Would you pay more to ride a bullet train to Dallas than it would cost to fly Southwest out of Hobby?
Personally, I feel it's more a matter of whether it's sustainable, not whether it's a waste of money. Are there enough customers to make it profitable? But there are advantages to riding a train over planes. Most notably, the fact that train stations can reside within the city, cutting down on travel time/cost to the airport. As well as the fact that trains are a lot less of a hassle than planes to get on and off given their nature. Trains are also much safer than automobiles, despite all the cracks in this thread at how Chinese trains must be unsafe. There are a hell of a lot less deaths by train train travel in China than auto accidents on rural highways in the US. This despite a much larger number of passengers involved.
Its not as big of a target and you can't run it into a building. With a plane, all you have to do is stop it from working and everyone dies.
An explosion large enough to derail it would do some serious damage. I think the particulars would be the deciding factor but people here thinking someone could actually commute here from Dallas is asinine and ignorant.
Houston to Dallas is 240 miles. Suppose we get to 300 MPH you can get back and forth in about an hour. People spend an hour on the freeway just trying to get downtown. Not saying it is common, but it will be possible.
LOL!!!!!!! 300 is top speed for the fastest trains out there on the fastest parts of the track. The 0-60 on a train is not very good. Common time in Japan for a similar distance is 1.5 hours. One way.
Kind of answered his own question Cause alot of folx commute on the 'Commuter Flights' I don't see why they would not do so on 'Commuter Trains' Rocket River
Had a discussion about this with one of my Professors who makes a living studying the patterns of cultures, cities, and urban communities. This technology will eventually be here. Up here in the Northeast (I live in the DC area) it will definitely come to pass. Speed rails would make it possible to connect every metro center from Boston to DC within an hour or two of each other. It would make business so much easier and convenient, and could eventually result in the northeast being viewed as just one giant metropolitan area. (but that's pretty forward thinking)
People who make 50 cents a day need to go 300mph ? While the US is still using steam engine. No worries...Obama has us on donkey's ride soon. China pays for this with the interest they make off the money they loan us so that people can have these wonderful tax cuts, Yes to pay for these tax cuts the government borrows the money.We use these tax cuts to buy, made in China, stuff that we don't need. How did this country become so stupid?? Oh i know Spoiler GREED . We spend $700 billion on bank bailouts and another $700 billion on stimulus and what do we have to show for it? Bankers making multi million dollar bonuses and big signs saying "Your stimulus dollars at work".China spends over a billion dollars and gets a record-breaking bullet train. Yes, we have the best government money can buy. slight correction....we have the most expensive government money can buy, not the best.
The California high speed train project got approved in California 2 years ago. Construction is supposed to start in 2012. Its a lot more cumbersome project than it'd appear, because of HIGH COSTS, difficult planning and the politicizing involved. Actually just a couple days ago (good timing), they approved where to start the construction of it. Its not without its criticisms of course. At this point there's still plenty bridge-to-nowhere outlook on it. Its maybe not happening at a good pace or good price, but I think its an eventuality in some capacity. Right NOW you have to give it the "Earth Quest Adventures" likelihood.
i would have say because of the amount of people in china. they would actually make enough to maintain it. personally i have actually been on a bullet train (although not a 300 mph one) but a fairly fast one, think it went something like 260kmph or something like that. It was actually quite good, from beijing to ji-nan. although it took like 3 hours more than a plane ride, but did not have to travel to the airport, wait and checkin......
I guess it could, but it's not seriously thought about really here in Japan. Security on the bullet trains is not any different from a typical subway, but I don't think there's been any incidents. Of course, there's a probably a bigger concern in America. Also, to those who are talking about living in Houston and taking a train to Dallas or something, no way. They're expensive as heck to use. I don't remember the exact numbers, but a shinkansen ticket from Nagoya to Tokyo is something between 10000 and 15000 yen. No one's paying that much to commute five days a week.
I agree with some of you that no one would use this to commute all week. I do think people would use it over driving to a city for the weekend. Its still cheaper than flying and with all the BS you have to go through at airports, it is preferable to me. Its also less of a hassle than driving. Depending on your car, you're going to spend 70-80 bucks on gas alone. If you're partying there, the train is a lot better with a hangover.
