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Re: [OM] OT - American railways

Subject: Re: [OM] OT - American railways
From: Nathan Wajsman <photo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 1 Aug 2010 08:19:48 +0200
Yes, the US is bigger than Western Europe, but not that much. If I want to fly 
from here to, say, Helsinki, it will still be a solid 4 hours in the air. For 
trips like this, or a US cross-country trip, flying will remain the only 
sensible mode of travel. But for any trips of, say, 1000 km or less, high-speed 
rail is far superior. After the Madrid-Barcelona line was opened last year 
(approximately 500 km distance), traffic on Iberia's Air Bridge service between 
the two cities fell by 50%. I suspect most of the remainder are people who are 
flying from Barcelona to Madrid to somewhere else. For, say, a Barcelona 
business person going to a meeting in Madrid or vice versa, the train is much 
faster door to door and obviously the travel experience is much more pleasant 
and comfortable. Same thing applies to Madrid-Seville (600 km) and soon 
Madrid-Valencia (around 350 km). And once the French and Spanish high-speed 
networks are connected, then Barcelona-Paris will become a train trip
  too. 

When we lived in Brussels, going to Paris could be a day trip thanks to the TGV 
which covered the 350 km in about 1 hour and 20 minutes. If the Brits ever 
build a proper track between London and the Channel Tunnel, no sane person will 
fly between Paris and London. 

Transposed to US conditions, any trips between Boston and Richmond, VA and all 
cities in-between should be by rail. Also Atlanta-Jacksonville-Tampa-Miami. 
Same thing along the West Coast, most obviously San Francisco-LA-San Diego or 
Vancourver-Seattle-Portland. Obviously less potential in the fly-over states, 
but most people live along the coasts anyway.

Cheers,
Nathan

Nathan Wajsman
Alicante, Spain
http://www.frozenlight.eu
http://www.greatpix.eu
http://www.nathanfoto.com
PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog

YNWA





On Jul 30, 2010, at 4:12 AM, Scott Gomez wrote:

> Four hours? lessee... two-hour advance check in recommended by TSA--most of
> which is necessary due to a system of baloney "security checks"--for little
> to no increased security on a flight that will typically take an hour
> between any two even close points. Then there's waiting for a gate at
> oversubscribed airports (because all the business folks want to fly at the
> same time), retrieving baggage (that one paid a premium to carry) trundling
> off to a rental car, etc. Sounds like a four hour minimum to me to fly just
> LA to SF, for example. LA to NY in the four hour absolute maximum? Not
> bloody likely.
> 
> On Thu, Jul 29, 2010 at 8:15 AM, Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
>> My question is WHY?
>> 
>> We have an incredible system of intercity transport here that makes
>> far more sense than rail. We have air-travel. Air-travel makes more
>> sense because our country is much larger than European countries.
>> Also, Air-travel allows for adaptation to changing market demands.
>> 
>> So we build a massive high-speed rail system between a half-dozen
>> cities. Only after it is built is it discovered that one of the
>> primary "money-making" runs is barely even used. Instead of adapting
>> according to the market demands, now you have this 600 mile stretch of
>> rail-system that has to be operated and maintained.
>> 
>> High-speed rail only works between specific locations and even that
>> only works when the travel-time is a couple of hours.  Business travel
>> is the major reason for travel between cities and this is what any
>> transportation company is banking on. But time is money. If I can jump
>> on an airplane and make it to my destination in three hours, why would
>> I take rail which would be a full day? The absolute upper time-limit
>> for business travel is four-hours between cities. Tell me, even with
>> high-speed rail, how many routes fall into that category?
>> 
>> Anybody who has taken the typical Amtrack across the country finds
>> themselves surrounded by non-business travelers. Only in
>> Boston-NYC-Washington corrider do you see a major amount of business
>> travel and much of that could be construed as some form of commute.
>> 
>> AG
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