Toro-san, your article contains a well founded but rather old hat criticism of Amtrak's plodding Acela. Your timing missed the deployment in the last few weeks of the "Next Gen" Acela which has a much sleeker interior and no closed overhead bins... The stuff about boarding methods is less about "trains designed as airplanes" than the constraints of trying to retrofit urban infrastructure... Having lived in Japan, I do agree about the superiority of its train culture overall.
I don't imagine that the airline industry has a massive lobbying effort in Japan (or other countries) that keep high speed rail at bay here in the good old US of A.
Industries lobby. They certainly lobby in Brussels where there are hundreds of full time lobbying firms just like in DC. . In Europe airlines have lobbied to keep fuel prices low and fares low, which they are. Its usually cheaper to fly 2 hours in Europe than in the USA. I am just guessing, but I dont see why airlines wouldn't lobby in Japan too
Good to know, Ms. Williams, I knew some reader would set me straight regarding lobbying overseas. However, your comment doesn't shed light on why those foreign airline lobbies haven't stopped those countries from having excellent high-speed rail in the same way the American airline lobby has.
Countries like Japan and most of Europe have the money - and the expertise- do do public transport well. One major reason is that they spend much less, as a percentage of GDP, on defense, than the United States does. We spend 2-4 x more than these countries and our bases, missiles and soldiers in their countries are there to protect them. These billions of dollars PER YEAR add up to a lot of money that the USA could spend on lovely things IF we didnt spend it on protecting our allies.
Thankfully, Trump has pointed this out and is trying to insist that our allies pull their own weight and stop freeloading. This has the whole foreign policy establishment hyperventilating. But its important to point out whenever someone praises other countries marvelous public transport or public services.
Yes, of course. But Japan and Europe spend even more on entitlements. They have some spare bilions because they spend half or less of what we do on defense.
I suggest that perhaps what the USA has spent on the military since World War II has still been cheaper and less destructive than World War III would be.
Sure, agreed. But there is no reason why allies that are as rich as we are, such as Europe and Japan, can't spend a similar % of GDP for their own protection and defense.
I understand why you bring up the imbalance in defence spending between the US and Europe. However, that has not always been the case, and not during the time when rail infrastructure was being built. There must be other reasons for why the US has been so poor at this
I like trains as much as the next guy, more even, but I have trouble seeing intercity rail as a top priority for the United States, which, unlike Japan or European countries, is generally less dense and more sprawling and thus lends itself more to highways and airports. I'm not anti-train, but I do get tired of folks harping on this particular not-very-important string. Chicago is in the midst of a slow-mo expansion of O'Hare and has a rapid transit extension in the works. Both are expensive -- the extension of the Dan Ryan L would cost $1 billion per mile. The first should have been done long ago, and the second, now blocked by Trump in one of his shitty little troll fits, seems unnecessary.
The same goes for New York. La Guardia's improvements should have been done long ago, and you still can't take a train there, which is ridiculous. Meanwhile, Newark needs an overhaul. Back in Chicago, transit service is poised to be cut because of budget pressures, one whole line runs along at like 15 mph because the tracks need replacing, and we're talking about expensive new projects. I think we'd do well to stop dreaming of bullet trains and focus on improving and building on what we have in accordance with prevailing usage patterns and preferences.
Japan had visionary leaders in the 50s and 60s. All these years later they’re still reaping the benefits…
Toro-san, your article contains a well founded but rather old hat criticism of Amtrak's plodding Acela. Your timing missed the deployment in the last few weeks of the "Next Gen" Acela which has a much sleeker interior and no closed overhead bins... The stuff about boarding methods is less about "trains designed as airplanes" than the constraints of trying to retrofit urban infrastructure... Having lived in Japan, I do agree about the superiority of its train culture overall.
I don't imagine that the airline industry has a massive lobbying effort in Japan (or other countries) that keep high speed rail at bay here in the good old US of A.
Industries lobby. They certainly lobby in Brussels where there are hundreds of full time lobbying firms just like in DC. . In Europe airlines have lobbied to keep fuel prices low and fares low, which they are. Its usually cheaper to fly 2 hours in Europe than in the USA. I am just guessing, but I dont see why airlines wouldn't lobby in Japan too
Good to know, Ms. Williams, I knew some reader would set me straight regarding lobbying overseas. However, your comment doesn't shed light on why those foreign airline lobbies haven't stopped those countries from having excellent high-speed rail in the same way the American airline lobby has.
Good question!
Countries like Japan and most of Europe have the money - and the expertise- do do public transport well. One major reason is that they spend much less, as a percentage of GDP, on defense, than the United States does. We spend 2-4 x more than these countries and our bases, missiles and soldiers in their countries are there to protect them. These billions of dollars PER YEAR add up to a lot of money that the USA could spend on lovely things IF we didnt spend it on protecting our allies.
Thankfully, Trump has pointed this out and is trying to insist that our allies pull their own weight and stop freeloading. This has the whole foreign policy establishment hyperventilating. But its important to point out whenever someone praises other countries marvelous public transport or public services.
We spend far more on entitlements than anything else. Interest on the national debt costs more than the defense budget.
Yes, of course. But Japan and Europe spend even more on entitlements. They have some spare bilions because they spend half or less of what we do on defense.
I suggest that perhaps what the USA has spent on the military since World War II has still been cheaper and less destructive than World War III would be.
Sure, agreed. But there is no reason why allies that are as rich as we are, such as Europe and Japan, can't spend a similar % of GDP for their own protection and defense.
I understand why you bring up the imbalance in defence spending between the US and Europe. However, that has not always been the case, and not during the time when rail infrastructure was being built. There must be other reasons for why the US has been so poor at this
I like trains as much as the next guy, more even, but I have trouble seeing intercity rail as a top priority for the United States, which, unlike Japan or European countries, is generally less dense and more sprawling and thus lends itself more to highways and airports. I'm not anti-train, but I do get tired of folks harping on this particular not-very-important string. Chicago is in the midst of a slow-mo expansion of O'Hare and has a rapid transit extension in the works. Both are expensive -- the extension of the Dan Ryan L would cost $1 billion per mile. The first should have been done long ago, and the second, now blocked by Trump in one of his shitty little troll fits, seems unnecessary.
The same goes for New York. La Guardia's improvements should have been done long ago, and you still can't take a train there, which is ridiculous. Meanwhile, Newark needs an overhaul. Back in Chicago, transit service is poised to be cut because of budget pressures, one whole line runs along at like 15 mph because the tracks need replacing, and we're talking about expensive new projects. I think we'd do well to stop dreaming of bullet trains and focus on improving and building on what we have in accordance with prevailing usage patterns and preferences.