Revolutionary Rail: High-Speed Rail Plan Will Bring Fast Trains to the U.S

America is an absurdly backward country when it comes to passenger trains. As anyone who has visited Europe, Japan or Shanghai knows, trains that travel at nearly 200 miles per hour have become integral to the economies of many countries. With its celebrated Tokaido Shinkansen bullet trains, Central Japan Railway has for the past five decades carried billions of passengers between Tokyo and Osaka in half the time it would take to fly. A new Madrid-to-Barcelona express train runs at an average speed of 150 miles per hour; since its inception two years ago, airline traffic between the two cities has dropped by 40 percent. In contrast, Amtrak’s showcase Acela train connecting Boston to Washington, D.C., averages just 70 mph. That figure is so low because many sections of the Acela’s tracks cannot safely support high speeds, even though the train itself is capable of sprints above 150 mph. Think of it as a Ferrari sputtering down a rutted country lane.

www.scientificamerican.com...

This seemed like some good general news, so I wanted to bring it onboard.
The DOT has allotted 8 Billion dollars for the building of high speed railway across the US, as part of the stimulus package.
Projects will utilize steel wheels on rails , as well as magnetic levitation.
The magnetic lifted trains could travel at around 267 mph. The magnets used are the same kind found in the large hadron collider.
The reason there has not been any development for high speed railways is lack of priority from the Federal Govt. Well I guess we have been preoccupied with catastrophe this entire century.
California is one of 2 states awarded funding to begin building the railways, from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
Florida was the other state awarded and they are building one from Tampa to Orlando.
I would really like to see an increase in our transportation options. There are some challenges mentioned in the article, but the funding is there and it looks like the construction will begin soon.

Peace

[edit on 12-7-2010 by speculativeoptimist]

reply to post by Adillin2012

Thanks for the reply Adillin2012. I too am glad to see these things come about and I don't know if they will modify existing trains and tracks or just create whole new systems. The article refers to 3 different types to consider because of various challenges, one, like you said, being noise. The wearing of the steel wheels is another. Some systems require liquid helium to cool the wheels which get's expensive.
At least another useful source of transportation is coming to be.

Peace

[edit on 12-7-2010 by speculativeoptimist]

I'm looking forward to seeing these new trains...however I would be even happier if individual states/cities revamped their metro trains. For example, Septa trains in Philadelphia are the worst. They're incredibly loud and it makes no sense. We should fix or replace these trains first.