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Planes save time and money. High speed rail is a political payoff to contractors and unions, at the expense of the taxpayer.
"Today, Amtrak passenger rail service from Seattle to Los Angeles takes 35 hours and costs about $150. A round trip takes three days and costs around $200. Improving speeds would certainly make the trip more attractive, but would it be enough to compete with airlines, as the President says?
A flight between the same two cities costs about $70 and takes two and half hours. A roundtrip flight would take five hours and cost about $130. Even if an HSR system could be built to achieve an average speed of over 100 miles per hour, the trip would still take a full day to complete. And the capital expenditure for the improvements would drive ticket prices far out of reach of passengers who want to use the service regularly."
The California version will cost $200 billion--bonds worth $100 billion and interest charges of $100 billion--and not a dime to operate the corrupt system.
"Traveling by HSR may be attractive for tourists and family vacations. It is true that everyone who visits Europe is delighted by how easy trekking across the continent has become with HSR. But studies show that rail's share of travelers has fallen steadily in Europe since 1980. Despite Europe's high population density, which is the single most influential factor in attracting transit ridership, technological advances in air and auto travel are allowing consumers other choices that are faster and cheaper.
The data shows that intercity rail is more novelty than a serious travel alternative."
Government and its special interest owners, the unions, are sick. They are killing jobs, harming their members and bankrupting the nation. This is only one of the schemes to assure all of us live on the public dole.
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"Today, Amtrak passenger rail service from Seattle to Los Angeles takes 35 hours and costs about $150. A round trip takes three days and costs around $200. Improving speeds would certainly make the trip more attractive, but would it be enough to compete with airlines, as the President says?
A flight between the same two cities costs about $70 and takes two and half hours. A roundtrip flight would take five hours and cost about $130. Even if an HSR system could be built to achieve an average speed of over 100 miles per hour, the trip would still take a full day to complete. And the capital expenditure for the improvements would drive ticket prices far out of reach of passengers who want to use the service regularly."
The California version will cost $200 billion--bonds worth $100 billion and interest charges of $100 billion--and not a dime to operate the corrupt system.
"Traveling by HSR may be attractive for tourists and family vacations. It is true that everyone who visits Europe is delighted by how easy trekking across the continent has become with HSR. But studies show that rail's share of travelers has fallen steadily in Europe since 1980. Despite Europe's high population density, which is the single most influential factor in attracting transit ridership, technological advances in air and auto travel are allowing consumers other choices that are faster and cheaper.
The data shows that intercity rail is more novelty than a serious travel alternative."
Government and its special interest owners, the unions, are sick. They are killing jobs, harming their members and bankrupting the nation. This is only one of the schemes to assure all of us live on the public dole.
More...