(a) I’m writing this from the DC-Boston overnight train, doing about 110 mph through NJ. LOVE not having to drive or deal with the suck of flying ca. 2012.
(b) Source of power (I.e. electric) is relevant, since it can use clean sources like nuke, hydro, or renewable
(c) Agreed with the idea of upgrading the coastal rail line to 3 tracks and medium speed standards. Say 100-120 mph were possible, electrified. Where it’s owned by a private railroad, pay THEM to upgrade. There seem to be more people at intermediate coastal stops than out in the desert!!
(d) with (c), modify the route to run direct to SF rather than to Oakland, of course.
It would be very expensive to build another tunnel thru it and its truck-only tunnel is too dangerous to share a passenger train with.
Yaddadee, bladdadee. The Swiss are building tunnels DOZENS of km long while we spend trillions fighting in Middle Eastern sh!teholes. It’s a matter of priorities, and perhaps corruption, not money. America lost its will some time after the 60s.
What annoys me is the thought that people will actually use the rail. I would be willing to bet that the TSA will make it a nightmare to board the thing, and at that point it will be just as quick to drive.
Other than the occasional random check, TSA is relatively hands-off as far as rail in the US. I don’t see them x-raying bags or using body scanners on Acela; and that wouldn’t be too hard to implement. (Some high-speed trains in Europe have bag scanners.)
It’s pretty hard to hijack an electric train since if it happened, cutting power to the overhead catenary would stop the thing, plus it doesn’t have freedom to move off the tracks and crash into things. And if “terrorists” wanted to wreck a train, they’d do better by “accidentally” slamming a truck into a bridge rather than bringing a bomb aboard.
