Passenger Trains > First class -pictures China high speed rail

First class

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Nice!

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

Spotless!

All it takes is money and the will to make it happen.

Gordon

The same can be said about the Shanghai maglev airport train. That was quite a ride!

John Meixel
Longmont, CO

gbmott Wrote:
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> All it takes is money and the will to make it
> happen.
>
> Gordon

And an authoritarian government that allows no debate on how the money is spent.

The Chinese government plans for an annual movement of 200 million people during the lunar New Year.

That the infrastructure will be under utilized for the other 330 days isn't a problem.

"The government plans"

Posted from Android

I've ridden trains in China at ordinary times of the year, and they're well patronized.

PHall Wrote:
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> gbmott Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > All it takes is money and the will to make it
> > happen.
> >
> > Gordon
>
> And an authoritarian government that allows no
> debate on how the money is spent.

By hook or by crook, China is trying to grow their middle class. When people feel they have expendable income, they are willing to spend significant amount of money to travel, and that's probably why they feel justified in building a HSR network to meet that demand.

Japan went through that since the mid-1960s. Type of government isn't too relevant. In fact, if middle class is being oppressed and shrunk, there won't be enough people to support HSR ridership - too busy working, or too poor to travel. That description sort of rings a bell around here, especially those who are prisoner of housing prices, despite "6 figure" income.

HSR as seen in China is not going to happen here, because we steered our transportation "policy" to grow auto and air travel and abandoned passenger rail travel while the rest of the developed world didn't. I'm patiently waiting for our cherished entrepreneurs and innovators to make 150+ mph freeways a reality... heard any hype about that lately? Probably not, because even the craziest schemers know it's unrealistic.

Must be nice to have money as we (possibly) go another $1.4 Trillion in debt.