Why does the US not have more high speed trains like Europe or Japan?

Question

Why does the US not have more high speed trains like Europe or Japan?

Answer 1

I don't know where Wolf gets his figures from. Acela runs at 150mph for just a few miles; the rest of the way it's 125mph or less. TGVs, Eurostars, Shinkansens all run at 186mph or more, which by my maths is about a quarter faster, not 10% faster. Plus, they travel at this speed for most of their journey. Example: NYP-WAS average speed of 81mph on Acela Express. Paris to Brussels? 113mph. As for standards, well, US Signalling leaves much to be desired - none of the US equipment has received safety clearance for European railways without serious investment to get it to meet European safety standards.

Anyway, going back to the question, there are certain corridor areas that have been identified as viable for high speed travel. While LA to Chicago might not be suitable for a 200mph railway in terms of cost, shorter distances (generally under 300 miles) between busy city pairs are considered very viable and pro-cost. But it's that last factor that scares many Americans - the initial cost. They like their planes and their automobiles and consider rail as a 3rd class mode of travel. The American public needs to change its attitude, and then from there change their elected politician's attitudes. Only then can something happen for the benefit of everybody (including the rest of us on Earth that suffer their carbon emmissions).

Answer 2

Unfortunately our infrastructure in the US was developed with the automobile in mind... another contributing factor was America's infatuation with air travel... airports developed more rapidly than train stations and we've become stuck as a nation depending on our cars and the sometimes unpredictable airplane.  I agree that if there were more trains to travel on, and compete with planes.... both cost and efficiency, people would use them.  Lets look at it this way:  Do you have to de-ice a train or wait for the tracks to be totally devoid of snow before traveling???  No, a train can and will get through more adverse conditions. (Ok, well maybe it's not a great idea to hurtle down a snow covered track, where you can't see what you're traveling on, but I think everyone gets my point)

Answer 3

We are a vastly larger country than the nations of Europe or Japan. We need our cars and trucks.

Answer 4

Politics. As stated above, the car rules. (Remember that the tyre and gasoline companies bought up all the tramways and scrapped them. Only now is it being realised that mass transit in cities is best served by Light Rail).

There was a scheme for a high speed rail link between Las Vegas and Los Angeles via Barstow using an existing route. However President Clinton vetoed the idea because the single line track would have to be doubled and that would affect the habitat of the desert tortoise! The train sets were built and languished in Oakland for several years before moving north to Seattle.

Answer 5

Putting aside the sheer vastness, our government

heavily favors the automotive and oil industries too much to

support the construction of a vast high speed network of bullet trains.

Currently, the gov't subsidizes amtrack enough to keep it too expensive to increase its use....

If our gasoline tax money was separated from our general fund....as we voted it to be, and used for a bullet train from large city to large city, the consumption of fuel would decrease and the oil/car companies would fall flat on their faces due to loss of demand.

This question is a good one, because it shows the country's leadership's priorities.

If a bullet train took me from SF to LA in 3 hours, I'd pay 50-75 bucks each way.

Answer 6

America's Acela is as fast as most Shinkansen.  Most TGVs are only 10% faster than Acela, and the fastest are only 24% faster.

Our population density is much lower,  you cannot imagine Japan.  Our country is much larger in area, and the distance doesn't favor trains.   So a lot more track to build and a lot fewer people to pay for it.

Americans are cheap.  Case in point, $50-75 from SF-LA won't cut it!  It's US$120+ for London-Paris, a shorter distance.

The other thing is, our regular railroads are MUCH better than their regular railroads, and we can often upgrade our lines while they must build whole new lines.  Upgrades make less news.