High speed trains

[Surfah]

What is the infrastructure cost of building and maintaining both systems?

The rail system seems like it would scale better. But yeah, sparsely populated regions don't need to worry about scale.

I don't know which one would be cheaper to build and it seems like it would be difficult to compare.

Not exactly sure either. I'd be interested to know for myself. But since we have one in place, this isn't an either/or circumstance.

But even concerning scale, from what I have read though in countries like Japan they can eat the losses in the sparsely populated regions because they make up for it in the more densely populated regions. And only after years is their system sustainable. The geography again, won't bear that here. I just don't think that transcontinental rail travel could ever be sustainable without an enormous subsidy. We've proven that it isn't, even regionally with Amtrak in the NE corridor.

[myboynoah]

I don't know about Spain, but autoroutes in France are toll roads. One pays a steep price for the upkeep. And it's not Penn Turnpike cheap either. The two hour drive from Paris to Beligium costs about $20.

Having driven in the U.S., Japan, and Europe, the differences in quality seem marginal. Much of the quality differences may be due to age. French, Spanish, and Italian systems are probably much newer than most in the U.S. German Autobans seems to be getting fairly worn.

Also, all throughout Europe they have those radar gun/camera systems. I hate those things with a passion.

[SCcoug]

http://www.magplane.com/tech_concept.asp

They claim they'll be able to get a revenue passenger operating and maintenance cost below five cents a mile, translating to 10 bucks from NYC to Boston or $6 from LA to SD at 250 km/hr with through put of 10,000 passengers per hour for each line. Looks interesting.

[Mormon Red Death]

http://www.magplane.com/tech_concept.asp

They claim they'll be able to get a revenue passenger operating and maintenance cost below five cents a mile, translating to 10 bucks from NYC to Boston or $6 from LA to SD at 250 km/hr with through put of 10,000 passengers per hour for each line. Looks interesting.

maglev's are the best way to do this except the upfront costs are astronomical

[Surfah]

This looks like Popular Science 15 years ago.

[KillerDog]

maglev's are the best way to do this except the upfront costs are astronomical

I understand the LV to LA maglev concept was doing very well at getting its funding until the market downturn. It was a pretty impressive concept and was getting federal funds, state funds, and private funds from the casinos.

[Surfah]

One thing that I am curious about with high speed train proposals, the MagPlane, other maglev concepts, etc, is how do they obtain the rights to their tracks? Are there ROW rights? Or would they have to create easements through all the property they cross?

I had to obtain a sewer easement through three different property owners and that was a PITA. Even though we basically improved the property of all three land owners we still had to make concessions to get them to sign off on it though they didn't contribute a dime.

[BigPiney]

One thing that I am curious about with high speed train proposals, the MagPlane, other maglev concepts, etc, is how do they obtain the rights to their tracks? Are there ROW rights? Or would they have to create easements through all the property they cross?

I had to obtain a sewer easement through three different property owners and that was a PITA. Even though we basically improved the property of all three land owners we still had to make concessions to get them to sign off on it though they didn't contribute a dime.

The one going from LA to SAcramento and SF would go on existing rail RW, with some expansions if I understand it correctly. THe LA to LV one should if they are smart go down the median of I-15. Probably the cheapest way would to be to do that and acquire an easement from the State. Caltrans is supposed to be about all forms of transportation, so let em prove it. OR they could lay additional track along side of rail lines that are out there.

[KillerDog]

One thing that I am curious about with high speed train proposals, the MagPlane, other maglev concepts, etc, is how do they obtain the rights to their tracks? Are there ROW rights? Or would they have to create easements through all the property they cross?

I had to obtain a sewer easement through three different property owners and that was a PITA. Even though we basically improved the property of all three land owners we still had to make concessions to get them to sign off on it though they didn't contribute a dime.

There are enormous amount of rail right of way throughout the country. It has been in place since the great rail expansion. IIRC, UP Holdings (Union Pacific land company) owns large tracts of the LV strip as well as rail rights roughly following the I-15 road bed.

[Surfah]

Interesting. I always wondered that. I had get a full access approved for a property on a UDOT highway. That was a PITA as well, fortunately our property and building plans had exactly the amount needed for their ROW.

Could existing rail lines handle the high speed trains? And what about the owners of said track? Do they get issued common stock like the govt offered those for Amtrak lines? Do they get purchased outright? That can't be cheap I imagine.

[SCcoug]

One thing that I am curious about with high speed train proposals, the MagPlane, other maglev concepts, etc, is how do they obtain the rights to their tracks? Are there ROW rights? Or would they have to create easements through all the property they cross?

I had to obtain a sewer easement through three different property owners and that was a PITA. Even though we basically improved the property of all three land owners we still had to make concessions to get them to sign off on it though they didn't contribute a dime.

One of the selling points for Magplane is that they intend to use existing high way right of way. Since the cars can roll +/- 10 degrees they can negotiate much tighter curves at full speed than normal rail.