A Maglev Train System for Florida? 298
Artifice_Eternity writes "For 20 years, citizens of Florida have been pushing for high-speed rail, as an alternative to the state's ever-growing, yet ever-crowded highways. A previous plan, the Florida Overland eXpress (FOX), was
killed by governor Jeb Bush in 1998. The voters responded by passing a referendum to require the building of a "bullet train," starting by November 2003.
The new
Florida High Speed Rail Authority is focusing first on the busy Miami-Orlando and Tampa-Orlando corridors, but eventually hopes to serve the whole state.
And they are seriously considering maglev technology! If the Florida HSR system did use maglev, it would be the largest one in the world. (Right now, maglev is in use on test tracks in
Germany and Japan, with a 30-kilometer system under construction in Shanghai.)
However, I like this humorous proposal best: it takes the idea of a "bullet train" literally, using the Jules Verne approach to propulsion."
Scotty, I need more POWER!!!!!! (Score:2, Interesting)
Oh yeah, let's not forget the couple 'o fusion reactors that'll be needed to power the sucker.
Re:Futuristic Trains in Central Florida (Score:3, Interesting)
One more link.. (Score:5, Interesting)
That's how florida's high-speed rail authority recently choose to gauge public interest [tampatrib.com] in riding the high speed train.
Re:Pushing? (Score:4, Interesting)
I will say, you are certainly correct in your second paragraph, I just don't think you can convince me that because it was introduced via petition that certain mouse-eared companies had nothing to do with sponsoring said petition.
Jacksonville has a monorail system that is not used becuase it currently only benefits one small portion of a very spread-out city, and the voters won't throw any more money at it to expand the service because of the perception that it won't benefit them- I guess I just don't want to see that happen in this case. Traveling in south florida is a pain, what with all the tolls and everything, anything to relieve that would be nice.
Re:Pushing? (Score:3, Interesting)
The problem isn't getting between Tampa and Orlando. The problem is getting from the rail station to where you need to go. Mass transit in Florida is nearly worthless to anyone except the poor or the martyrs. I can drive to work in 15 minutes, but to take a bus I have to walk/bike 3 miles, switch buses twice, then walk another mile. It's 2 hours each way.
I'm sure there will be Disney and hotel shuttles though.
The solution (if you refuse to finance and offer incentives for mass transit) is better roads. We still have plenty of clover-style on/off-ramps where onramp traffic has to cross over offramp traffic. We have way too short merge lanes at critical spots. Crap, we have a right-angle bend on a two-lane offramp that many drivers take at 50mph+. A gas tanker flipped and burned there recently, trashing the overpass for months. Do these engineers drive?
If we'd just yank the license of anyone with a 3" tailpipe on a Civic and blondes with BMWs, I'd shave 2 hours off my commute time every week.
Where do I park my car? (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm wondering how much distance a 150 mph train achieves its top speed. It's safe to assume we only have one station in every major cities, which are miles and miles of sprawl. Take a taxi from my place to airport cost me $50, and that's only one way.
I love trains, I do, but billions of dollars are better spent on some good city planning first. And like a famous quote from a Florida legislator: "We should pay every teacher in this state at least $60,000". I'll vote for that.
Another Practicality vs Gee-Whiz! toy... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:One more link.. (Score:3, Interesting)
When exactly was it that cops stopped being responsible for public safety and became agents of the state?
Have you noticed that people don't even expect cops to do things relating to public safety anymore? ITs just a foregone conclusion that they are the state's bullies-- there to harass drivers, or bust drugs (which has nothing to do with public safety) or provide protection, or run interference for politicos and corporations (such as blocking traffic, or providing "security" which is really just armed enforcement, without the checks or balances of the law.)
When was the last time a cop shot an innocent person and went to jail for it? I can't think of any... seems they do that once a month here in Seattle and are never brought up on charges, let alone serve time.
Hell on TV they don't even try to portray cops as working for any kind of objectivity-- they are always working for the prosecution. Notice that? It wouldn't be so bad if they were genreally trustworthy, but its been widely reported the hundreds of cases where the state forensice expert cooked the evidence (Where was that? Missouri? Maryland?) For decade he was doing this.
Its time to get rid of the police part of the police state-- let private security agencies represent us and defend us-- and make everyone equal under the law. (And no more agents of the state getting first crack at the evidence so they can tamper with it. Completely lacks objectivity that.)
Thanks for listening to my rant. while I was born in the south, I left after I realized just how corrupt the states are.. Florida, LA, Miss, Texas-- hell cops were drowning people in Brayes Bayou and shooting them, while drunk, on the freeway when I left Texas (and of course, no charges are filed.)