300 mph from Beijing to Shanghai? Train breaks another record

[Subdivisions]

Video: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/40492239#40492239

Nice. China has one. We don't.

We're #1!

Not!

[Ken Burch]

1. Hopefully, nobody will ever be tied to THOSE tracks....

[Subdivisions]

2. Dudley would never make it to her in time! n/t

[Ken Burch]

5. Especially if he was riding the damn horse backwards again!

n/t.

[gateley]

3. Remember there was a recent "yay America!" about some rail project in

Florida that will take about a zillion years to complete, cost bajillions of dollars and connects like two cities about 100 miles apart?

I take license, but you get the drift -- do you remember what I'm referring to?

AGAIN, we stand on the sidelines watching the rest of the world move ahead and we don't even see it.

Good to see you - and cool train!! :pals:

[Subdivisions]

4. Hi miss gateley!

:hi:

Yes, I do remember that.

China is kicking our ass up and down the street, or in this case the tracks.

[Cali_Democrat]

11. At least we've got cool fighter planes that kill people

:shrug:

[gateley]

18. Don't forget the drones! nt

[SoCalDem]

14. The "advantage" that China has , over us is this

Their "Central Planning" division can (and DOES) just go to a community and start knocking down homes. They can (and DO) confiscate land and since they have SO many people looking for work, they can always find cheap labor to build just about anything they want.

They are flush with cash from all the plastic junk we buy from them, and they are eager to leapfrog into the 21st Century..the China Century.

[gateley]

20. Does the same hold true for other countries that have far more advanced mass transit

than we do? Japan, Italy, Germay, Great Britain, etc?

China is in a category by itself, I admit, but it's not the only country that's left us in the dust.

[SoCalDem]

30. The other countries you mentioned were pretty much gutted by WWII

and before that had been connected by rail, so they were used to it already. The "almighty auto" was never much of a feature of their lives pre or post WWII.

The Marshall Plan set in motion, the plans that they have continued to build upon..and of course in Japan they were able to start from scratch too.

We have so many conflicting state laws, private property issues and of course people here are ready to sue. Court cases eat up time & money, and by the time they have been settled, the people with the ideas & money may have moved on to something else

[Goldstein1984]

6. We're not wasting time on trains that can speed us to the future...

because our leaders are focusing on development of a time machine that can return us to the past.

The McCarthy Era, I think.

[Taitertots]

7. Do you think we should be like China?

Politically? Human Rights? Environmental protection? Worker Protection? Wages?...

[DaveinJapan]

8. Gee, all those reasons are why they have great high speed rail? nt

[Subdivisions]

9. WTF does that have to do with China's ability to get a long-distance, high-speed

train that travels at 300mph, despite all the challenges you listed, and our inability to do the same?

[Taitertots]

10. You don't see how wage manipulation, lax environmental protection,

Lax worker safety protection, and material cost manipulation, contribute to building a high speed rail.

Why don't/Can't we?
Expensive worker protection, Expensive environmental protection, Higher labor costs, and higher material costs.

[Subdivisions]

13. And we're a much richer nation. So, no, I don't see how all that stuff keeps us from succeeding.

The fact is, they have this cool new train and we have SQUAT!

And, FYI, we're lax in all those areas too.

[Taitertots]

16. Are you willing to work for a fraction of your current wages?

Without OSHA regulations, with limited environmental protection?

I'm not willing to forgo the hard fought protections we have just because you like neato trains and don't understand business and economics.

[TheCowsCameHome]

19. You'll find out if Boner and McConnell have their way.

Which has nothing to do with trains, but.......

[Subdivisions]

22. We don't have to do it under those conditions, toots. We can build the

same fucking train with all our wages and protections IN PLACE.

[Taitertots]

24. It would be prohibitively expensive n/t

[malaise]

15. What about France? n/t

[Taitertots]

21. Their high speed rail has a lower top speed and covers less distance n/t

[malaise]

23. And that has something to do with human rights

and wages?

Plueeeez!

[Taitertots]

25. Because it was dramatically cheaper to build

How are you surprised that different countries are capable of building different things because of different economic conditions?

[madrchsod]

26. i agree with what you have written but you forgot something...

everything was designed by the Europeans.

[Hannah Bell]

32. including china's current high-speed rail.

[The Straight Story]

12. If it is like other things they make I would avoid it

:evilgrin:

[madrchsod]

27. the europeans designed it and told them what to use.

[TheCowsCameHome]

17. The train must arrive at B before it departs A.

That's smokin' fast.

[TexasObserver]

28. The best part of riding a train is that it ISN'T going 300 mph.

It's a view of the world you never get without riding a train.

[Still a Democrat]

29. If a train goes 300 mph and no one is riding it

did it really go that fast?

[Hannah Bell]

31. The lines currently in existence in China were built by foreign corps.

German, French, and Japanese.

China’s initial high speed trains were imported or built under technology transfer agreements with foreign train-makers including Siemens, Alstom, Bombardier and Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

The Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway, set to open in July 2011, will use the new CRH380B train made by Changchun Railway Vehicle and Tangshan Railway Vehicle, which can reach a top operational speed of 380 km/h.<4><5>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_China