A top to bottom look at green energy

Reisender wrote:
Yah. I know nothing about bullet train projects in the US. Sounds like it will never happen though.

We have travelled tens of thousands of kilometers on Bullet trains though in various countries in the world. Definitely beats the heck out of air travel. Much quicker on and off and the train stops right downtown. No long ride from the Airport. If you factor in all the check in procedures and baggage pick up hassles we find that generally it takes about the same time to travel from Sevilla to Madrid by AVE as it does by plane. And a lot more comfortable. Nice scenery. Not cramped in.

But yep. Different society. Don't know how it would work in the USA. From what you say sounds like it it never will.

Cheers

High speed rail works great in the 150-300mile range connecting dense population centers.

The rails for high speed rail have much higher tolerances compared to freight and they are typically fully fenced off and grade separated from cross roads. That all adds up to very high costs, so you really need a lot of travelers to justify the cost.

Much above 300 miles, you start needing multiple connections for most routes and any speed comparability to air starts to lose out. If you look at Europe, longer routes are dominated by the low cost airlines much more so than rail. Very few people will go Naples to Oslo by rail.

What would make sense in the USA would be a linked air/rail system. It would never pass political muster but functionally it would be a big improvement:
- Major cities would have large hub airports.
- Small commuter flights of under say 200 miles would be prohibited.
- Rail lines radiating out from the hub airports would service the surrounding minor cities.
- You would get a combined rail/air ticket and luggage would be checked when you get on the train.

Because most rail routes would only be an hour or two (160 miles at 80mph), you wouldn't need high speed on most rail routes which drastically cuts cost and complications of implementing. Also by the time you factor in loading, taxi-ing and such with a plane, there really wouldn't be time lost.

A side benefit is you now have a functional regional rail system that could support regional rail only trips at a low cost. With that built out, you could consider high speed rail between key hub airports that aren't too far apart.

But as I said, no way it would fly politically.