I'm really not sure why everyone gets down on American railroads. American railroads are completely different beasts from those in Western Europe and Japan. They are geared towards freight, particularly bulk freight. They move huge quantities very cheaply. Do Europeans have anything comparable to the 100+ car long freight trains that are common in the US? (Just drive I-80 west of Iowa. Original transcontinental railroad still handling hugh trains.) Also remember that the US freight equipment tends to be much larger (because of all of the grade separation requirements, railcars in Europe must fit under all of those old underpasses, while upgrading to stacked containers requires many fewer modifications to the road in the US.)
Huge freight trains and fast passenger trains just don't mix well on the same lines. The US could build dedicated passenger lines (like European governments did) in some locations, but a national network just doesn't make much sense. Even the regional networks would require constant subsidies to operate.
The decision/need to regenerate the signal is strongly dependent on many factors (error tolerance, fiber type, cost of transmitters, number of wavelengths, etc.) For submarine systems regeneration may only occur after 1000's of km, but the cost of these systems is much higher than land based systems. There exists a data rate/distance/cost trade-off.
If you are in the SF bay area and interested in this subject, Photonics West is currently happening at the San Jose Convention Center (through Thursday.) For information check here.
Personally, if I wasn't a poor student that can't afford to spen $19000 on a car, I would buy one of them. The Insight has a 10.5 gallon tank, and can go 61 miles/gallon in city driving. Imagine not having to fill your gas tank for >600 miles.
My truck has a 30 gallon tank and gets better than 20 mpg on the highway.
But to get back on subject:
I had a small truck which I was seriously considering converting to electric or hybrid operation. The engine block was shot, but the rest of the truck was in good shape. And it had almost no extras (power steering, power breaks, AC, etc.) which made it a great candidate, since all of those features are additional load which decrease range/speed.
I priced out the components I would need to make a usable commuter vehicle. Before labor (which I planned to supply) I was up to about $5000. This was before extras like new tires and aerodynamic improvements. There were no government incentives available to me to reduce my costs.
Use of the HOV lanes was one of my original incentives, but I found electric vehicles did not receive an exemption to the 2 passenger rule. (That changed this week.)
So, I ended up selling the truck chasis for scrap. I just couldn't justify the cost at this time for something that wasn't really practicle even though would have been fun to build.
Personally, I don't think there is much of a future in pure electric vehicles unless power distribution lines are built into the highway. It is really tough to beat the energy density of gasoline or other chemical fuels. I think the future is hybrid vehicles, particularly if energy storage devices improve. I am routing for flywheels and gas turbines.
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I'm really not sure why everyone gets down on American railroads. American railroads are completely different beasts from those in Western Europe and Japan. They are geared towards freight, particularly bulk freight. They move huge quantities very cheaply. Do Europeans have anything comparable to the 100+ car long freight trains that are common in the US? (Just drive I-80 west of Iowa. Original transcontinental railroad still handling hugh trains.) Also remember that the US freight equipment tends to be much larger (because of all of the grade separation requirements, railcars in Europe must fit under all of those old underpasses, while upgrading to stacked containers requires many fewer modifications to the road in the US.)
Huge freight trains and fast passenger trains just don't mix well on the same lines. The US could build dedicated passenger lines (like European governments did) in some locations, but a national network just doesn't make much sense. Even the regional networks would require constant subsidies to operate.
I know, its off topic.
If you are in the SF bay area and interested in this subject, Photonics West is currently happening at the San Jose Convention Center (through Thursday.) For information check here.
My truck has a 30 gallon tank and gets better than 20 mpg on the highway.
But to get back on subject:
I had a small truck which I was seriously considering converting to electric or hybrid operation. The engine block was shot, but the rest of the truck was in good shape. And it had almost no extras (power steering, power breaks, AC, etc.) which made it a great candidate, since all of those features are additional load which decrease range/speed.
I priced out the components I would need to make a usable commuter vehicle. Before labor (which I planned to supply) I was up to about $5000. This was before extras like new tires and aerodynamic improvements. There were no government incentives available to me to reduce my costs.
Use of the HOV lanes was one of my original incentives, but I found electric vehicles did not receive an exemption to the 2 passenger rule. (That changed this week.)
So, I ended up selling the truck chasis for scrap. I just couldn't justify the cost at this time for something that wasn't really practicle even though would have been fun to build.
Personally, I don't think there is much of a future in pure electric vehicles unless power distribution lines are built into the highway. It is really tough to beat the energy density of gasoline or other chemical fuels. I think the future is hybrid vehicles, particularly if energy storage devices improve. I am routing for flywheels and gas turbines.