The China rail system is great. I've taken many a train in China and better than most of the world's systems (except Europe's). It's efficient, relatively cheap and fast.
This incident is a bump in the road for China. China's credibility is at stake and sweeping changes will be made soon to fix the new rail system problems.
Is all the dodgy concrete going to be replaced?
Dude, do you work for the 50 Cent Party or something? If you dont know what it is, ask your Chinese born wife, she will know.
50 Cent Party - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Of course it will be replaced with the same shitty concrete, its how China maintains its high GDP. The same way it has such a low unemployment rate, CIS or Chinese Inefficiency Syndrome.
Chinese Inefficiency Syndrome CIS
The largest employers in China are the SOE's (State owned enterprises). People are employed just to keep them employed for social stability. The same reason why there are ghost cities in China, its to give people jobs, to keep with the harmonious society.
The PRC has an unlimited printing press to print the Yuan, they keep everything secret so that no one knows whats going on.
Along the North/South road I do not see why. Cities are not far off from each others and if you can connect them with a fast, clean and reliable train I bet it could work.
But anyway according to Freetrader they ARE USED, just they are slow and in bad shape.
as for culturally not viable....well you should know better that culture evolve with time ....it is a matter of time (and willingness from the authorities).
Last edited by Mat; 07-08-2011 at 12:05 AM.
The distance across the USA from coast to coast is roughly 5,000KM or 3,100 miles and change. A high speed train that runs at a theoretical 300KM/H would take more than 16 hours which is it not economically viable.
Most people who would need to travel this great a distance would rather fly a few hours than sit in some cattle car for 16+ hours. There is no incentive (time/money) to take a train, even a high speed one when it takes more than half a day just in theory alone.
In the states, with the exception of a few desolate areas all the land has been developed and or purchased already. In the USA, when we buy land/property we own it outright forever, not like China and 70 years.
We have rights and rules that are followed, we cannot go in a take the property away from people and simply toss them into a black jail like how China does its thing.
Lastly, in the USA when we build anything major, Environmental impact studies must be done and if any "endangered" species of weed/ant/fly/sandworm is in the path of development, the construction has to halt.
So to the clueless lot who loves to bash the USA and tout trains, well if you had a clearer understanding about how it works in the USA, maybe you will think twice before you start yammering again.
Hmm - clearly never heard of the concept of the overnight train obviously. I'd take a 16 hour NICE overnight train in lieu of a 6 hour hell-flight with no food and screaming brats next to me if going on holiday. But yes, niche market. The regional markets are clearly the more powerful option.
I think you'll find easement laws exist in the USA just like every other country or you'd never have any roads or power lines.
But as I said earlier - mostly this is a missed opportunity - and none of your points address this.
When the railroads were first built in the USA, the rail companies (19th Century Industrialists aka Robber Barons) were given land 10 miles on each side of the the track as an incentive to build the railroads.
The companies that did the build out in the 1890's (Union Pacific, Central Pacific, Southern Pacific) sold the majority of the land that was on either side of the tracks.
The easements you proclaim are now 100 feet along the side of each track, in some places its less than that. Some run through areas with high population densities which makes installing high voltage power lines unpopular and impossible due to the EMI and Radiation that comes with the High Voltage lines.
I am sure no one would want to take an overnight train when they are on vacation, this is not some 1800's cowboy western. There is a reason why 99% of the people take planes to get to Asia in lieu of boats, planes in lieu of trains for travelling long distances.
Time is money...