China Begins To Extend High Speed Rail Across Asia 387
MikeChino writes "Last year we learned that China planned to expand its high-speed rail network all the way to Europe and now the nation has launched the first step of the project with plans to extend tracks into northern Laos. The nation has also set goals of expanding the high-speed rail line into Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore."
Re:too bad this country can't do the same (Score:4, Interesting)
The cities around Charleston decided against building a light rail network between them because they all wanted total control and didn't want to pay anything. That attitude is common, I have found.
The US was great, some time in the 1950s, but frankly got eclipsed pretty quickly by other nations in just about every field. The US has remained a superpower on aggregate, because others specialized more, but this has been at the price of developing quickly at relatively little. Spread waaaay too thin.
Unemployment is high enough that you could replace the entire rail system of the US with the kind of tracks needed for high-speed rail within weeks, if not days, of the necessary track being produced because it's absurdly parallel. Replacing one piece of track has no dependencies on the state of any other piece of track, so there is no serialization and no blocking involved.
Rail too limited to get everywhere? Hmmm, seems to me there's plenty of trains that can carry cars. If you can travel between point A and point B faster than the cars could on their own, then drive the much shorter distances either end, everyone wins. You get total freedom AND get to sit back for most of the journey.
It won't happen because those antagonistic don't care about such stuff. If "freedom" was really a part of the equation, what could be freer than going anywhere you like in the country in a third the time, without the stress, at lower cost, with greatly reduced risk of accidents, far less wear-and-tear on your vehicle and no danger of a speeding ticket, all by having the middle bit of the journey done by someone else?
Re:China to lose even more money on high-speed rai (Score:5, Interesting)
As the GP I agree completely. For example, Ottawa, my nation's capital, has beautiful dedicated transit lanes. The buses speed past stopped traffic on the highways on their own private roadways, bringing public transit users to and from major stations with speed and efficiency. Last I checked, NYC is also an excellent example of a city that understands the need for at least decent public transit.
Unfortunately, too many people look at transit as a private for-profit opportunity, instead of a public good.
Re:China to lose even more money on high-speed rai (Score:4, Interesting)
You have obviously never been to Europe.
Their favourite means of transportation is train. You can go through high-speed rail to almost anywhere in western Europe. I've been to the central bus station in Berlin. It's so desert it's scary.
The rail system in the US is archaic. It's slow and expensive. Of course no one wants to use it. I grant you that, bus is cheaper than train in Europe as well, but the difference in comfort and speed is worth it.
Re:China to lose even more money on high-speed rai (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't think you should underestimate the indirect effects. There was of course no conspiracy to ditch trams in Norway, yet two of the three large tram cities got rid of them.
If you read the contemporary newspapers, you see why: it was top-down decisions, and the argument was always _trams are becoming old-fashioned. Buses are the future._ Now where did they get that idea? (which was, by the way, entirely wrong, despite its self-fulfilling character). By looking at other cities, abroad. Some of got rid of their trams for corrupt reasons.