So countries like China and Japan have extensive high-speed rail networks - fast, clean, comfortable, efficient, convenient. Yet the US has ancient 1950s-looking ramshackle crap trains. Why? Imagine an east coast bullet train line from Florida to Boston and a west coast line from San Diego to Seattle. It goes to the heart of the cities instead of an airport many miles away. What's stopping it?
Why doesn't America have high-speed rail?
Camden Nelson
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Robert Taylor
Some say the faster the trains go the faster the Indians resurrect and shoot the railway prospectors.
Isaiah Richardson
trains are communist and marxist
Liam Perez
This. In America we only have poorly maintained roads and bridges (for cars.)
Justin Hughes
the shinkansen between cities is still considered a super long trip even for Japan, which is the size of California.
A high speed rail connecting the coast could not be as fast as an airliner, which can travel that distance in 6 hours.
Levi Powell
>It goes to the heart of the cities
And there's yer problem right there. Not enough whites live in the hearts of the cities, they abandoned it to the savages.
Lucas Reed
China is the size of the USA and the bullet trains there compete with the domestic airlines. Anyway I'm not talking cross-country but up and down the densely-populated coasts where the demand would be high. Flying is a shit experience.
Ryan Adams
Megaprojects are usually left to visionary billionaires, and surface infrastructure often requires buying out land from people who really don't want to sell.
Last I heard Musk completed a bunch of small scale tunnels
Robert Lopez
pic related, how China deals with those pesky landowners
Oliver Gomez
Nathaniel Rivera
Eminent domain takes care of that. They bulldoze people's homes to make way for a fucking Walmart so doing it for an undeniably vital project like high-speed rail should not be a problem.
Justin Cox
Because airlines are very politically-connected and bribe US politicians (perfectly openly and legally) to protect them from competition. They would launch a propaganda campaign to depict it as filthy socialism and just fund endless legal challenges. Probably car makers and oil companies would join in.
Jeremiah Cox
japanese railway was privatized long ago
Cooper Scott
Texas was going to attempt to install one between Dallas and Houston, and possibly San Antonio but it didn't get funding. RIP Texas Bullet.
Ayden Howard
trains tickets are already more expensive than planes tickets, would tickets not be even more expensive for high speed shit? unless it is heavily subsidized i suppose
William Diaz
california is trying but everyone who lives in the way is trying to squeeze the government for exorbitant amounts, because hey it's free money from the magic government wallet
Logan Thomas
even morocco a poor resourceless cunt has hsr trains
Tyler Sullivan
Funfact: China actually offered to build one but it was rejected but I guess it's for the best because the bridge they built in SF is already crumbling
Bentley Morris
Nobody uses the trains here because they are a shitty mode of transportation, but they cost a lot of money to maintain.
Americans are way smarter in this regard.
David Gonzalez
Wait why was prc allowed to build a bridge in sf?
Jaxson Lewis
Cheaper non union labor force
>In New York City alone, Chinese companies have won contracts to help renovate the subway system, refurbish the Alexander Hamilton Bridge over the Harlem River and build a new Metro-North train platform near Yankee Stadium. As with the Bay Bridge, American union labor would carry out most of the work done on United States soil.
nytimes.com
Nathaniel Parker
Roads are not cost effective at all. Please take off your proxy fellow mutt.
Noah Cook
Train's are so expensive
You're on to talk as well. When i went to the UK to get a train between cities was well over double the bus ticket.
Elijah Lee
because high speed rail is stupid and operates at a loss here. In California they tried to get private investors to fund the high speed rail from LA to SF but no one pitched in so they raised the total cost and ultimately scrapped the idea. If Americans have to go somewhere they'll drive or if it's too far they'll just fly over there.
Jonathan Ortiz
And it was worth it. Buses are shit and slow and full of scum. Book a train ticket well in advance and it is easily affordable.