President Obama to Lay Out Plans for High-Speed Train Travel

[phantom power]

This week, Obama will unveil his vision for high-speed rail in the United States after unexpectedly adding $8 billion to the economic stimulus package for high-speed train travel -- the biggest commitment of its kind ever made by the federal government.

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/story?id=7306761&page=1

[liberalmuse]

1. Yessss!

:bounce:

[mnhtnbb]

2. Hoo-ray! It's about time.

[polichick]

3. He says he's jealous of Europe's high-speed trains - me too! Great news.

[stuntcat]

4. YAY

OK, I have nothing to add here, just YAY!! And thanks for the article.

[Extend a Hand]

5. trains!!!!

:woohoo:
That's the kind of stimulus I've been hoping for

[Locrian]

6. whoooo whhoooot!

Great! I work in the dying aerospace industry. Would jump to rail in a second...

[madrchsod]

7. good idea on the coasts but the middle of the country- nope.

[dmallind]

8. Harder certainly, but not impossible.

The problem of course is the balance between access and efficiency. A high speed link between Minneapolis and Chicago for example might be very doable, but not if it had to stop at every two-horse hamlet on the way. The only reason I avoided rail when I lived in the Midwest was that to take such a trip took more hours than driving it, let alone flying, because of the number of stops (and antique infrastructure of course).

Population density in huge swathes of the US means rail is most likely limited to light rail between suburbs of major cities competing with cars, and express rail between cities competing with airlines. It is the latter that is missing or woefully limited, because it tries to compete with cars for travel between multiple small towns at the same time, which is not a good fit for rail in a country like this one IMO. So Bloomington to Minnetonka is doable for rail. Mpls to Chicago is doable for rail. Hamel MN to Deerfield IL is not so doable for rail.

[Happyhippychick]

9. Yay! I love trains!

[depakid]

10. "The government says there are 10 other areas of the country where faster trains could compete'

"...Eugene, Ore., to Seattle."

Hell, how about jumps all the way from San Diego to Seattle.