Ask Lemmy

Actual high speed rail around North America. Every major metropolitan area connected to minimum 150mph speeds.

All of the idiots who joke and make fun of CHSR and Brightline have never truly seen an actual rail system in practice. I read the Facebook comments, they're all the same. "It would never work here", "We're too big", "Flights would be faster", "I just like to drive", blah blah blah. The fact is that they've never been outside of the country (and most of them outside of their immediate state area) to ever see what it's actually like, and have never seen what we're desperately missing here in America.

Oh and the worst of the complaints, the absolute worst - "It's a waste of money". Says Darrel, the guy who has done zero research about rail beyond what conservative pundits have told him, and has absolutely zero idea how much we piss away on highways every year. How much is that new lane on the local freeway costing? No freaking idea do you. But California HSR, they know to the penny how much that's costing. (You don't even have to know which freeway I'm talking about, because I know there's also a freeway near you who is getting yet another lane, everyone in the country has a freeway getting another lane.) Rail though? Oh no.. the costs!

I firmly believe this would help ease a lot of the nation's major problems. Probably not solve, but ease some of them.

• Climate Change (obviously)
• Some of the divide this nation is feeling (because it'd be easier to travel around and actually see)
  • for example, I live in Seattle, there are a lot of conservatives living just 200 miles away who never come because it's "too far" and we're "constantly having violent protests". Well come and see for yourself then. Take a day trip.
• Housing Crisis (immediately nearby cities and towns become commutable)
  • This would also help with income inequality a bit, because all of a sudden you can again commute much farther
• We waste so much land due to parking and driving, relieving that a bit could revitalize downtowns as people would pick up and leave the train in urban centers, renewing development downtown.

This list goes on

How we move around is such a huge part of our daily lives. Most people spend hours a day in their car, burning gas, driving around getting to work, stores, errands, schools, etc. We have made it so damn difficult on ourselves just to move around, and I'm sick of hearing the regurgitated excuses why it "would never work" here.

A couple good videos if you're curious.

Alan Fisher, the Armchair Urbanist explains how rail gets such scrutiny while roads get a pass

ClimateTown, How parking (and roads) are killing our towns