Environmental concerns have never stopped any developed economy from doing what they want. Just look at this area on a map. These objections are not serious. The passenger rail service is trash in the US because of the automobile and hydrocarbon industries.
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atrielienz@lemmy.world 2 weeks agoJust curious about what your thought is here? How straight are the roads? How often do they have to be resurface or maintenance? Just because there’s a road or highway, the are must be able to support high speed rail? Should they continue to clear swamp land in order to erect high speed rail? Is the plan here to usurp the highway for high speed rail? If so, what happens to those people who still need a vehicle in order to get where they’re going? What happens if they need that highway?
ZMoney@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
atrielienz@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
lemmy.world/comment/18865484 Your welcome to read my other comment, but I doubt you are knowledgeable about this subject.
RushLana@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
In case this is in good faith :
There is 4 lanes, you can remove one or two and set train tracks which don’t have a lot of constraints compared to cars due to train wheel being steel and having better adherence.
People who still need car for whatever reason can use the remaining lanes and have less trafic since train are a lot more efficient than car at moving people.
If you are woried about the swap I’m sure care exaust and tires particles which are know to damage environement a lot. Trains are electric so at least polution will be localized near power plants and thoose can be eventualy replaced by renewables.
atrielienz@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Okay. So firstly, “the swamp” is an important and endangered part of the environment. It absorbs flood water and run off, it is a sink for greenhouse gasses, it absorbs a lot of the toxic pollution from cars including exhaust particles and the shed particles from tires. In Florida and Georgia specifically, flooding is a major factor in the civil engineering and design of roadways and population centers, and the elevation is mostly at or below sea level. Both of these states are prone to weather patterns that lead to storms, hurricanes, and tornados.
So we’re not just talking about one set of rail on I95?
I’m going to preface what I say next with two points. There is already a rail system down the East Coast (including the east coast of Georgia and Florida), with an Amtrak line that runs stops between Georgia and Orland Florida. Two, at least part of that railroad line is endangered because a lot of the East Coast, including parts of Georgia and Florida is sinking due to salt water intrusion.
Additionally, I95 (one of the major interstate highways that runs from through Georgia and Florida) is also running along the eastern coast and is endangered more and more every year because of the same salt water intrusion and sinking coast line.
There’s two options for rail. Diesel powered rail which would require refueling stations or at the very least places to store the fuel. But I doubt that’s what people mean. This would add to traffic (fuel delivery and maintenance isn’t going to be done using this train) because trucks would be required to carry that fuel.
You’d also still need to build ingress and egress points for the rail, things like park and ride, things like stations, things like dropoff areas. This will have to be in addition to what is already there because what you’re expecting is that more people in Florida/Georgia will use rail rather than drive. So no. We aren’t just taking two lanes off a highway and dropping in some railroad tracks. That’s not how that works.
To move the same volume of people in the event of a tropical storm, hurricane, or flood, a train has to be able to be powered. So I’m going to assume (since most people who argue for trains are people who think it’ll be more environmentally friendly) that we’re talking about electric rail. Meaning you’re going to need electricity to power those rail lines. What happens when power isn’t available? Where do we put electrical substations? Where do we put the rest of the infrastructure to support the rail? I’m guessing we’re clearing swamp land for that.
Evacuation due to weather is a big one. Can you evacuate on the train? If it’s running, sure. Should you? Questionable. Is it easier and are you more likely to be able to take things with you that you don’t want destroyed in a different vehicle? Pets? Old people with equipment like wheel chairs and other aids? And before you go “of course!” I’m going to remind you that building that are fully up to fire code expect paralyzed people to just figure it out. Elevator? Don’t use the elevator. Stairs? Guess I’m dragging myself down the stairs if I’m able bodied enough to do so. My multi-thousand dollar piece of medical equipment? Unless someone is willing to help me drag it down serval flights of stairs, the recommendation is to leave it. And it may not be reimbursed or replaced by my insurance company. Assuming I have insurance.
Tickets on the train that is already available? $140 a ticket one way.
High speed rail doesn’t pay for itself, and to get Floridians to use it you’re going to need to make it affordable. This will raise the taxes of Floridians and they don’t pay state income tax. Meaning this is going to be paid for using federal funding (which Trump has cut repeatedly in the last 6 months), sales tax, tax on titles and tags,.and property tax which sounds great until you realize that those people who still need cars when and if this is built will absolutely still use cars, and the people paying the property tax will fight this to the death.
I was going to mention they “in good faith” bit and respond to it but in trying really hard to be chill about this since I’m obviously not talking to someone with any background data for this subject, up to and including anything about Florida, and its water table, or it’s elevation compared to sea level and the kind of storms and acts of nature it normally gets.
There are other factors to, but I’ve spent enough time on this specifically.
So if you would like to continue this conversation in good faith, do some research please.