US looks at Japanese Bullet Trains

[ExtremelyHappy]

Anyone who has travelled on the Japanese Bullet Train system will know how awesome these are. Despite international perceptions, Japan is a large, sprawled out country. Bullet trains let you hop around the country at amazing speed and comfort. What I hate about airports is all the waiting - commuting to the airport and standing around in queues - not to mention zealous security officials who get excited if they find a tube of toothpaste. Train stations on the other hand are smack in the middle of your destination. Avoiding all that can make the train *faster* than flying.

But too often when a country decides to upgrade their train system, they decide to reinvent everything from scratch. So credit to the US Administration instead for having the brains to tap existing know-how in developing such as system in America.

How cool is this?

U.S. wants to study shinkansen technology

President Barack Obama has highlighted a multibillion dollar effort to develop a high-speed U.S. railway system, saying such a network would save energy, create jobs and reduce dependence on automobiles and airplanes. A senior official of the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration expressed hope Thursday that Japan will offer its technical expertise to the United States in building a high-speed railway network.

"I think Japan is one of several very good systems that we're interested in looking at," Karen Rae, FRA deputy chief, said in an interview. "We're impressed with the breadth of technology and the accomplishments," she said, referring to the shinkansen network.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-b...0090516a2.html

[F2046]

Sorry. Again, I must totally disagree. (Seriously though nothing personal.)

This is a complete fraud.

If a high-speed passenger train network spanning the USA and around various cities really did have any value, then people would be ready to pay for those values. This would justify private investment in creating those values.

What this amounts to, at best, is Barack Obama saying we know you want to spend your hard-earned cash on your own values, but we're going to take it from you and spend it on these (Barack Obama-related) values.

[Xuanwu]

personally I love the idea of a bullet train. I live in the middle of nowhere wyoming. If I had a bullet train that went to say denver I'd be down there at least once a month. the Shinkansen is sweet, and if you ride one you want to ride it again. it is a sweet thing and I would love to see it come to the US. though I do think it would be much harder to set up in the US than in Japan simply due to the size of our country

[ExtremelyHappy]

Originally Posted by Xuanwu

personally I love the idea of a bullet train. I live in the middle of nowhere wyoming. If I had a bullet train that went to say denver I'd be down there at least once a month. the Shinkansen is sweet, and if you ride one you want to ride it again. it is a sweet thing and I would love to see it come to the US. though I do think it would be much harder to set up in the US than in Japan simply due to the size of our country

I like the idea for the same reasons:

distance divided by 320 km/h or 200 mph = travel time

They build Shinkansen tracks straight which is why they're fast. No slowing down for bends or going up a steep grade. If you can't go around a mountain, you go straight through it. Expensive to build, but if you're going to blow $ One Trillion on Economic Stimulus, it'd be nice to get something useful out of it at the end.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinkansen