• AA5B@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Most of the reasonable high speed rail proposals I’ve seen are to start in higher population areas where they make sense, build up feeders, extend as passenger traffic rises and eventually connect in places. Focusing on ideas like a new trans-continental railroad may be inspiring but just not practical. Who would ride where there are no cities or where flying or driving is faster and easier?

    But the northeast proves it can work, and many of the allocations in this announcement are to upgrade standard rail to support more traffic as feeders, and I believe some could eventually lead to extensions southward

    The usual regional centers proposed include:

    • northwest- Vancouver, Seattle, Portland
    • California- la to sf (being built)
    • Houston, Dallas, Austin (I’m not convinced we’d get them out of their cars)
    • Florida- brightline
    • Midwest- connect rust belt cities centered on Chicago