Many experts say the effort was unrealistic from the start, as the New York Times reports:
“The idea that we would have a high-speed system that 80 percent of Americans could access in that short period of time was unadulterated hype, and it didn’t take an expert to see though it,” said Kenneth Orski, the editor and publisher of an influential transportation newsletter who served in the Nixon and Ford administrations. [...]
C. William Ibbs, a professor of civil engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, said countries with successful high-speed rail projects had higher population densities, higher gas prices, higher rates of public-transportation use and lower rates of car ownership. “So it wouldn’t make any sense to have a high-speed rail train in most areas of the United States,” he said. “The geography is different and other factors are just too different.”
When it comes to trains........well when it comes to pretty much anything, you don't want to listen to R experts.You esp don't wan to listen to them when they are over 40.
As for the $11 billion, there was only one pseudo EU hi speed rail line planned..........between Tampa and Orlando. R Guv Scott killed that one. So the money was spent on more improvements for other lines........the Cascade line up here in the PNW got some of it.
What Obama is talking about when he says hi speed is not EU or Japan hi speed rail but hi speed rail American style. You see.......thanks to Rs.............this country is so far behind the rest of the world when it some to HSR, HSR means going over 90 MPH vs 180 MPH for the EU and Japan.
Rs would never let real money be spent on trains and so we have tracks mostly suited for freight trains........speeds of around 40-50 MPH on a good day.
BTW despite Rs attempts over the decades to kill passenger travel in this country, train passengers totals are the highest they've been in decades. So the real EPIC FAIL is the Rs.........once again. |
