High Speed Rails - Ideas for Change in America: The News of the Rails

The News of the Rails

Published February 26, 2009 @ 11:25PM PT

NPR has a new piece out on California's high speed rail system.

"Among the winners in the $787 billion stimulus package that President Obama signed into law last week are backers of high-speed rail. The legislation included $8 billion for fast trains in the U.S. — the most ever allocated for rail at one time."

Meanwhile the result of this discussion is having negative effects on the local communities where the trains line is proposed to go through.

The Almanac: "High-speed rail: Palo Alto residents join revolt."
Palo Alto Online: "Tunnels to be considered for high-speed rail"

And so it begins. Thoughts?

Comments

Awesome, a good start, but $8 billion is so small. We need to be rolling out the latest technology, maglev. Japan built a high speed rail network in the 60s. We should be spending about a hundred billion a year on this, building out a maglev system parallel to our highway system. We can also transport trucks on an electrified rail system, potentially cutting oil consumption by 60%, and reducing transit time greatly.

Tunnels can be built thru mountains, and eventually we can build vacuum tubes to remove the air to remove the friction. Standard maglevs travel about 300 mph, but if you remove the air the speed increases to 4000-5000mph. It is possible to build transoceanic tunnels to connect the grid to other nations replacing air transit completely. Imagine taking a train from Los Angeles to Tokyo in 1 hr. Yes, it's possible, price tag is about $200 billion. A bargain considering how many trillions we have wasted on these horrific bailouts. I propose a massive tax on speculation, take the bailout money back, and build a real economy, not a virtual banking one.

Posted by nate powell on 03/17/2009 @ 01:51PM PT
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One thing I haven't head many people discussing are the potential national security implications of an improved, higher-speed rail network. It seems to me that cars and planes have very little chance of rapidly evacuating a city, whereas a well-run rail network could potentially eliminate a lot of bottlenecks and move many people to safety quickly in the event of an emergency.

Posted by Jeffrey Kittel on 03/17/2009 @ 02:14PM PT
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providing the terrorists don't blow it up.......

Posted by john stack on 08/14/2009 @ 06:58AM PT
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Eisenhower's Legacy - the Interstate Highway System. We should all tell President Obama to get started on his Legacy --- a modern National Rail System.
Mary Francis

Posted by Mary Francis on 03/18/2009 @ 10:06PM PT
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I am dead against highspeed rail service:

1. It only works serving major cities.
2. The tracks do not stay straight and level and eventually the trains have to slow way down.
3. An elevated tracked air cushion vehicle would do better.
4. A Maglev method would do better.
5. Let's work on reducing the number trip miles traveled by vehicles powered excluisvely by internal comustion engines.
6. Start forming mini-towns around (even in urban and suburban areas) the idea where "We work where we live, and we live where we work". This is the start of the "small is good" approach to city, county and state planning "as if people mattered" as against planning "as if only vehicles, the automakers and the oil companies mattered."
7. Support startup worker cooperative whose members live in the same ecovillage, work various jobs and run various businesses in this democratic worker community. See: http://masallp.wetpaint.com.

Jim Miller
jimmiller5417@yahoo.com

Posted by Jim Miller on 04/20/2009 @ 11:12AM PT
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How about Monorail or MonoBeam systems?
I suggest following web links, Take a look.

Taxi2000
http://www.taxi2000.com/index.html

Metrail
http://www.metrail.com/03-plus.html

Ultra Personal Rapid Transit
http://www.atsltd.co.uk/

Green Transportation Solution
Revitalizing/Reinvigorating Cities
Takes Cars Off the Road
Delivers Cost-Benefits

Posted by Stewart Young on 05/10/2009 @ 04:05AM PT
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It IS a start and I like Jim's comments...lots of you have the tech training and wisdom to share...SO GET BUSY and GET THOSE IDEAS TO THE PRES.......

Posted by Alaya Bouche on 08/15/2009 @ 02:49PM PT
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David Cohn: San Francisco, CA

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The News of the Rails

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