Fuck Cars

I wish the train was affordable

Likewise Spain with the AVE. Cars are speed limited to 130 max I think, so it looks like the cars are stopped.

I don't know if Deutsche Bahn is the best example of this. ICE's maximum speed only means you usually end up leaving when you are supposed to be arriving.

god, driving at 200km/h is so insane

Stuttgart - Köln is one of the connections that go max speed, and it really is glorious.

But I don't think there's actually that many places the ICE can go that fast, is there?

The number of people I've met who will never take Amtrak again because they saw one delay, but will sit in gridlock for an hour each way to/from work to go 10 miles without blinking an eye drives me batty

You're moving barley? You can't move barley on a passenger train, you need a freight train for that.

As a California native who has commuted 2hrs a day to work for decades, but got to live in the UK for a year: I was way more productive when I commuted by light rail/subway.

Instead of looking out for aholes looking to break check, cut you off, deny you changing lanes; I was able to respond to emails, make some calls and even have a descent breakfast off the morning truck while sitting in a wifi available seat traveling into London from Gatwick each day. Way less stressful overall.

The median would probably be dangerous because of the tendency of automobiles to deroad

Is that the one ICE track where it can actually come near its max speed?

I have no idea, but I remember a great ad DB brought out: A picture of cars bumper to bumper in a traffic jam, under it "Bumper to bumper is definitely the right approach. Now safely accelerate to 300km/h".

"High speed rail" means intercity rail (think airplane or Greyhound bus replacement), not commuter rail or metro rail. That makes sense to put along a freeway because there's generally only one direct freeway connection between each pair of major metro areas.

I agree that it doesn't make sense to put commuter rail or metro rail adjacent to a freeway. Ideally, it would be the opposite: the routes radiating from the city should have the freeways and rail lines spread as far apart from each other as possible, so that commuters in different areas have good access to either one mode or the other, rather than some having good access to both and others neither.

they never travel at their full speed

Why? Too much risk someone will be close to the tracks?

If following Hanlon's razor, that entire situation sounds like someone proposed "we need trains going into the city", set it up, and called it a day.

The train I usually take saves maybe only like 15 minutes (normally about an hour to drive), but at least you can do more stuff on the train rather than sitting at the wheel.

That would be because Amtrak is not a high-speed rail. They barely maintain their rails and so they have to go quite slowly.

MARTA trains hit at least 70 between e.g. Arts Center and Lindbergh or Buckhead and Medical Center (among other segments). Go stand up front next to the conductor compartment and take a look -- there's a big MPH readout right in the middle of the console that's easy to see from the door.

(Also, don't forget that this meme is about high-speed rail (intercity), which is not the same thing a subway system like MARTA (intracity).)