Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Why High-Speed Rail Is a Ridiculous Fantasy

Why High-Speed Rail Is a Ridiculous Fantasy | Cato @ Liberty
"Here’s the real problem: America is a two-dimensional place, and we have a 4-million-mile network of highways and streets that allows anyone to get from practically anywhere to practically anywhere else in the contiguous 48 states.
Rail lines are one dimensional, and what is worse they serve only selected points on that one-dimensional line. The number of people going from one point served by trains on a line to another point will be a small fraction of the total travelers in any given corridor.
Nor can trains compete with planes, which are not only faster but save money by requiring far less infrastructure.
Airlines can respond to changes in travel patterns by altering air routes overnight, but building new rail lines is phenomenally expensive in time, money, and energy.
(Rail advocates never mention the energy costs of constructing rail lines, which is typically scores if not hundreds of times greater than any potential annual energy savings from operations.)"

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