We have in the US ample RXR land with wide easements to add the extra tracks and there is always up.
World's longest High Speed Train Route Opens in China
by fulltimestudent 35 Replies latest social current
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jgnat
The elevated rail line in Vancouver nearly bankrupted the province. It sure is nice, though. There is no driver, the trains are operated automatically. One never waits more than five minutes for a train.
Obama in his first election campaign, suggested that rail lines could run down the middle of freeways.
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Prefect
GREAT BRITAIN invented the railways and that is about as far as it went.
We have one of the worst unrealiabe overcrowded systyms in the world.
Whenever the goverment decide to make a new high speed line all the tree huggers come out of the woodwork and put a stop to it.
Prefect
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designs
For reasons of simply replacing aging systems the newer Trains will be faster and more efficient.
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Prefect
Designs
I agree but British train manufactures have been closed down or sold off to foreign countries.
The rail systym has been privatised and the goverment cannot even get the tendering franchise right.
The last tender a couple of months ago for the West Coast main line was carried out wrongly and had to be scrapped costing the goverment
15 million pounds.
It is going to be rerun at even more expense.
The UK needs a better more efficent rail systym.
It would be great to see a modern service benefiting the rail traving public.
In the mean time other nationalities are investing in the railways and have a service to be proud of.
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jgnat
I hear that the european trains are so reliable you can set your watch by them. What I can't understand is why we can't do the same in Canada. After all, we have more land to make up lost time and fewer stops.
The Canadian passenger rail service is a joke.
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designs
The public was marketed cars and the rail lines were the forgotten step child. We won't reverse that trend but improvements can be made. There is a nice little short route train in San Diego County between the beach and a inland city and San Diego City has a nice Trolley system that is usually packed. We have just had 60 years of Post WWII Urban Planning that was all designed around car communting.
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rather be in hades
the trolley is alright as long as you aren't strapped for time and coming from east county.the san ysidro line always seemed more convenient to me. maybe it's the distance to downtown and the time it takes to be able to switch lines?
or god forbid, have to switch from blue to yellow or green.
then again, once i got a car i quickly abandoned sd public transportation :P
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designs
rbih- The train ride down the coast from Oceanside to San Diego is really scenic and then you can spend the day hoping the Trolley to get around the city. I like it better than trying to find cheap parking which is getting harder to find, you have to hike far.
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fulltimestudent
As a comment on the topic of cars versus public transport, it would seem rather clear that motor vehicle industry lobbyists have been hard at work in the US, and from the motor vehicle P.O.V. have earned their extravagant fees. And certainly cars (personal transport) are convenient, ask any JW - how do you waste a morning doing not-at-homes and return visits without a car? Pioneering (years ago) in country NSW, I could spend a day on a bicycle and cover about 10 houses over about 20 km. But I was happy to catch a slow train home - grin.
While motor vehicles are certainly extremely popular in China - (it could be argued that booming Chinese sales pulled GM out of near-bankruptcy) - Public transport, in the form of subways, is being built at a fast pace. Is that because the Chinese leadership is comprised of scientists and engineers (not lawyers) who only get to the top jobs after proving themselves over many years as capable of solving problems and achieving objectives.
My second visit to China was to Beijing (about 2002 -off the top of my head). At that time, there were just two subway routes in Beijing - Line 1 and 2. Construction of new lines has continued since then.
Opening soon (this week) are new lines (or extensions) that will bring the total of subway routes to 442 km, making the Beijing network the second largest in the world. (London's is the largest).
Reference: www.globaltimes.cn/content/750513.shtml
and here is the network extensions planned for completion by 2015. ( new and extended lines shown dotted)
reference: www.chinatouristmaps.com/travel/beijing/subway-map/2015-expansion-plan.html
and, by 2020 over 700 km of subway routes are planned.
Shanghai's subway system has grown approximately as Beijing's has, and most large cities now have subway systems, where 10 years ago most did not have a subway system.