Why Is There No High Speed Rail Network In America? (Page 2): As an American I love the independence of automobile travel. I can choose the autobahn or the "blue roads" or forest...

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

fourlocks wrote:

You can basically blame President Dwight Eisenhaue... (show quote)

As an American I love the independence of automobile travel. I can choose the autobahn or the "blue roads" or forest trails any time or point in the trip. I have discovered hundreds of beautiful locations taking back roads off the highway for a side trip just for fun, no planning. Try that on a bullet train or any train for that matter. I used trains in Europe and SA out of necessity for a travel for a specific purpose. But otherwise in Europe I drove or rode a bicycle on small back roads and made incredible discoveries of Roman roads in the forests, hidden abandoned castles etc. In SA I took the local campesino buses that regularly went everywhere and dropped you off any where or walked.
Trains have a purpose but they do not allow the freedom of exploration and schedule that I as an American love so much.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

mas24 wrote:

Have you ever seen photos, in the photo gallery on this forum, and see those beautiful giant terminals overseas. And say, why can't America do that. Or would it just be a waste of money if we did? http://www.manufacturing.net/news/2016/03/why-there-still-no-high-speed-rail-network-america

It's all politics and big business. Regardless how large the country is, we could still have a rail system. It's a choice, not a technical problem. In 1869, we linked the east and west coast by rail, and it's been on a decline ever since. Other countries are way beyond the USA in many forms of technology.

jeryh Loc: Oxfordshire UK

I think you would change your mind if you had to do what we have to suffer; like getting to the airport 4 Hours before loading time, just so you can get thru' security ! Believe me, it sucks, big time .

Kuzano

mas24 wrote:

Have you ever seen photos, in the photo gallery on this forum, and see those beautiful giant terminals overseas. And say, why can't America do that. Or would it just be a waste of money if we did? http://www.manufacturing.net/news/2016/03/why-there-still-no-high-speed-rail-network-america

I was once told that the reason the US infrastructure for rails is so much poorer than Europe, is because we've never had a land war on our continent. Consequently our rail system has never been bombed out of existence like Europe and other land masses.

True, that's what I was told years ago, and it seems logical.

Now, it occurs to me that if we don't kick Trump out of office soon, he is about to change all that. Look for the "high speed" rails on the rebuild, if we rebuild.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

jeryh wrote:

I think you would change your mind if you had to do what we have to suffer; like getting to the airport 4 Hours before loading time, just so you can get thru' security ! Believe me, it sucks, big time .

Yes, I have given up on flying.

Martino Loc: Northwest Florida

It's largely a culture thing. We lost the culture of traveling by rail (except in the urban areas, north east and California) after WW2 with the advent of air services and the Eisenhower Interstate System. We now feel that any passenger rail line would have to make a profit in its own right, rather than as an enabler to add value to society or to promote other economic developments (we would consider that a too socialist idea!).
Also existing rail lines are dominated by the freight operators which a) are not suitable for high speed routes and b) need to be kept free of passenger services for freight priority.
It's not true that European or other areas rail services were destroyed after wars as most high speed routes are now purpose built. Size of country has little impact, look at China. Europe is virtually the size of the USA.

ebbote Loc: Hockley, Texas

There are plans in the works for a high speed rail system between Dallas and Houston. The project should start in 2018. My son-in-law was approached about our property which unfortunately is in the way of the rail line and includes many other home owners along the way. A petition was taken up
with the home owners not wanting it to happen, like that is going to do anything. My guess is that we will be moving fairly soon.

Duggy

I grew up living on a gravel road. Today the road is so full of pot holes I look like ma goo ,trying to remember where they are is like remembering a mine field . Taxes go up but the road's stay the same. But I drove through Illinois and I am grateful because ours will not swallow your whole bike I stopped and bought a sand buggy pole with an orange flag so everyone made it home okay.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

ebbote wrote:

There are plans in the works for a high speed rail system between Dallas and Houston. The project should start in 2018. My son-in-law was approached about our property which unfortunately is in the way of the rail line and includes many other home owners along the way. A petition was taken up
with the home owners not wanting it to happen, like that is going to do anything. My guess is that we will be moving fairly soon.

Yep. They call that Eminent Domain. And they usually have a winning record. Your best option, if you lose, is to petition for the highest Property Value you can get. Eminent Domain means your property is not more important than progress. Sadly to say.

ebbote Loc: Hockley, Texas

Yes, I told my son-in-law that, if they want it they will have it. Hopefully they will make a reasonable offer, it will be a private entity that will be building the rail line not the state, meaning no tax payer funds, Ha Ha.

mas24 wrote:

Yep. They call that Eminent Domain. And they usually have a winning record. Your best option, if you lose, is to petition for the highest Property Value you can get. Eminent Domain means your property is not more important than progress. Sadly to say.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

ebbote wrote:

There are plans in the works for a high speed rail system between Dallas and Houston. The project should start in 2018. My son-in-law was approached about our property which unfortunately is in the way of the rail line and includes many other home owners along the way. A petition was taken up
with the home owners not wanting it to happen, like that is going to do anything. My guess is that we will be moving fairly soon.

I just found out that the distance between Dallas and Houston Texas is 240 miles, and is a 3 hour, 16 minute drive by car. There must be a lot of traveling between these two Texas cities to do this. But, I'd rather drive my car 3 hours, and still have my car to drive when I arrive. But, you have to start with short routes first, I suppose, before engaging in a larger scale high speed rail project. Sorta like testing the water.

ebbote Loc: Hockley, Texas

Mas, you live in So. Cal, it took me 4hrs. and 45 mins. to drive the 210 from Hollywood Fwy. to Pomona one time, about 50 miles, all traffic, bumper to bumper. 3 hrs. and 16 mins. from Houston to Dallas, not on your best day, more like 4 to 5 hours. The rail line is suppose to do it in 1hr 40mins.

mas24 wrote:

I just found out that the distance between Dallas and Houston Texas is 240 miles, and is a 3 hour, 16 minute drive by car. There must be a lot of traveling between these two Texas cities to do this. But, I'd rather drive my car 3 hours, and still have my car to drive when I arrive. But, you have to start with short routes first, I suppose, before engaging in a larger scale high speed rail project. Sorta like testing the water.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

ebbote wrote:

Mas, you live in So. Cal, it took me 4hrs. and 45 mins. to drive the 210 from Hollywood Fwy. to Pomona one time, about 50 miles, all traffic, bumper to bumper. 3 hrs. and 16 mins. from Houston to Dallas, not on your best day, more like 4 to 5 hours. The rail line is suppose to do it in 1hr 40mins.

I got that info from Google. Obviously Google doesn't know your traffic situation in Texas. 1 hour and 40 minutes is impressive time by rail. Los Angeles and Orange Counties, are the worst for driving. During rush hours, make sure you have at least a quarter tank of gas. You could run out of gas stalled on highway traffic. Which happens occasionally. That makes the situation unbearable.

One Rude Dawg Loc: Athol, ID

To each his own. Like comparing apple's to oranges. Distance is to great and it would not be used with everyone being in such a big hurry these days. To bad as it would be a fun ride coast to coast at least once.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

mas24 wrote:

Have you ever seen photos, in the photo gallery on this forum, and see those beautiful giant terminals overseas. And say, why can't America do that. Or would it just be a waste of money if we did? http://www.manufacturing.net/news/2016/03/why-there-still-no-high-speed-rail-network-america

It's a waste of money and not worth the bragging rights. The map that shows high speed rail between LA and SF is wrong. California has been talking about high speed rail for years. I'm against it but they won't listen to me. They have voted on it and passed it but the price tag keeps going up and the high speed parts keep going down. Much of the path between LA and SF will be slow speed. They simply can't do it. Only the very rural parts or the trip will be at a high rate of speed. It will never make enough money to pay for it's high costs and it will never be high speed all the way.

I will always be able to fly from OC or LA to SF much faster and cheaper.