<story><title>China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains</title><url>https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/10/article/china-laying-tracks-for-1000km-h-maglev-trains/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>usaar333</author><text>The alternative to being stuck in traffic for hours is flying.&lt;p&gt;A major problem with train systems in the United States (and this is both short and long haul) is that almost the entire country is sprawl - built around the automobile.&lt;p&gt;In dense environments (China and the north-east coast of the US (which has Acela), it&amp;#x27;s great to take a train into the core -- you beat traffic and are near your destination.&lt;p&gt;In sprawling environments (like most of CA), the benefit of ending up in the core is so much less (possibly even negative).  Lower probability you are near your destination.  And if you need to drive, now you are in a much worse situation (higher car rental prices due to high land values, you are stuck in traffic trying to leave the urban core, etc.).&lt;p&gt;In other words, even if you had a train, most individuals still will prefer driving (you have a car with you) or flying (faster than trains) -- killing the ROI on building the train in the first place.</text></item><item><author>saberience</author><text>So, as someone that lived in New York for 6 years and California for 6 years, stories like this are incredibly depressing.&lt;p&gt;The US is the world&amp;#x27;s largest economy and should be the shining example of amazing infrastructure, high-tech, green cities, and forward thinking policies. California is an especially egregious example in terms of infrastructure investment:&lt;p&gt;If California was a country it would be the world&amp;#x27;s fifth largest economy. It has a number of large and successful cities and areas connected along the coastline. San Diego, Orange County, LA, San Francisco. Why on earth isn&amp;#x27;t there a high speed rail between these cities? Can you imagine the impact of being able to train from San Diego to LA in 30mins? LA to San Fran in an hour and a half?&lt;p&gt;I took the train once from Irvine to Los Angeles and felt I had gone back in time to 1980. This in one of the richest counties in the world (OC). It&amp;#x27;s unthinkable in the year 2019, that we are all stuck on roads like I5 and 405, stuck in traffic for hours trying to make it to LA and the alternative is an ancient train trundling along at 50mph.&lt;p&gt;I hate the fact that an autocratic and repulsive Government is showing up the US in terms of green tech investment and high tech public transport systems, while the US govt is dropping taxes for the biggest companies and lowering spending on infrastructure and public works. This is guaranteed to have a terrible knock on effect over the next 20 years while the US is stuck with an old fashioned and clogged up transit system, polluted cities, and a dependence on fossil fuels.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>nikofeyn</author><text>&amp;gt; A major problem with train systems in the United States (and this is both short and long haul) is that almost the entire country is sprawl - built around the automobile.&lt;p&gt;this is an excuse i have repeated myself, but it is just that, an excuse. have you actually been to china? i have never seen such sprawl. shanghai is massive and sprawling. but yet, they (china) have extremely efficient and unbelievably cheap trains and subways. also, i have never seen a cleaner subway than what i saw in shanghai.&lt;p&gt;and this excuse doesn&amp;#x27;t even account for regions like the northeast. the amtrak from boston to new york takes four hours at its absolute fastest and costs couple hundred dollars. this is unbelievably sad. in china, the same ride would take about 1.5 hours and cost around $20 for business class (in u.s. terms, as in china, it&amp;#x27;s called first class).</text></comment>
<story><title>China laying tracks for 1,000km/h maglev trains</title><url>https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/10/article/china-laying-tracks-for-1000km-h-maglev-trains/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>usaar333</author><text>The alternative to being stuck in traffic for hours is flying.&lt;p&gt;A major problem with train systems in the United States (and this is both short and long haul) is that almost the entire country is sprawl - built around the automobile.&lt;p&gt;In dense environments (China and the north-east coast of the US (which has Acela), it&amp;#x27;s great to take a train into the core -- you beat traffic and are near your destination.&lt;p&gt;In sprawling environments (like most of CA), the benefit of ending up in the core is so much less (possibly even negative).  Lower probability you are near your destination.  And if you need to drive, now you are in a much worse situation (higher car rental prices due to high land values, you are stuck in traffic trying to leave the urban core, etc.).&lt;p&gt;In other words, even if you had a train, most individuals still will prefer driving (you have a car with you) or flying (faster than trains) -- killing the ROI on building the train in the first place.</text></item><item><author>saberience</author><text>So, as someone that lived in New York for 6 years and California for 6 years, stories like this are incredibly depressing.&lt;p&gt;The US is the world&amp;#x27;s largest economy and should be the shining example of amazing infrastructure, high-tech, green cities, and forward thinking policies. California is an especially egregious example in terms of infrastructure investment:&lt;p&gt;If California was a country it would be the world&amp;#x27;s fifth largest economy. It has a number of large and successful cities and areas connected along the coastline. San Diego, Orange County, LA, San Francisco. Why on earth isn&amp;#x27;t there a high speed rail between these cities? Can you imagine the impact of being able to train from San Diego to LA in 30mins? LA to San Fran in an hour and a half?&lt;p&gt;I took the train once from Irvine to Los Angeles and felt I had gone back in time to 1980. This in one of the richest counties in the world (OC). It&amp;#x27;s unthinkable in the year 2019, that we are all stuck on roads like I5 and 405, stuck in traffic for hours trying to make it to LA and the alternative is an ancient train trundling along at 50mph.&lt;p&gt;I hate the fact that an autocratic and repulsive Government is showing up the US in terms of green tech investment and high tech public transport systems, while the US govt is dropping taxes for the biggest companies and lowering spending on infrastructure and public works. This is guaranteed to have a terrible knock on effect over the next 20 years while the US is stuck with an old fashioned and clogged up transit system, polluted cities, and a dependence on fossil fuels.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tyfon</author><text>Flying easily adds 1-3 hours to the trip just for bullshit and boarding and stuff so there is a certain distance where the high speed trains are faster.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s also way more comfortable and relaxed. I prefer train over driving when I&amp;#x27;m going somewhere too.. well until I discovered lane assist functions in modern cars that is :)&lt;p&gt;But I can&amp;#x27;t yet work while driving so I guess the train wins in overall productivity.&lt;p&gt;Flying is also a massive hit to the environment so I try to minimise it. So far I&amp;#x27;ve avoided three roundtrips with planes and driven my car instead, but I&amp;#x27;ve had to fly twice when going Oslo-&amp;gt;Helsinki-&amp;gt;Oslo.. I should probably have driven there too but for this instance time was of the essence.</text></comment>