Rarely has a train caused so much trouble for its operator as the third generation ICE has for German railway operator Deutsche Bahn (DB). This was the first high-speed train to be designed by industry alone, with Siemens overseeing the creation of a vehicle that seemed to have a knack for malfunctioning. When the first trains rolled into operation 10 years ago, passengers complained of defective air conditioners and clogged toilets. Defective couplings later paralyzed ICE operations, an axle broke in Cologne in summer 2008 and recently a door flew off a train traveling at full speed.
This susceptibility to breakdowns was particularly humiliating for the Munich-based company which aimed to challenge its French competitor Alstom, a company with a glowing industrial reputation for its successful high-performance trains. Alstom holds the world record in rail travel with a speed of 575 kph (357 mph).
Why a fiasco? Because the impetus is from Siemens. Nobody even mentions Alstom.
All other considerations aside, wouldn’t high speed trains be ideal terrorist targets? Miles and miles of tracks with no one watching. A small explosive charge and – bang! – hundreds dead in a massive derailment.
Trains must connect DIRECTLY to airports in the USA, since the airport is the center of the US transportation hub., and travel is huge distances in the USA. It is amazing how many airports in the USA are isolated, not even being served by a train or subway, the only way out of the airport being to drive or take a commuter airline.
Imagine landing in San Francisco and hopping on a quick train to Sacramento or San Jose or other popular destinations within 300 miles. If commuter flights go there more than 3 times a day, there should be a train serving it.
One of the biggest reasons for airline delays, congestion, overticketing, etc is the utter lack of land based mass transport between US cities, resulting in overburdened airports. I would gladly take a train between SFO and LAX if it were fast and drop me off at the same spot as the airline does, while providing increased reliability and comfort. Instead right now you can arrive in Los Angeles Union Station downtown without a single car rental agency available at the train terminal, after a 12 hour ride from hell.
#22 Excellent points. Many airports are also constrained by being located in a city. With trains connecting outlying airports to the city you could put the airport 50-60 miles away(possibly between two cities).
It would also be possible to use the rail lines as power lines for a new grid system.
Most of these trains are electric, so you just have to replace the power plant to make the system greener.
Boston to Miami and Seattle to San Diego would be a good thing to start with.
Funny, the US definition of a high speed train is 72mph. That’s right, 72mph. Good old Obama gave us money in Ohio to build a high speed train from Cleveland to Columbus which is currently a 2 hour drive. Train ride will be 3.6 hours, not to mention sitting around waiting to board.
# 16 B. Dog:
“… Passenger trains used to be very popular in the U.S., but were killed off by the interstate highway system.”
And by intense and long-term lobbying by the airline industry. Texas would seem to be an ideal market for high speed trains — large areas of sparse population dotted here and there by large cities, yet airline lobbying has quashed plans for fast trains there again and again.
#25 “yet airline lobbying has quashed plans for fast trains there again and again.”
Well, if it would be SO good and popular, private investment will be there. Nothing to stop it…
#26 The huge capital outlays to lay the track and electrify it are the major retardant. Unless you have dedicated track with no at-grade crossings, you simply have Amtrack that sometimes, maybe, might reach high speed for short sections. Before being shunted aside for a freight train by the owners of the tracks (BNSF, Norfolk Southern, etc.).
# 27 Cap’nKangaroo – huge capital outlays to lay the track …
Wow! Never thought about that. How many H1B visas will be issued to Chinese coolies?
#21: Why on earth would anyone build a train system with miles and miles of unmonitored track? With video cameras costing less than a mounting nut these days, your idea of how to make a railroad is soooo 1970.
Have you ever taken a log distance train?
I remember taking the California Zephyr from Chicago.
I remember going across Nebraska in a hail storm!
Great fun!
I took a train from Sydney to Brisbane in OZ.. An OK train but fun nevertheless…
I won’t fly anymore.
High speed trains work GREAT in the United States, in ‘regional areas’. The NE section between Boston and DC. I used to love taking the train from DC to New York.
They may WORK great but they don’t seem very cost effective to me.
Last time I attempted train travel (from Louisville KY to Langley VA) the price for a business class train ticket was about 50% higher than flying. Screw that. And I was really looking forward to it; it’s been many years since I’ve traveled by train and eaten a delicious $9 peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Am I really the first one?!
“Trains good! Planes bad!”
Talgo trains are quite good. The problem is in the USA we don’t have very many seamless tracks for them to run on, because our rail infrastructure is a carryover from the 1940′s when it was basically a freight hauling system. Comfort wasn’t a huge priority so the rails are rickety and noisy.
I rode on Amtrak on long haul trips before. The main problem with Amtrak is not them, but Congress. I’m amazed the entire railway can run on the tiny amounts of money allocated to them, then Congress bails out airlines and gives them free subsidies by using taxpayer dollars to expand airports.
Amtrak has to share rails with freight, so more often than not you are at a standstill while a freight train goes by. The fastest I’ve been while on an Amtrak train was probably 80mph. Its a national embarassment but we are content to have 3rd world rail service apparently. Even the trains aren’t domestic, made by Bombardier.
If we cancelled the moronic F-35 program and took the remaining monies and made a national rail service it would be top notch.
I find train travel to be rather nice, laid back and you have more room than on an airline. You can get up, go to the observation car, hang out, have a beer from the snack bar, eat pretty nice food in the dining car, and even have a shower if you need one.
European trains are nice. No wonder everybody there uses them. I’ve been on Spanish, French, UK trains and they are as modern as American trains are ancient.
Ohio’s plan is not building a high speed rail but a conventional one first (i.e. the slow train rail), and convert it to high speed one much later. The plan is a joke, and nobody will take the train if it’s slower than driving. It’s just showing the stupidity in government planning and use of tax payer money. To make any sense on building a new train rail, it has to be a high speed one (even if it’s not a top speed one, but 2 or 3 times of conventional train speed), which will be the most efficient way for building a new rail way in Ohio.