What High Speed Rail?!
Run that sucker through a hyperloop tube and you've got a concept that makes a hell of a lot more sense than a Californian high speed train.
Politics will always get involved in these kinds of things. For politicians, KISS is only ever a Glam rock band from the 70s.
If these projects are conducted professionally, they can have advantages over the plane: direct city centre to city centre travel, without the need to go to an out-of-town airport, go through security, arrive at another out-of-town airport, wait for your baggage (if neccessary), and then get transport in to your destination.
Huh. If only there was a technology that would allow that sort of thing to happen without digging Big Dig-style tunnels under cities or tearing up existing infrastructure...
We have the same issue here in Australia Orionblamblam, in that network land corridors that were planned and reserved for highways and railways were sold off to developers and it never stopped, to the point that now such critical infrastructure is deemed imperative, both sides of politics has to embark on stupendously expensive and time dragging tunnel systems....
Ah yes, lets go with the very expensive, low capacity, and a bit dangerous technology, instead of the one the rest of the world using.
You're right. Because one solution fits every possible circumstance. Paris to Berlin? High speed train! Boston to New York? High speed train! Anchorage to Oahu? High speed train! Miami to Havana? High speed train! Gondor to Baradur? High speed train! Denver to Leadville? High speed train! To hell with geography and existing buildings and infrastructure... just plow straight through mountains and bogs and buildings and neighborhoods and build vastly expensive infrastructure that will take *decades* to get running, while aerial technology gets far cheaper and more common. It's the right thing to do, because that's what everybody else did. Because if everybody else did it, it *must* be the one solution to rule them all!
Big Dig:We have the same issue here in Australia Orionblamblam, in that network land corridors that were planned and reserved for highways and railways were sold off to developers and it never stopped, to the point that now such critical infrastructure is deemed imperative, both sides of politics has to embark on stupendously expensive and time dragging tunnel systems....
CA HSR spent $9B to go from Green Acres to Hooterville to Pixlie, $9B just to bring back a classic American sitcom (Green Acres), we live in such wonderful times. Real west coast high speed rail (I know I am dreaming): San Diego to LA to SF, (skip Sacramento) to Portland to Seattle then Vancouver, a real high speed rail express, hit the major cities and make it Maglev, wait Maglev? Then we can't plug in and charge our electric cars, that sucks. Imagine the level of CA environmental impact studies, oh boy.Big Dig:We have the same issue here in Australia Orionblamblam, in that network land corridors that were planned and reserved for highways and railways were sold off to developers and it never stopped, to the point that now such critical infrastructure is deemed imperative, both sides of politics has to embark on stupendously expensive and time dragging tunnel systems....
In short, planning began in 1982, construction began in 1991, planned for completion in 1998. Actual completion in 2006. Estimated cost, $7.4 billion in 2020 dollars; actual cost, in excess of $22 billion. All this for a 1.5 mile tunnel. Anyone care to explain why a train project would necessarily be run more efficiently and sensibly? Why a massive new train project into city centers could even conceivably be done without driving an anime-style megabulldozer through a trillion dollars worth of existing architecture?
California proved it can't do this sort of thing out in the sticks. Why think they can do it *in* *town*?
Wow, a short 45 minute commute from LA to NY, the New Math really works! Remember, trains are faster than airplanes, trains are on the ground, planes are in the air...
Excellent point. How would Hyperloop compare?Big Dig:We have the same issue here in Australia Orionblamblam, in that network land corridors that were planned and reserved for highways and railways were sold off to developers and it never stopped, to the point that now such critical infrastructure is deemed imperative, both sides of politics has to embark on stupendously expensive and time dragging tunnel systems....
In short, planning began in 1982, construction began in 1991, planned for completion in 1998. Actual completion in 2006. Estimated cost, $7.4 billion in 2020 dollars; actual cost, in excess of $22 billion. All this for a 1.5 mile tunnel. Anyone care to explain why a train project would necessarily be run more efficiently and sensibly? Why a massive new train project into city centers could even conceivably be done without driving an anime-style megabulldozer through a trillion dollars worth of existing architecture?
California proved it can't do this sort of thing out in the sticks. Why think they can do it *in* *town*?
This was apparently an in-joke riffing on another tweet, not a serious policy proposal.
The crazy part of it, the Chuo Shinkansen has to pass true that entire prefecture in 25 km long tunnel !
That kind of yakuza move is only seen in movies. They’re pretty third-rate, localized bravos. The only reason they get so much column inches is because the things they do - roughing people up, shooting the occasional rival / person who’s crossed them - is because that kind of thing is so rare in Japan.The crazy part of it, the Chuo Shinkansen has to pass true that entire prefecture in 25 km long tunnel !
Current alternative planning on that issue is to build tracks AROUND north that prefecture (see in Red in picture)
but more likely that local yakuza are payed a truckload of money to deal there way with this prefectural governor.
While police and justice looks in other way, the typical method to deal with issue like this in Japan complex society...
I really recommend Henry Petroski’s work. He has an article on the Big Dig in American Scientist, which may be in “To Forgive Design”. I can‘t be certain as it’s on my wishlist.Big Dig:We have the same issue here in Australia Orionblamblam, in that network land corridors that were planned and reserved for highways and railways were sold off to developers and it never stopped, to the point that now such critical infrastructure is deemed imperative, both sides of politics has to embark on stupendously expensive and time dragging tunnel systems....
In short, planning began in 1982, construction began in 1991, planned for completion in 1998. Actual completion in 2006. Estimated cost, $7.4 billion in 2020 dollars; actual cost, in excess of $22 billion. All this for a 1.5 mile tunnel. Anyone care to explain why a train project would necessarily be run more efficiently and sensibly? Why a massive new train project into city centers could even conceivably be done without driving an anime-style megabulldozer through a trillion dollars worth of existing architecture?
California proved it can't do this sort of thing out in the sticks. Why think they can do it *in* *town*?
