Craziness Over High Speed Rail

[Ben]

Why do politicians get so enamored about building high speed rail instead of building conventional rail service first? Why waste millions and millions to study maglev when you can use that money to double-track existing lines and add stations? Maglev and high speed rail is a pipe dream; it takes billions to build, verses millions to upgrade existing track and run 79-90mph trains. The existing money should be used to start conventional trains that run between LA-Vegas, Cleveland-Cincinnati, and Texas Triangle 1st. After ridership warrants, then think about high speed.

 

[Trogdor]

Because super-high-speed rail is sexy. Conventional rail isn't.

The problem is that, in many cases, the rights of way are so old and curvy and congested that brand new lines would have to be built to get true high speed (150+ mph) operation. This makes the price tag on those projects very high. The current lines can only be upgraded so much.