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Is a US High-Speed Railway Economically Feasible?
An anonymous reader writes "The federal government has committed at least $8-billion (and counting) for the development of a nationwide high-speed intercity passenger railway system in almost three-dozen states. Rail advocates have long dreamed of an extensive railway grid that will provide clean, speedy, energy-efficient travel. The high-speed rail program is also expected to create thousands of desperately needed jobs, while reducing the nation's dependence on foreign oil and easing gridlocked highways and congested air-space. However, this noble, ambitious, multi-year plan faces a multitude of obstacles — including costs that will no doubt escalate as the years pass by; and an American public that may be reluctant to relinquish the independence and convenience of their beloved automobiles for a train."
are they highspeed rails? Nope. So, irrelevant, really.
As a European living in China, two places with extensive train networks, I tell you: it will not work. Trains are not as convenient or cheap as you may think. I don't know of any country that has a fully profitable train system - they are all subsidized because nobody is willing to pay the real price of a train ticket. Mind you, that's in European countries where gas is already much more expensive than US. Simply cranking up the gas price a little to force a few folks into the train won't cut it. The real deal with train is this: they are supposedly "greener". This means that if you are against them you are, supposedly, against a better world. On the back of this guilt-trip, the people will be asked to pay for the new trains, some people will be asked to relocate, others will be asked to suffer the noise of a train. All with really just one goal in mind: providing new infrastructure (at your expense) for the GOODS transportation industry. They're the only guys who are going to profit.
If gas taxes promote "efficient living", then surely outlawing combustion altogether would promote even more efficient living?
"I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"