Robatoy wrote:

In article ,
Prometheus wrote:

[snipperectomy]

Not only that, but it's just plain
spiffy.

Its spiffiness becomes amplified when you bolt a couple of nuclear
generators onto a new set of cross-country electrified high-speed double
track railroads and get all them damned trucks and busses off the road.

Well, that gets you from New York to Los Angeles or wherever, but how do you
get from Miami to Seattle? It's not as simple as building a railroad--if
it were then the railroads would still be a high profit operation. For
long haul passenger service, over that distance, your train is going to
have to be going 400 or so MPH to compete with the airlines and then you're
still going to have to run it cheaper, which may be difficult considering
all the infrastructure you have to maintain. For freight, who cares how
fast it goes?

That alone will be a huge step in the right direction.
BTW.. build in some accountability in that new system, i.e. Do Not
privatize it.

Huh? You're trusting the _government_?

Staff the whole damn thing with military vets.

Which does what? The guys who retire from NR already go into reactor
operation and who else do you have that is going to be any more capable
than your average civilian?

Efficient transportation running off of a clean power source.

And while I'm at it, outlaw or tax the bejeezus out of all privately
owned vehicles over 2500 pounds with engines bigger than 2 litres.

So your plumber or carpenter or whatever is going to have to make ten trips
in his Honda instead of one in the truck he uses now? How does that
benefit anybody? Or do you not consider ownership by a tradesman to be
"privately owned"?

Sorry, you're coming across as an idealist who hasn't really given his ideas
much thought.

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)