Quote:
Originally Posted by Busy Bee
Now that FEC is operating, does anyone think a true high speed rail network will actually come about in the next 30 years?
|
This is a fair point. No, I cannot see a viable way it could happen. If a government were to propose one, VTUSA would complain that the government is now subsidizing their competitor. And it would take some serious government investment for VTUSA to upgrade to a true HSR, which would make a lot of people angry that a government is subsidizing a private company.
Now that we've got a private rail service, we're kind of stuck with it. The only thing we can really do is tend the market forces that would allow the private company to expand their service offerings.
I get why this is so disappointing, since it would have been really cool to have an electrified 160 mph+ train that could really show people what they are missing. Instead we get a diesel powered train that will hit 125 mph for a very brief stretch sometime in 2022. Perhaps the segment to Tampa will be close to what was originally proposed, but even then the 125 mph limit will exist, and if timelines for that project are consistent with what we've seen with the Orlando segment, it probably won't open until 2030.
But here's the thing:
It Exists. There is an awesome rail terminus in Miami right now, and people are riding around on a for-profit train service for the first time in ~25 years.
Similarly, corridor service between LA and LV has been proposed for years, from maglevs to 220+mph trains to hyperloops and everything else under the sun - but yet today there is nothing. The current VTUSA proposal seems like the most likely thing to
actually get built - so I say "Move over revolution, you've had your chance! Let's give incrementalism a try!"
You could see this as the government failing so badly that the private sector can actually make a profit - sort of like a failure to deliver clean drinking water that allows bottled water makers to mark up their prices. I prefer to see it as the first
incremental step into a new transportation paradigm. With the rise of robo-taxis, subsidized roads won't be seen so much as an indisputable public good but rather a government subsidy to car-operating companies. People will become passengers wherever they go, so mode will become less important. The market and corporate competition will shape transportation more than planners and policy-makers, which has the potential to cut down on waste.
But to be less grandiose, my desire for VTUSA to use BNSF tracks to run conventionally into LA stem mostly from my impatience to see anything get done. Relying on governments and revolutionary proposals hasn't worked. If I am ever going to ride a train from LA to LV in my lifetime, some compromises will have to be made, and from the corporate perspective of VTUSA, running on freight tracks at conventional speeds seems like the only solution to this as-yet unsolved problem.
Prev
Linear Mode
