Amazing photos show us why the American transportation network has fallen off the rails!

[Democrats Ramshield]

Last edited Thu Mar 20, 2014, 03:59 PM - Edit history (4)

Cross posted by the author from the Daily Kos.
(Please note: This article received 14,000 shares on Facebook and 514 recommends and 501 comments on Daily Kos.)

(Written by an American expat living in the European Union)

"Forget the space race. The new arms race is over high-speed trains. China is in negotiations to build a high-speed rail network to India and Europe that would make a trip from London to Beijing last just two days".

Most Americans have no experience with hi-speed rail from a passengers perspective. Therefore this diary tries to give some background as to what your experience maybe on hi-speed rail.

As an American expat living in the European Union I was recently able to travel in a German hi-speed rail train, clipping along at excess of over 300 kilometers an hour from Frankfurt to Cologne. It was a very smooth ride, much smoother than any airplane I've ever been on. It was also much quieter than any plane I've ever been on, and of course there were more bathrooms than any plane I'd ever been on. I kept my tray during my trip in the upright position, except when I was using my laptop, which I was able to plug in under my seat. Instead of being served that really tacky tasting airline food, I was able to go to the dining cart and pick out from a full menu of tasty dishes. During the ride I was able to use my cell phone as well as wireless internet, and of course there could be no luggage lost, because I was able to keep a hold of my luggage, not just a carry on. Then let me state the obvious there was no pre-flight check in, no pat downs, no scanners. When you buy your ticket, you don't even have to go to a ticket counter, you can buy it from a vending machine. If you miss your train it is never a problem, because there will be another train usually within the hour. Watching the German countryside whisk by at a speed of over 300 kilometers an hour was breathtaking, as well as beautiful. It beats looking out your window at clouds that's for sure.

To continue reading the rest of this article, please click on the link below.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/16/1285080/-Amazing-photos-show-us-why-the-American-transportation-network-has-fallen-off-the-rails

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[jsr]

1. Recommend

[Aristus]

2. Recommended, but I think I can state, categorically, that the US will never get something like this.

We don't have the money or the political will.

It's a shame...

[Democrats Ramshield]

4. If we build it, they will come

We are the owners of this country and not the 1%. This requires we take ownership of this issue as something near and dear to the hearts of the American people. The diary is a story of a love lost of American rail travel but we can change that story by reconnecting our communities, small and large to never be a whistle stop away in the grid iron that build this country from sea to shining sea. That's what made America great once and we can make it work again.

We can revitalize our small communities, we can create green jobs that can't be outsourced that are high wage jobs. This can be done but we must have faith and work together. Thank you for your support of hi-speed rail, today, tomorrow and forever.

[otherone]

7. If we build it, they will come

..

[bvar22]

5. Well, we DO have the money... we have PLENTY of money.

It is the political will that is missing.

[font size=3]"A developed country is NOT one where the poor have cars,
but one where the rich use Public Transportation."[/font]
---Former Mayor of Bogata

[upaloopa]

3. The American train in the picture looks like

the Coast Starlight. It is not a good comparison to bullet trains. People ride the Coast Starlight for the ride. To have a room in a sleeper car. I rode it last year. 36 hours from San Luis Obispo to Seattle. You ride it for the scenery, to meet the people you sit with in the dining car, to just relax and have a drink and chat in the lounge car.
Not every rider wants bullet speed. A better comparison is an all coach intercity train.

[zeemike]

8. I rode the Western Chief from Santa Fe to San Luis Obispo

a couple years ago...it was not a fast ride but it was a great travel experience...I got to meet and talk to all kinds of people, get up and move around, go to the snack bar when I wanted something.
Not fast but it was a lot more fun than that big old jet airliner I took before it.
I would do it again if I needed to travel.

[Laelth]

6. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[Jerry442]

9. There's an easy way to have a rail system here just as good as the rest of the world...

...and we can use resources we already have at our disposal.

We just use our massively funded military machine to bomb their railroads back into a 1950's state.