High Speed Rail Hit by US Budget Cuts

[Guest fountainhall]

I guess it

[Guest anonone]

I guess it

[TotallyOz]

The USA is in a pickle right now. It is a mess here. I love the country but the country is so polarized that little will get done and no politicians have balls to do what is need to set us on the right path. The Republicans only care about abortion and not taxing the rich. The Democrats don't know their ass from a hole in the ground and only care about the next election. They never understood the power they had for 2 years and messed up any chance they had by being wussies.

 

Personally, I wish we had a strong 3rd party.

 

Who do I love? Neither party right now. I am so disappointed that I doubt I'll even take part in the next major election. That said, I'll probably cave in when the Republicans nominate some nut job like Donald Trump or Sarah Palin to their ticket.

[Guest]

Distances in the US are not conducive to a high speed network whilst cheap aviation fuel makes domestic flight affordable. When oil becomes too expensive, high speed rail could be come almost essential as a means of covering those long distances.

Also, the unstable oil producing countries could stop your domestic aviation, but they could not stop Nuclear powered rail systems.

[Guest fountainhall]

Distances in the US are not conducive to a high speed network whilst cheap aviation fuel makes domestic flight affordable.

Not sure I agree about the first part. Cross-country probably doesn't make much sense. But surely some of the shorter commuter routes would - like Washington/New York, New York/Boston, LA/San Francisco and perhaps even New York/Chicago. If I could do NYC city centre to Chicago city centre in, say, 4 hours travelling at around 200 mph, I'd take that anytime over a plane. That's the speed of many of the new trains in China.

 

As you say, though, the price of all forms of petrol/gas in the USA is a key issue. What's the reason for the US holding gas prices down at ridiculous levels (at least that's how it seems to those who live outside the US) when other countries tax it heavily? Raise the tax and put part of the increase to the new rail network. Obvious! Ooops, but I forgot about politics, the airline lobbyists, the gas company lobbyists, the truckers lobbyists, the car makers lobbyists . . . !

 

And I had thought Obama and his Democrats were going to change all that!

[Guest anonone]

Not sure I agree about the first part. Cross-country probably doesn't make much sense. But surely some of the shorter commuter routes would - like Washington/New York, New York/Boston, LA/San Francisco and perhaps even New York/Chicago. If I could do NYC city centre to Chicago city centre in, say, 4 hours travelling at around 200 mph, I'd take that anytime over a plane. That's the speed of many of the new trains in China.

 

As you say, though, the price of all forms of petrol/gas in the USA is a key issue. What's the reason for the US holding gas prices down at ridiculous levels (at least that's how it seems to those who live outside the US) when other countries tax it heavily? Raise the tax and put part of the increase to the new rail network. Obvious! Ooops, but I forgot about politics, the airline lobbyists, the gas company lobbyists, the truckers lobbyists, the car makers lobbyists . . . !

 

And I had thought Obama and his Democrats were going to change all that!

 

Agree that regional routes, probably up and down both the East and West coast, would be the way to start.

 

I also agree that raising the taxes on gasoline/petrol should have already been done. The argument against more taxes on fuel is a disproportionate impact on lower income families. A much larger percentage of their income would have to be spent on fuel versus a higher income group. I don't necessarily agree with it, but that is the argument.

 

Without major public transport options (outside of big city aresa), there is little alternative for those that have to get around. Pump the gas and pay the price.

[Guest]

Raising fuel taxes would have the benefit of easing people out of their hideous V8 SUVs into something more efficient BEFORE oil rockets up to stratospheric prices.

 

If there was another oil price shock & fuel prices doubled, the average US driver would feel the pain a lot more than the average West European one.

 

Although Thais have slightly more sensible powertrains in their pickups, incomes are lower & it would make sense for their government to encourage people to move to more efficient cars.

 

Actually, raising fuel taxes and spending the money on nuclear powered rail infrastructure could be a good strategic move. Unfortunately, some governments have lost the ability to make & explain strategic policy.