuel)
As for energy overall: coal is for electricity, natural gas is for heating, but oil is primarily for transportation and also some heating, plastics and chemicals products. Wind, solar, hydro/water, and nuclear powers are also for electricity-the US has plenty of varied electricity energy capacity to run trains/transportation of all sorts for a long long time!
The old paradigm of HSR use of freight RRs/ROW, slow incremental HSR projects of 500 miles or less only, and diesel locomotive power are over… People(voters) want valid world-class 220 mph HSR systems over 500 miles long to big cities using sustainable responsible technologies as electric HSR systems worldwide do now. Build baby build, don’t drill for more transport oil…
Finally, yes, HSR advocacy groups are fine fundraisers, environmentalists and organizers. Where they are deficient is in designing HSR models & networks. I am certain that international European-Asian HSR planners would embrace my concept as the one that should be realized first for true HSR in the USA and to and from Illinois/Chicago, connecting 45 major city pairs-the densities are there! (see highlighted new 550-mile ROW section of the true HSR multiple major city pairing illustration; connecting Chicago to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia to Cleveland, New York City to Detroit and on and on…) No Cleveland-Pittsburgh connection makes NO sense at all…
This is a national competitive grant setting(thus the many applications for HSR $). I ask?, is less effective, timid or piecemeal HSR the way to go? This new true HSR alignment with major national impact should be the next logical step, then other intercity or HSR systems can follow.
Please use this alignment as an option should sentiment for current Midwest incremental intercity-higher speed plans diminish or, instead; carry out what others and I would like to see… Implement this concept now as another, however true new HSR plan, which connects over 100 million people in conjunction with (or possibly even in place of?) the current 3000 mile Midwest/Illinois passenger rail plans… Please advise, thanks.
Regards,
Mike Lehman
3639 N Pine Grove, #21B
Chicago, IL 60613
usbullettrain@gmail.com
glhsr.jpg
203K View Download
The USDOT/FRA needs to update/reevaluate the old current US HSR corridors(see attached)
CONSIDER THIS LOGICAL NEW TRUE 220 MPH HIGH SPEED RAIL(HSR) ALIGNMENT WITH THE MOST NATIONAL IMPACT IN LIEU OF MIDWEST OR OTHER US HSR PLANS
Regrettably we have lost site of the real rationales for true dedicated HSR: it being a SUSTAINABLE, NON-OIL DEPENDENT, SAFER, CLEANER, TRAFFIC MITIGATING, CBD DEVELOPING mode of transport. The following HSR system concept is that and needs to be employed first in the USA.
Please allow me to introduce myself and thank you for letting me briefly write about HSR technology, a new-dedicated true HSR model/alignment, and major city pair transport. I am a graduate student in Chicago researching geography, environment studies, energy and passenger rail systems around the globe; principally, the economics and justifications of past, present and future high-speed rail(HSR) development. Ultimately I would like to consult or work for a government agency or elsewhere in some capacity concerning the “signature ARRA budget item”, high-speed rail stimulus initiatives and future HSR projects beyond.
The true HSR model-concept white paper I created for a truly effective and significant first HSR system is available up on request. Research suggests this and only this new alignment has the greatest vital HSR transport impacts in the USA, it also being a natural next progression of the popular Northeast HSR Corridor/NEC. An Indiana branch is being studied.
Since we have entered the age of high-speed rail development in this country, hopefully the FRA, Amtrak, DOTs, congress people and state governors will be diligent and open to all alternate interpretations about what should be done in the effort to build potentially sustainable, non-oil dependent, clean, electric, European-Asian type high speed rail/or “bullet trains” in the USA, particularly to and from Chicago and for tens of millions of other US and global passengers.
Americans want now what’s being accomplished around the world for decades now in this exciting new worthwhile endeavor, investment and mode, fulfilled in the USA regarding TRUE 220 mph High Speed Rail (HSR) versus the current intercity(“higher speed rail”) plans… I am sure that for HSR in the USA to succeed by and large, this functional model should be the first and possibly the only new true HSR system implemented in the USA; connecting many major cities with populations of over one million people each from Chicago to Boston to Washington DC. Bona fide “world class” cities have real HSR yet Chicago has none!
The Great Lakes-Keystone-Northeast Main HSR line I propose offers Americans and others a safe, tangible, terrestrial connection to the geography, countryside, cities, topography, economy, history, and greatness of the USA at a practical speed… Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, New York-Jersey and Pennsylvania are where this new true HSR alignment is positioned so these high traffic states have the most need for enhanced designs, coordination and funds. By the way, there’s 1000s of daily commercial intercity flights amongst these very states(cities) right now!
Upgrades, repairs, and better efforts are necessary for the already functioning but serviceable conventional radial Amtrak routes emanating from Chicago as requested by the present Midwest intercity passenger rail plans. Nonetheless, for the most part, authorities believe that the freight RRs will most likely be strongly opposed to the current Midwest intercity shared track/ROW(right of way) plans due to severe limitations on their own operations and bottom lines…
Equally, isn’t the idea of stimulus/government money going to upgrade private RR track/ROW flawed? Does this amount to a huge handout to the already very profitable freight railroads? Shouldn’t the freight railroads have been upgrading their private tracks/ROW regularly all along so that Amtrak could have used them properly without all the inconveniences and poor publicity all these many years? Amtrak compensates them for just that service…(in contrast, this true HSR/ROW alignment will impinge just minimally on freight RR operations …)
California, Texas, Florida, and other regions of the world(even China and Russia) have “true” bullet train/HSR systems, plans or lines under construction. Texas(Texas TGV) and Florida(FOX) have rejected HSR plans in the recent past, so they should wait to get another chance at HSR. Going forward, alternatively, other states that have financially supported Amtrak all along should be rewarded for that and participate in the new HSR initiatives. (furthermore, the logistics of this new alignment connects 100 million more people than California’s competing new HSR plans!)
True electric HSR, when applied properly, is a superior substitute for gas guzzling polluting airplanes and is a key green part of the necessary diversification of transportation energy(like electric/hybrid cars, alternate transport fuels, etc) needed to reduce oil dependency.(keep in mind that 70% of oil use is for transportation/liquid fuels such as gasoline and jet fuel)
As for energy overall: coal is for electricity, natural gas is for heating, but oil is primarily for transportation and also some heating, plastics and chemicals products. Wind, solar, hydro/water, and nuclear powers are also for electricity-the US has plenty of varied electricity energy capacity to run trains/transportation of all sorts for a long long time!
The old paradigm of HSR use of freight RRs/ROW, slow incremental HSR projects of 500 miles or less only, and diesel locomotive power are over… People(voters) want valid world-class 220 mph HSR systems over 500 miles long to big cities using sustainable responsible technologies as electric HSR systems worldwide do now. Build baby build, don’t drill for more transport oil…
Finally, yes, HSR advocacy groups are fine fundraisers, environmentalists and organizers. Where they are deficient is in designing HSR models & networks. I am certain that international European-Asian HSR planners would embrace my concept as the one that should be realized first for true HSR in the USA and to and from Illinois/Chicago, connecting 45 major city pairs-the densities are there! (see highlighted new 550-mile ROW section of the true HSR multiple major city pairing illustration; connecting Chicago to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia to Cleveland, New York City to Detroit and on and on…) No Cleveland-Pittsburgh connection makes NO sense at all…
This is a national competitive grant setting(thus the many applications for HSR $). I ask?, is less effective, timid or piecemeal HSR the way to go? This new true HSR alignment with major national impact should be the next logical step, then other intercity or HSR systems can follow.
Please use this alignment as an option should sentiment for current Midwest incremental intercity-higher speed plans diminish or, instead; carry out what others and I would like to see… Implement this concept now as another, however true new HSR plan, which connects over 100 million people in conjunction with (or possibly even in place of?) the current 3000 mile Midwest/Illinois passenger rail plans… Please advise, thanks.
Regards,
Mike Lehman
3639 N Pine Grove, #21B
Chicago, IL 60613
usbullettrain@gmail.com
glhsr.jpg
203K View Download
If you want a bad experience with trains go visit Melbourne.
If you want a bad experience with trains go visit Melbourne.