this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2023
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Is America's quest for high-speed trains finally picking up steam?::New projects in California, Texas, and Florida are a sign that the United States is finally getting serious about modernizing its commuter railway system.

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[–] qooqie@lemmy.world 65 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

At least with younger folk yeah. Only people that hate trains are boomers and weirdos who think gasoline is the second manliest thing other than trump. It’s a huge project though, don’t know if I’ll ever live to see New York connected to Texas by high speed rail

[–] deranger@sh.itjust.works 32 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Considering railroads have done over $200 billion in stock buybacks (about the cost for coast to coast high speed rail) I think it’s very possible, we just have to nationalize.

It’s very profitable to run a railroad into the ground and push as much shipping to trucks as you can.

[–] Illegal_Prime@dmv.social 3 points 1 year ago

It’s not profitable, it just lowers the operating ratio, which is what railroads (quite stupidly) judge their productivity on.

Operating ratio =/= more money despite what they think.

[–] BombOmOm@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Only people that hate trains are boomers and weirdos who think gasoline is the second manliest thing other than trump.

Mass transit has also burned quite a few people with reliability. The train not showing up on time was regular enough I had to stop using it to go to work. There is only so many times you can be late to work before it becomes your fault for not fixing the issue; in my case, by no longer taking the train and driving instead.

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 26 points 1 year ago (2 children)

That's not an argument against trains, it's an argument for running them well.

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[–] wagoner@infosec.pub 7 points 1 year ago

For long distance trains, check out the fact that the rules give mega-long cargo trains priority over passenger trains on Amtrak. This results in negative impacts to present rail.

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[–] Crozekiel@lemmy.zip 28 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They better fucking not be running on steam...

[–] imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Steam engines are eco-friendly. Coal in, water vapor out. Voila 😅

[–] gravitasium@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We could run steam engines off overhead electric lines using a good old heating element.

Would it be efficient or practical (or safe)? No.

But it'd be SIICKKKKK

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[–] ramble81@lemm.ee 19 points 1 year ago (13 children)

It still blows my mind that there's only about 50 miles of "high speed" (greater than 125mph) transit in the US, and that's only in a small pocket in tbe Northeast. For reference, the EU has over 2,200 mi of high speed rail in half the physical size running at up to 186mph.

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[–] KIM_JONG@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I’ve been hearing these stories for decades. I won’t hold my breath.

[–] eee@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

America well adopt high speed trains en masse the year Linux becomes mainstream

[–] drphungky@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So we need Valve to make gaming on trains better?

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 year ago

Well, Factorio is doing pretty well on Steam. That may help.

[–] uis@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago
[–] PopOfAfrica@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago

If you have to ask, the answer is no

[–] DharmaCurious@startrek.website 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'd love to see the US fully mapped out with true highspeed rail, but part of the problem is the amount of time off work Americans have. We're guaranteed nothing, and a pretty good portion of us have to use vacation time for sick days. A travel option that takes longer isn't going to take off here because of that. People won't spend an extra day travelling, changing trains, et cetera, when their entire vacation is a 3 day weekend so that they only have to use one vacation day in case they have to take their kid to the doctor 4 months later.

Not even close to arguing against the trains, just saying that we need to change some other shit, too. We need better labor laws that couple with things like forced caps on flights, less subsidiaries for airlines, the tracks being nationalized, priority given to Amtrak on certain lines, and better accessibility on the trains themselves.

[–] GeekyNerdyNerd@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Amtrak already has the legal right of way on pretty much all lines it operates on, that's not the issue. The issue is that the cargo companies abuse the shit outta loopholes letting them go ahead anyways by having cargo trains so long that they cannot go onto bypass tracks, forcing Amtrak trains to wait for the cargo train to fully pass before it can continue despite Amtrak having the legal right of way.

It's basically the same thing that happens with 16 wheelers vs pedestrians. A pedestrian might have the legal right of way when the crosswalk signal is going, but that doesn't matter because that 16 wheeler isn't gonna stop in time to avoid hitting them when it's going at 40MPH. Physics beats laws every time.

[–] Bluefruit@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I'd argue that it could be used as a more cost effective transport for businesses as well as government employees that need to travel on a regular basis. If time isnt an issue, it could be pretty viable.

Aside from that, retired folks would also be a good market for this. Thats all i got tho. I absolutely agree we need some change to labor laws. We work to live, not live to work.

[–] AreaKode@lemmy.thesharpcheddar.net 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If the article title asks a question, the answer is always NO.

[–] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 year ago

Betteridge's law of headlines

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[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

We can only hope.

[–] andrew@midwest.social 8 points 1 year ago

Love to see it but can't help but be disappointed bigger projects aren't planned from Chicago. I don't understand why it will take me twice as long to take the train to New Orleans than drive or why there is only a single running east per day.

[–] Wahots@pawb.social 7 points 1 year ago

We have a newish commuter rail and surface line here. My only complaints are that it doesn't go enough places, and I want it to have road priority for both the elevated lines and the smaller, surface lines. Both should get dedicated roads where all cars must wait until it passes (save for emergency vehicles, of course).

My other complaint is that our politicians don't have the balls to build an ultra high speed network from southern California to Vancouver, BC, which is what we need. We should just have big signs advertising a state owned 250+ mph train line up and down gridlocked i5 and state/provincial routes nearby. Then, it would get voter approval immediately. Preferably with QR codes attached to the signs to sign your name up on the proposal or something.

[–] Hazdaz@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

I won't hold my breathe until there is major progress, but all these plans will get thrown in the trash if Republicans regain the White House and if Democrats don't either take control of Congress or at least make gains. Republicans have been trying to kill of Amtrak and any US rail improvements for decades now.

Like with seemingly everything else, if Republicans are involved, they will stubbornly try to hold us back come hell or high water.

[–] whitecapstromgard@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago (7 children)

What happened to hyperloop? 🤣 🤣

[–] jayandp@sh.itjust.works 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Turns out making a low-pressure vacuum tube that spans 100+ miles, but lets small pods full of people be inserted on demand, was way harder and more expensive than predicted, making it poorly price competitive with existing technology like high-speed rail. For some reason.

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Damn the ending makes it sound like Dr. Frankenstein is zapping his monster with a little bit of electricity from his AA battery.

[–] sucricdrawkcab@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Brightline is cool, but not cool. It's shiny, new, has all the things you want to see on high speed rail but didn't feel like high speed rail.

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