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| 2005/6/27-28 [Politics/Domestic/California, Politics/Foreign/Asia/Japan] UID:38318 Activity:high |
6/27 God, I really envy the Japs. Why don't we have something like this?
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/06/27/bt.japan.bullet.train.ap
\_ Japan has a much higher population density?
\_ You can't compare Japan to the US; you should compare to
California, or the eastern seaboard. Obviously you can't
support bullet rail in Wyoming, but California has plenty of
population density and travel to do so. -tom
\_ Japan also doesn't have the kinds of politics the US does.
http://tinyurl.com/7myk2 -- I recall midwesthsr being
throttled by every 2-bit politician wanting a stop in his
town in return for voting for it, sort of like the Washington
airport expressway. By the way, the pic on that tinyurl link
is of a Zurich commuter train--very un-high speed. -John
\_ Japan is not at all comparable to California. Try flying
above the CA coast and looking down vs. the same in Japan.
Japan is smaller than CA and 3.5x the population.
\_ Hmmm, I wonder how a bullet train from SF to LA would do?
\_ There is a proposal for it, which of course the airlines
are fighting tooth and nail. They killed a similar
project in Texas. I think a high-speed rail connection
between SF and LA, with downtown embarcation, would
be heavily used. -tom
\_ As someone who hates airports and flying with a passion,
I think this country could use more high speed rail.
-- ilyas
\_ Who do you expect to pay for the infrastructure to
build this high speed rail, oh libertarian?
\_ Charitable donations from Republicans, of course.
Big corporations rip off average consumers so
that they can make big donations to the poor.
All heil Waltons, Bushs, and Gates -Libertarian
\_ "The train is expected to make the 360 mile trip between
Tokyo and Aomori --about the distance between San Fran-
cisco and Los Angeles -- within three hours ..."
\_ Population density:
San Francisco: 16,632 per sq. mi.
Los Angeles: 7,990 per sq. mi.
Tokyo: 33,617 per sq. mi.
\_ California is not as populus as Japan, but it is as
populus as many places which have extensive rail networks.
-tom
\_ Whatever. My numbers were for cities. Also, high-speed
rail needs local city transportation as well, else no
one will ride if they can't get the last 1-5 miles.
\_ Yeah, that is why no one is willing to fly
\_ Yeah, that is why no one is willing to fly in
airplanes. They can't get out of the airport.
\_ I remember an article in the SFCron a few
years ago that driving to LA from SF was
superior to flying. It took less time, and
you had a car when you got there.
\_ Grammatical question for you. How do you know when to say
"Japan has much higher population" and "Japan has A much higher
population"? Ditto with "the" and others.
\_ Yermom has rabies.
Yermom has a cold.
Yermom has the mumps.
There are general rules, but sometimes you just have to
remember.
\_ I seem to remember that when I was a kid people used to
say "the Ukraine", but now the "the" has disappeared.
What's that about? Any Ukrainians want to comment?
\_ I think the difference is that now Ukraine is a
country, rather than an area of Russia. On the
other hand, I still say, "the Ukraine." Maybe it
should be Ukrania?
\_ Plural vs. singular. In this case "Japan has higher
population density" would be incorrect; "population density"
is singular and requires the "a". Population is also properly
singular. Unless it's the verb form.
\_ Yes, let's envy those whom we deride with racial slurs!
\_ I remember an article in the SFCron a few
years ago that driving to LA from SF was
superior to flying. It took less time, and
you had a car when you got there.
\- i am surprised SF-LA train proposals have
found any "traction" at all [that really
was unintentional]. i am not sure what
problem it solves. it seems to me the only
people it is good for is people near the LA
terminus wo want to come to downtown SF for
a few days. how much would a SF<->LA fast
train ticket cost ... actual cost [without
weird cross subsidies] and what would the
out of pocket ticket price?
\_ The problem it solves is that flying is
a pain in the ass. Taking the train is
fun. -tom
\- do you actually think that is a
serious answer? a fun choo-choo
train != multi-billion dollar rail
project. is a fast train more fun
than the Coast Starlight? you might
take a trian for fun, but that isnt
why you build one.
\_ Actually, yeah. I've both
flown from Seoul to Pusan (Korea), and taken the new
bullet train. The train is superior. It's more
comfortable (wieght is not such an issue), runs more
often, and you don't have to hang around the station for
an hour and a half before hand. Of course, that doesn't
mean it will be so nice here, but.. -jrleek
\_ Yes, let's envy those whom we deride with racial slurs! Is it
so hard to type out "Japanese"? |
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| www.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/06/27/bt.japan.bullet.train.ap -> www.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/06/27/bt.japan.bullet.train.ap/ Learn a language in-flight TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Japan's largest railway company began a test run for a new bullet train that it eventually aims to operate at a record-break ing 223 miles per hour -- faster than many propeller airplanes -- accord ing to recent news reports. The train, painted in jade and white colors, has cat ear-shaped air-brake s that pop up from the rooftops to help slow the train in an emergency. By the time the test ends in early 2008, the operator hopes to hit the ma ximum speed of 250 mph -- faster than the train will travel during regul ar operation. French company Alstom SA's TGV, or Train a Grande Vitesse, is currently t he world's fastest train, operating at a top speed of 218 mph. The new "bullet" train is set to start commercial service in 2011, when a new section on the Tohoku bullet train line currently under constructio n is completed. The train is expected to make the 360 mile trip between Tokyo and Aomori --about the distance between San Francisco and Los Angeles -- within thr ee hours, half of the amount of time it currently takes. |
| tinyurl.com/7myk2 -> www.nuvo.net/archive/2003/10/15/snails_pace_for_highspeed_rail.html NUVO Pick of the day: Tuesday June 28 Randy Grim and Quentin the "Miracle Dog" at Barnes & Noble Carmel. Grim i s the author of "MIRACLE DOG: How Quentin Survived the Gas Chamber to Sp eak for Animals on Death Row." David Hoppe For the past year or so there has been a lot of public hand-wringing abou t the sorry state of Indianas economy. Now that were in an election seas on, were hearing even more about our loss of jobs and the slow growth of new businesses, the brain drain and our nation-leading rate of home for eclosure. These problems seem daunting in a state whose economy has been dependent on the kinds of manufacturing jobs so famously sucked out of the United States for Third World labor pools. Under such circumstances youd think Indianas business and political leade rs would be eager to try almost anything that might help give us some tr action in reinventing ourselves in ways suited to the 21st century. So i ts been strange to learn about the stony lack of engagement these leader s have shown regarding the opportunity to make our state and, especially , Indianapolis part of a Midwestern high-speed rail network. In June, a coalition of transportation activists working with the Illinoi s Department of Transportation announced that the groundwork has been la id to provide a high-speed rail link between Chicago and St. Thats right: Trains able to go at speeds of 110 mi les per hour could be running between Chicago and St. In 1996, representatives from the Departments of Transportation of nine M idwestern states met to determine whether or not they could make passeng er rail service work in this region. They concluded that investing in hi gh-speed rail would dramatically increase ridership and either reduce or eliminate operating subsidies. As Kevin Brubaker, a high-speed rail adv ocate with the Environmental Law and Policy Center in Chicago, puts it, they found that high speed rail wasnt the question. A nine-state, 3,000-mile hub-and-spoke system, utilizing existing track a nd reaching out from Chicago to cities like Detroit, Milwaukee, St. Illinois, Wisconsin and Michiga n all began to make investments aimed at making their existing tracks up to par. As of today, all the necessary design and permitting work for c orridors between Chicago and St. Louis and Milwaukee and Madison in Wisc onsin have been completed. Illinois has invested $50 million to make its rail system ready. Hopes ar e high that the federal government will match that with $200 million mor e based on the 80/20 ratio the federal government uses when it matches s tate expenditures to build highways. Just when that money will materialize, of course, could be in doubt thank s to the demands war in Iraq is making on the federal budget. But the fa ct remains that while states around us have been moving to create a high -speed rail network that will undoubtedly transform this part of the Mid wests economic landscape, Indiana has been sitting on its hands. As Brubaker says, Indiana should recognize the tremendous benefits that h igh-speed rail can bring to the state and act accordingly. As long as th e state government continues to favor construction of a new terrain I-69 over an upgrade to existing highways that would cost $800 million less, we dont buy the argument that the state cant afford to do more on high- speed rail. That so many of Indianas business and political leaders the very people, in other words, who have led us to the kind of economic prosperity India na enjoys today have embraced a megabuck highway project like I-69 ought to be cause for suspicion, if not alarm. It is all too characteristic o f this states economic leadership to want to pave another road just at t he moment when highway building has become associated with an outdated i ndustrial economy. If this project doesnt remind you of the states budge t-busting 19th century canal building misadventure, it should. In that c ase, youll recall, Indiana built canals just as railroads were coming in to vogue. The project bankrupted the state treasury it undoubtedly also made a few well-connected contractors an awful lot of money. High-speed rail represents the new, knowledge-based economy a system that thrives, in part, on cost effective mobility. Opening a two-way link to our regions economic engine, Chicago, with stops along the way in Lafay ette and Hammond, can make Indianapolis part of a dynamic Midwestern sys tem. The system being suggested here could help support urban redevelopm ent and curb the suburban sprawl associated with our current dependence on cars and highways. It could also provide an alternative to our increa singly inefficient and vulnerable air traffic system. As the candidates come forward in this election season, all of them will be talking about Indianas economic crisis. What they say about high-spee d rail will mark a difference between those who really want new business for our state and business as usual. |