UK rapidly expands high speed rail network

[2dimes]

I don’t get on a train for speed. Put me in the dining car or next to a big window and I’ll stay there all day.

Sure but most people are interested in getting to their destination as fast as possible.

I don’t understand why CHSR and Brightline West don’t, build the overpasses, lay the tracks, build simple platforms and run some trains. Even regular speed trains should be able to run a fair bit faster than vehicle traffic on the same routes. Especially if they’re on reasonably straight dedicated tracks that don’t require waiting for the freight trains.

Plus like you wrote, some of us like the leasure of relaxing with snacks and beverages in the dining car.

That could bring in revenue which could be applied to the cost.

[Apatheist]

Apologies. Let's get this thread back on track
No-one needs to save a relatively short amount of time on a relatively short journey, and for the cost involved, it simply isn't worth it. So you get to spend an extra hour in Birmingham - whoopee. I live on the HS1 line, and other than an alternative when it snows because it uses overhead cables, there's really no benefit on the journey into London, certainly not worth the extra cost - which was not only borne by those using the service, but all users of SouthEastern Trains. I didn't use it more than a handful of times in the 15 years it was available while I was commuting, but my ticket price still went up.
With the increasing debt in the UK, it's a luxury that we can't afford. Get up an hour earlier.
What would bring the cost of travel down is the replacement of vastly overpaid drivers by driverless trains. Maybe we'll lose a few idiots who think it's a good idea to play on the tracks or ignore the warnings at a level crossing, but we're better off without them anyway.

If it really is an hour extra, and that is a daily commute to work, then that is two hours a day, 10 hours a week, 500 hours a year. That's a lot.

Britain is pretty small, so I suppose the overall demand for high-speed trains is moderate, but even a few situations like that would be enough to make it worthwhile. If even 2,000 people save 500 hours a year, that a million hours.

Apparently the average commute in the UK is 10-20 miles. My commute into London was about 45 minutes when it ran to time. Very few commute for 2 hours each way daily, although I do recall one exec who lived in Scotland and flew down to London, but that was very much the exception.
Remember what they say: in Europe, 100 miles in a long way; in the USA, 100 years is a long time.

[2dimes]

That’s about right.

The current train ride from LA to Sanfransico takes longer than driving. If they ever get a train running at 150 miles an hour or faster. It would be pretty convenient.

[jonesthecurl]

In the USA, in my experience, the passenger trains (AMTRAK) give the right of way to the railroads that own the track. Freight trains go first. So, you could be waiting a lot.

Spoiler

Does amtrak own any railroad tracks?

Amtrak owns a small portion of railroad tracks, primarily in the Northeast Corridor, where it manages about 730 miles of track. However, the majority of its trains operate on tracks owned by private freight companies, which complicates its operations and scheduling.

Yeah. The U.S. is still an automobile society.

It would have a lot to gain from real high-speed trains.

Unfortunately, Amtrak don't own the actual tracks. Hence ceding priority to freight.

[Apatheist]

Any chance the companies are still nervous about the train robberies that used to happen back in the day? Or, indeed, the passengers? Obviously at 150mph (or more, if you let Musk play with it) they won't be riding up on horseback and jumping on the guard's van, but it would be tricky to police the whole length of the track with so much of it out in the desert.

[Dukasaur]

Any chance the companies are still nervous about the train robberies that used to happen back in the day? Or, indeed, the passengers? Obviously at 150mph (or more, if you let Musk play with it) they won't be riding up on horseback and jumping on the guard's van, but it would be tricky to police the whole length of the track with so much of it out in the desert.

Those things happened when money (real money, gold and silver and notes backed by gold and silver) was transported by train. It just doesn't happen any more. Most of what the trains carry is bulk cargo like oil and iron ore. You have to steal an awful lot of it to make it pay..

You could still rob the passengers, sure, but you're probably better off robbing the people standing in line at the beer store, for a fraction of the complexity and risk.

We did have a plane robbery recently, at Toronto airport, when some gold bullion was incoming from Europe somewhere. That's how real money moves now.

[Maxleod]

Any chance the companies are still nervous about the train robberies that used to happen back in the day? Or, indeed, the passengers? Obviously at 150mph (or more, if you let Musk play with it) they won't be riding up on horseback and jumping on the guard's van, but it would be tricky to police the whole length of the track with so much of it out in the desert.

Those things happened when money (real money, gold and silver and notes backed by gold and silver) was transported by train. It just doesn't happen any more. Most of what the trains carry is bulk cargo like oil and iron ore. You have to steal an awful lot of it to make it pay..

You could still rob the passengers, sure, but you're probably better off robbing the people standing in line at the beer store, for a fraction of the complexity and risk.

We did have a plane robbery recently, at Toronto airport, when some gold bullion was incoming from Europe somewhere. That's how real money moves now.

[2dimes]

In the USA, in my experience, the passenger trains (AMTRAK) give the right of way to the railroads that own the track. Freight trains go first. So, you could be waiting a lot.

Spoiler

Does amtrak own any railroad tracks?

Amtrak owns a small portion of railroad tracks, primarily in the Northeast Corridor, where it manages about 730 miles of track. However, the majority of its trains operate on tracks owned by private freight companies, which complicates its operations and scheduling.

Yeah. The U.S. is still an automobile society.

It would have a lot to gain from real high-speed trains.

Unfortunately, Amtrak don't own the actual tracks. Hence ceding priority to freight.

Most passenger trains in North America run on single line tracks, which are owned by other companies. I don’t know if those companies give specific priority to their freight trains. But…

A sea container, “fulla rubber dog shit out of hong kong.” doesn’t get upset, so it also does not complain about being an hour late because it ended up waiting on a siding for the West bound wheat cars to pass.

Plus it was on a boat for much longer than the train.

Most people would love high speed trains. We just don’t want to pay way more for them. Including those that can afford it. They will just fly and use the extra cash for something else. They didn’t accumulate wealth by wasting money on public transit.

Brightline Florida is losing money. So that’s making it even more difficult to justify building more fast trains. We will have to wait to see if Brightline West will get built. I guess to some extent we’re still waiting to see if they ever run fast trains on the bridges finished specifically for CHSR.