# It's time to look at building a high-speed rail for America



## TinCan782 (Jun 30, 2015)

It's time to look at building a high-speed rail for America - Read at Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-america-could-be-like-with-high-speed-rail-2015-6?&platform=bi-androidapp


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## Anderson (Jul 9, 2015)

The discussion of speeds there seems a bit over-the-top (getting average speeds much over 125 MPH is...well, not easy...so I think the vision of 150 minutes BOS-WAS is going to have to wait), but it's generally a good article.


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## Chaz (Jul 9, 2015)

The Android link kept closing on my IPad AU app. Google points me to: (June 29)

http://www.businessinsider.com/what-america-could-be-like-with-high-speed-rail-2015-6

Alas that bounces too here. I give up.


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## Crescent ATN & TCL (Jul 17, 2015)

Personally we need mass transit first, electrify and upgrade most lines to 125, build a good rail base and expand from there. If you have read much on high-speed rail, most of it exists and prospers where the 125mph conventional lines in Europe and Asia were at capacity.


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## Tokkyu40 (Jul 19, 2015)

I think the first thing we need is to clear up the bottle necks where capacity is constricted and speeds limited. Then I would go for a national system of 125 mph DMUs (how long does it take to refuel a DMU?).
Twice a day to begin, then keep increasing service to meet demand. Electrify when you reach a minimum level of traffic. Catenary is expensive to build and to maintain, so I'd want enough traffic to offset the costs with fuel savings.
There are corridors with high enough traffic now to justify HSR. The triangle in Texas, Houston, San Antonio and Dallas. San Diego to San Francisco. Seattle to Portland. LA to Phoenix and Tucson. And much of the east coast.


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