US Breaks Ground On Its First-Ever High-Speed Rail (popsci.com)
- Reference: 0173622580
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/04/24/0238217/us-breaks-ground-on-its-first-ever-high-speed-rail
- Source link: https://www.popsci.com/technology/high-speed-rail/
> Brightline expects its trains will depart every 40 minutes from a station outside of the Vegas strip and another one in the LA suburb of Rancho Cucamonga. When it's completed, the train will travel at 186 miles per hour, making it the fastest train in the U.S. and comparable to Japan's famous bullet trains. For context, Brightline's most recently completed train connecting parts of Florida is estimated to top out [2]around 130 miles per hour . Both of those still fall far short of the speed achieved by the world fastest commuter train in Shanghai, which can reportedly reach a speed of 286 miles per hour. Still, the new train could complete the 218 mile trip between Sin City and a suburb of the City of Angels in just 2 hours and 10 minutes. That same trip would take about four hours by car, and that's without substantial traffic.
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> Once built, the trains will reportedly include onboard Wi-Fi, restrooms, and food and drinks available for purchase. Brightline hasn't provided an exact price for how much an individual train ticket will cost but has instead said they expect it to be roughly equivalent to the price of an airline flight. Brightline [3]reportedly believes the train could attract 11 million one-way passengers annually once it's up and running. The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates the new train could cut back 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year and create 35,000 new jobs.
Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg [4]described the moment as a "major milestone in building the future of American rail." The ceremony symbolically took place on Earth Day. "Partnering with state leaders and Brightline West, we're writing a new chapter in our country's transportation story that includes thousands of union jobs, new connections to better economic opportunity, less congestion on the roads, and less pollution in the air," Buttigieg said in a statement.
[1] https://www.popsci.com/technology/high-speed-rail/
[2] https://www.gobrightline.com/press-room/2023/brightline-130-mph-milestone
[3] https://apnews.com/article/595913ff2fa3d9001fb89bfab4e6c4d2
[4] https://x.com/secretarypete/status/1782395265078436114?s=61
For those who support this, could you please state (Score:1)
(A) How much you think it will actually cost. (B) How long you think it will actually take to build. (B) Whether you think it is a good idea, given (A) and (B)
Re: For those who support this, could you please s (Score:2)
Don't forget C. the actual end of the line is an hour away from Los Angeles in traffic
Re: (Score:2)
It's really more just about cutting back on the pollution caused by all the jets and cars that would otherwise be making the journey. Trains are comparatively quite efficient.
As a rail fan (Score:3)
Living in Switzerland, I use trains a lot. They're great, no question.
Having read story after story about commuter rail and high-speed rail in the USA, and having ridden on trains there a couple of times? I cannot imagine this project succeeding. It is more likely a trough for distributing pork. The schedule will be delayed year after year, more money will be poured into the trough, and ultimately someone will take passengers from LA to Las Vegas on a mule cart.
Am I overly cynical?
Re: (Score:2)
As unimpressed as I am with SBB as a company, I do have to admit that it operates on a pretty high level from a technical standpoint.
Comparing anything the US does to it might be just a tad unfair...
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Compared to DB, SBB is great.
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It is. SBB you can mostly depend on. DB? They are a joke these days, nothing else.
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Some countries just can't do infrastructure. The US and UK are prime examples.
Then you have countries like Japan, which take a long time to do infrastructure, but they do it. Maglev starting around 2030, 90% tunnels through mountains. And then you have China, which went from zero to 2/3rds of the world's high speed rail in about 15 years.
What we need to understand is why we can't build stuff. In the UK it's down to a combination of incompetence and lack of continuity. Every project is a one off and there is
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Do not forget that in the UK, they are now scraping the bottom of the barrel regarding political "leadership". Apparently anybody non-stupid does not want political office in the UK anymore.
Obviously, countries that cannot do infrastructure do not have a bright future.
But wait a minute... (Score:1)
Musk fixed it with the unlimited ultra speed connections through the boring company... Oh fuck it, what a patently stupid "idea"
Re: (Score:2)
You should know, Thunderf00t is a jackass. So is the nonsense he spreads about The Boring Company and SpaceX.
Some YouTube videos to hopefully undo some of his FUD and lies.
[1]https://www.youtube.com/result... [youtube.com]
And a personal favorite, "Thunderf00t Vs Elon Musk: Why Smart People say the Dumbest Things"
[2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+boring+company+response+to+thunderf00t
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbT3wi2U7D8
Re: (Score:2)
In a red state the construction would never even happen.
[1]Oh, really? [youtube.com]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD2HjILdDLE
Re: (Score:2)
What the heck are ya'll talking about? Did that happen?
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In a red state, the money would just be embezzled and then some semblance of the project is realized, preferably in a way that nobody can or would ever use, so nobody notices it's unusable.
CO2 (Score:2)
> cut back 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year
How many tons of CO2 will it take to construct this railway? How many years to break even?
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed. Rail done well amortizes over decades and centuries. Obviously, short-term thinkers do not need to apply. Same as with all infrastructure, really.
Languishing for a decade already (Score:1)
Progress up to now has been very slow, while costs have been multiplying.
Re: (Score:2)
Here's a historic photo of [1]early stages of construction [wp.com] showing progress made at the time.
[1] https://i0.wp.com/jgp.ai/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/four-Corsican-workers-from-Asterix-in-Corica-600x554.jpg
Can you get anything right? (Score:2)
You have to drive them horizontally . Not vertically .
Of course you're breaking ground if you slam a high speed train right into it. Jeesh.
Re: Can you get anything right? (Score:2)
The author of the article, Mack Degeurin, is a poor writer. He is known for junk articles on Gizmodo.
Not the first to break ground (Score:3)
That was [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
If it was completed in the proposed time, it would be the first to become operational.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_High-Speed_Rail
Re: Not the first to break ground (Score:2)
Except that Acela exists as well, making this not the first operational one eitherâ¦
How fast is too fast for a train? (Score:2)
I've been on Eurostar at 200mph and I have to admit, I do get a bit twitchy occasionally. Obviously this is just me YMMV, however I suspect most people would start to feel uncomfortable at about 250 on a conventiional train.
The other issue for normal trains (not maglevs) is derailment. The higher the speed the more of a mess its going to be. This can be mitigated by articulation but there's a limit to what can be done.
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And how often, exactly, does that happen compared to distance travelled?
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More often than you think
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_TGV_accidents
Tell us about it when it completes (Score:2)
With the history of various US rail projects delaying and abandoned, I think we can wait until this one actually completes to get excited about.
By the time this one completes (if it does), the term "high-speed rail" elsewhere in the world could already have been redefined to something above 200 mph (and hence excluding this one).
Meh (Score:2)
So one will be able to cut travel time between two destinations that I can't imagine wanting to ever visit.
Wake me up when there's a bullet train to Mos Eisley. Now there's a real den of iniquity.
Lies (Score:2)
The author of this article, Mack Degeurin, cannot get his facts right, nor can he spell.
There are other high speed rail systems already in the US, Acela being one of them.
That's not LA (Score:2)
Rancho Cucamonga is like an hour plus drive from LA, how disingenuous for them to say "to Los Angeles" It's not even LA county
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It's also disingenuous to say it will be done in a decade for $12B.
There is zero chance of that happening.
Is it legal for LV casinos to offer odds on when public projects will be done and what they will cost?
I'd take this bet at a hundred to one.
Re: (Score:2)
Same here, mostly because it's the US, and the chances of high-speed rail, and a whole bunch of other obviously-the-right-thing stuff succeeding there are about the same as the chances of the metric system succeeding. They'll find some way to sabotage it or screw it up.
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> Same here, mostly because it's the US, and the chances of high-speed rail, and a whole bunch of other obviously-the-right-thing stuff succeeding there are about the same as the chances of the metric system succeeding. They'll find some way to sabotage it or screw it up.
It's says a lot about American society that the only ones to successfully cut through he bullshit introduce the metric system is the US military which, into the bargain, is also the only entity int he US that seems to be able to get Americans of all political, racial and religious persuasions to coexist and cooperate in the same space. Perhaps they should just award the construction contract to the US Army Corps of Engineers? The worst that could happen over there is a bit of pork and cost overruns involvin
Re: (Score:2)
Anaheim, Azusa and Cuc----amonga!
Rancho Cucamonga is another stop on the MetroLink (Score:2)
You're being disingenuous and impractical. [1]Rancho Cucamunga is another stop [metrolinktrains.com] on the extensive [2]MetroLink network [metrolinktrains.com] that will take you into Los Angeles and beyond. I'm sorry, but you'll have to change trains is all.
Maybe they'll do something like is common in Europe, with parallel tracks and a long platform in the middle, so all one needs to do is to exit one train, walk about 30 feet and board another.
[1] https://metrolinktrains.com/rider-info/general-info/stations/rancho-cucamonga/
[2] https://metrolinktrains.com/globalassets/maps/cc_metrolink_system-map_2023_sept.pdf