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A Maglev Train System for Florida?
Artifice_Eternity writes "For 20 years, citizens of Florida have been pushing for high-speed rail, as an alternative to the state's ever-growing, yet ever-crowded highways. A previous plan, the Florida Overland eXpress (FOX), was
killed by governor Jeb Bush in 1998. The voters responded by passing a referendum to require the building of a "bullet train," starting by November 2003.
The new
Florida High Speed Rail Authority is focusing first on the busy Miami-Orlando and Tampa-Orlando corridors, but eventually hopes to serve the whole state.
And they are seriously considering maglev technology! If the Florida HSR system did use maglev, it would be the largest one in the world. (Right now, maglev is in use on test tracks in
Germany and Japan, with a 30-kilometer system under construction in Shanghai.)
However, I like this humorous proposal best: it takes the idea of a "bullet train" literally, using the Jules Verne approach to propulsion."
Would be nice if they would run it along I4 (which they probably will, since it's the main artery from Tampa to Orlando)... traffic there is horrible.
Assuming it's not too expensive to ride, I would see it getting alot of business from us college students in Orlando who have family along the routes... gas isn't exactly cheap for a 400 mile drive one way
There are only 10 kinds of people in this world... those who understand binary and those who don't
Disney abondoned in thoughts of running a monorail between it's property and the Orlando airport when they realized it would be way to slow. They supported the maglev high speed train project that was to run between the airport and EPCOT (with connecting service to Disney hotels via bus and monorail) right up until the point that a stop at Universal/I-drive was also added to the plans. Disney got real uncooperative at that point. Their goal is to keep visitors (and their $$$) on Disney property.
Nonsense. I remember signing the petition to have the issue put on the ballot. I remember voting on it. I remember it being passed.
Here in FL, with enough signatures, any issue (as long as it deals with a single point) can be put on the ballot. Any issue. This was one of them. It wasn't like big money bought the signatures and bought the voters.
Burn Hollywood Burn
"Off-duty troopers, hired at $30 an hour, picked motorists at random and directed them to pull off the interstate into a rest stop, where Palm Pilot- toting interviewers waited. "
That's how florida's high-speed rail authority recently choose to gauge public interest in riding the high speed train.
I was going to moderate this story, but I hate it when folks living in south Florida think they are the whole state. There are some people left that live north of I-4 and the turnpike and see money taken out of their pocket for a project only benefiting those that live on or south of it. If you don't live south of Ocala, naturally I'll eat my own shorts, but big money didn't have to buy the signatures- there are plenty enough ignorant people living here to naively think a high-speed rail would benefit them despite their living in say, Tallahassee.
I will say, you are certainly correct in your second paragraph, I just don't think you can convince me that because it was introduced via petition that certain mouse-eared companies had nothing to do with sponsoring said petition.
Jacksonville has a monorail system that is not used becuase it currently only benefits one small portion of a very spread-out city, and the voters won't throw any more money at it to expand the service because of the perception that it won't benefit them- I guess I just don't want to see that happen in this case. Traveling in south florida is a pain, what with all the tolls and everything, anything to relieve that would be nice.
Be a moderator, not a brick.
The problem isn't getting between Tampa and Orlando. The problem is getting from the rail station to where you need to go. Mass transit in Florida is nearly worthless to anyone except the poor or the martyrs. I can drive to work in 15 minutes, but to take a bus I have to walk/bike 3 miles, switch buses twice, then walk another mile. It's 2 hours each way.
I'm sure there will be Disney and hotel shuttles though.
The solution (if you refuse to finance and offer incentives for mass transit) is better roads. We still have plenty of clover-style on/off-ramps where onramp traffic has to cross over offramp traffic. We have way too short merge lanes at critical spots. Crap, we have a right-angle bend on a two-lane offramp that many drivers take at 50mph+. A gas tanker flipped and burned there recently, trashing the overpass for months. Do these engineers drive?
If we'd just yank the license of anyone with a 3" tailpipe on a Civic and blondes with BMWs, I'd shave 2 hours off my commute time every week.
For every penny the government spends on a project like this, someone is getting work, a job, etc.
This is such a common myth. Where does the money come from to pay for this? From taxpayers. What would most taxpayers do with this money if they were allowed to keep it? Spend it -- "someone wouldbe getting work, a job, etc."
The effect of taxes is to merely change the kind of work that will be done. And this work is for the benefit of the five largest cities and not for the rest of the state.
Taxes don't create jobs, they merely change the kind of jobs that will be done.
Nonsense. I remember signing the petition to have the issue put on the ballot. I remember voting on it. I remember it being passed.
Marge: But Main Street's still all cracked and broken...
Bart: Sorry, Mom, the mob has spoken!
All: Monorail!
Monorail!
Monorail!
the magnets required to keep a train aloft would be gigantic.
Not really. Google on "halbach magnet" and "inductrack". It can be done with quite modest permanent magnets (comparatively speaking). No superconductors or electric power needed!