On Sun, 30 Mar 2008 16:29:19 -0500, gfretwell wrote:

On Sun, 30 Mar 2008 09:42:54 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

mag lev can do it at 300 miles per hour, with flight delays etc speed
would be a wash.

What is the real average speed? 100? 150? What path will the train have
to take? 3500-4000 miles? so it only takes 24 hours. Still not much of
an option

Who will buy the land? How much do you figure that ticket is going to
cost?

Trains make sense in urban environments but when you start getting out
in the boonies they don't attract many passengers. You can't confuse
things that work in Europe where countries are the size of congressional
districts here with what works in the US.


You don't actually need a maglev train. The TGV travels at 320 km/h (200
mph), using traditional train tracks. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TGV
.. And they've been running since 1974, the maximum speed they have
reached was 515 km/hr.

I'm not denying it would be a major engineering and legislative feat, but
it wouldn't be any bigger than the U.S. interstate system. Such projects
have been very beneficient in the past.

I live in Europe, where traveling by train is an option. I have to travel
to scientific conferences and such, which is paid by the university. So I
don't worry about whether the train or the plane is more expensive (It can
go either way, but only because air travel is so heavily subsidized).
Train travel uses less energy and less labor to deliver people, so on an
even playing field, train travel is cheaper.

Now, here is my algorithm for deciding which to take:

0. Can I take a train?
Obviously I can't take the train everywhere. So if I'm going to
the US or sardegnia, I fly.
1. Less than 6 hours by train?
-take the train. It's less hassle with the security, and for
works out to be time and energy saving, since I have to add
arriving 2 hours early at the airport, plus the time to travel to
the airport, etc. Also the trains are WAY more comfortable than
planes.
2. More than 8 hours: Is there an overnight train? Then take the train.
For travels of 8+ hours on the train, I can get a sleeper car, and wake up
refreshed at my destination. Usually for the price of a plane ticket.

Otherwise I take the plane.

So even in a world where energy isn't YET massively expensive, the train
is a valuable alternative to have. Now, if you incorporate the rising
costs of energy production the train becomes a more and more viable
alternative.