China continues to build rail lines with high-speed passenger service, like 155 miles an hour:
China’s development of high speed rail may have been late but over the past five years, China has accomplished what other countries have taken decades to achieve.
High-speed rail has many advantages: it is fast, comfortable, and has a large carrying capacity. And, its environmentally friendly nature is particularly, in keeping with global trends.
HS runs with little noise, vibration, and carbon emissions. MOR figures show it is cost-efficient and energy saving, consuming less than 16 kw/h of electricity per person. This is 20 percent savings compared to flight and 30 percent compared to automobile travel.
Comprehensive energy consumption by the HS train is 0.24 tonne of coal for each 10,000 yuan of revenue, which is 43 percent of that of the conventional train.
ever see a chinese subway? they cram people in the cars, with workers thats job is to do just that, cram passengers into the subway cars. imagine if they do that on a bullet train!! and it some how derails. gonna be messy….but efficent in a way they wont like.
well, surprise, surprise. I never saw THIS coming
from alltransport.com
“Zippy high speed trains make a slow moving target for opportunistic Republican candidates hoping to stick it to the Democrats this fall. President Barack Obama has alloted more than $8 billion for the construction of a nationwide network of high speed rail trains, but the fate of plans in key states lies in the hands of politicians and hopefuls determined to score political points by throttling development”.