lpetrich wrote:I use I-35 as a boundary because it is a convenient marker for the boundary between the more dense eastern half and the less dense western half of the contiguous US.
East of I-35, this possible route has a length of 1526 mi (northern) or 1421 mi (southern). It looks far too long for a sensible high-speed-rail route, but it has many cities along its length, cities only a few hundred miles apart along it. Its largest separations are Cleveland-Chicago (343 mi) and Philadelpha-Pittsburgh (304 mi). So a high-speed line will get plenty of business from neighboring cities.
West of I-35, the cities become much more sparse until one reaches the West Coast, with separations from 421 mi to 649 mi. These distances are rather great for a sensible HSR line.
So Joe Biden's transcontinental-HSR proposal only works for NYC to I-35.
Its always good to do the math before venturing an opinion.
The ideal use for HSR is for mid-range travel. The math involved is pretty simple. In Europe a high speed rail train reaches speeds approaching 300 KM/hr (ca. 180 mph). Thus you could travel between Cleveland and Chicago in about two hours, from downtown station to downtown station. By comparison, a planet trip would take an hour drive to the airport, two to three hours through ticketing and security lines, an hour flights, and then then another hour on the other end to get to downtown there, for a total of 2 hours for high speed rail vs. 6 hours to go by plane, i.e. the train is 3 times faster.
This math still works for longer inter-city trips in the western USA. Lets try the 421 miles distance you cited as "too far" for a HSR train trip out west. The downtown to downtown by HSR takes 2.5 hours, while the same trip by plane takes 6.5 hours, i.e. you are still more than twice as fast by train. Doing the math has given us the answer.....HSR can work very well in the western USA. Its not only competitive with plane travel---its clearly faster and better.
IMHO Joe Biden is right----a HSR network for the US is a wonderful idea. (1) you build infrastructure, which this country needs (2) you create jobs in the US by building Us instrasture) (3) you reduce CO2 emissions by putting people on EV trains instead of planes or in their cars and (4) travel is faster and more convenient on a train.
The problem I see is Biden appears to have plagarized Obama's old HSR plan, which of course Obama lied about. I'm tempted to back Old White Joe just because of his HSR plan, but I'm concerned he is just lying about supporting HSR the way Obama did.
Cheers!