Comment on Anon likes trains

NutWrench@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  Also, The US is really big

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  • filcuk@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    I have heard that China has made significant efforts in this area, but that really is a massive change in just over a decade.
    Meanwhile, the UK will take as long to build a single high-speed line.

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    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      UK deliberately defunded their HR connection between Manchester and London. The Tories sold off the land in a rapid auction, just to make sure Labour couldn’t take over and finish the job after the next election.

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    • OhShitSon@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      The secret is slavery.

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      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

        Actual Footage! China’s Modern Track Laying Methods For High Speed Railways

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      • huppakee@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

        The secret to it being affordable, doesn’t mean it can’t be done any other way. Authoritarian government also helped a lot in getting it done this fast but still doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Just not as fast and as cheap as China did.

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• LilB0kChoy@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  freight carriers usually get priority.

  They’re not supposed to. Passenger traffic on Amtrak should be getting priority but the rail lines basically say “fuck it” and do what the want.

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  • conditional_soup@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    Some asshole Mba/lawyers figured out that if they made the trains physically too long to fit onto the pull outs, then they could just shrug and say “golly, we’d love to pull over for you, but we just can’t lmao” and it’s perfectly fine. It’s called Precision Scheduled Railroading

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    • lightnsfw@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      Seems like an easy solution would be fining the shit out of them for that. Or requiring an expensive permit for overly long trains.

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      • conditional_soup@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

        Well, see, for that to happen, you’d need politicians who aren’t complicit in trying to rip the wiring out of the walls. Also, regulating railroads is hella complicated in the US because we’ve got a bunch of ancient laws that give the railroads more rights than God, to the point where you almost stop being a citizen when you step onto railroad right of way. We COULD deal with that, but it’d be almost as much of an al.ighty fucking lobbyist shitshow as when we try to regulate oil.

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  • Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    Lmao, money concentration wins over all the things human.

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• Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  With 300mph trains instead is highways that’s 7 hours, k, let’s say 10 hours of leisure, dining, sightseeing.

  The infrastructure seems expensive just bcs it is presented that way (and planes & roads arent).

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  • huppakee@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    presented regulated that way: companies can buy kerosene for airplanes tax-free, but need to pay tax on electricity for trains. Funding for airports and trainstations differ greatly from high ways. Governments hand out money to make the best mode of transportation (from their pov) also the cheapest.

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    • Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      Yes.

      But else laws got passed bcs it was presented like how airplanes deserve being untaxed (to the cost of taxpayers) but railroad doesn’t.

      You can try to change those laws & get the same lobby propaganda in return.

      Like how is there always money for another lane but much cheaper infrastructure is crumbling.

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• sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  Yes, the US is really big, and we have a bunch of mountains, but there’s still no good reason why reasonable train infrastructure doesn’t exist. We have train lines from Seattle to LA, SF to Chicago (and transfers to NYC and DC), and NYC to Miami, but they’re all super slow and have to share with even slower freight sometimes.

  I live in Utah and know a bunch of people who would take a train to Vegas almost every weekend if it existed and was somewhat fast. I’d take one from SLC to LA if it existed, and I’d consider one across the country if it was reasonably priced. But no, the train takes twice as long as a car for most destinations, and is often more expensive than an airplane, so why would I ever take the train outside of the train being the point (i.e. as a novelty)?

  Make them fast and convenient and people will rife them. Apparently Amtrak gets decent usage in the NE because they’re fast and convenient. Do that for the west and people will use them.

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