High-Speed Rail Creeps Forward, With $2.4 Billion in Federal Funding Given to Projects in 23 States

This is totally ridiculous! Why not spend money on something that is radically less expensive and faster?! PLEASE CHECK OUT THE FOLLOWING LINK!: www.et3.com

And Popular Science, plese do an article on this technology! It's long overdue!

Socialism, wastefull government spending! It'll get killed as soon a the GOP gets back in power. China can have one, Europe can have one, but this country wants war as a place to spend their hard earned cash. If we put people to work here, how is china supposed to make money, huh? We have to quit trying to improve our lives here because american workers are crap, don't you know that? We want too much to do a half ass job, so we dont deserve this until we are willing to work for a proper wage. Until then either get rich and get a chauffeur, or ride the bus (which is also socialism cuz it's taxpayer funded). Only wealthy people deserve taxpayer money, not the commoners. Go tea-baggers? :-P

Seriously though, this is fantastic news. It sucks that we are the last superpower to get highspeed rail. Unfortunately it won't happen, too much political bickering, too much partisan b.s. to get through, and way too much corporate influence in both parties to allow that much cash to be spent on something that won't produce massive revinue for wall street. If amtrak can't produce a buck, why would this? That's all we would hear if this project actually got going. Repeat a lie often enough and people will believe it, honest debate is dead. Just ask faux- news

I lived in Japan many years ago. Japan is widely believed to be able to run train systems in an efficient manner. What ended up is that the government of Japan had to make what was then the largest bailout of any privately owned system. (until the current US banking loss)

If Japan can't make trains work in a crowded country that fills 98% of the trains, how do you think the idiots in the US can make it work. So far it cost me $10 for every $1 spent on the local bus. Why do I have to pay that? Shouldn't one expect the rider to pay $11? Now I will have to pay for people to ride the train too? How much of my tax bill is going already for aircraft travel. Sure I know we are gouging the public at the food stands but a lot of money still is being spent out of public tax money.

Hey, I'm all for high speed trains. I just want the riders to pay what it costs. And get the government out of any more projects and bailouts.

Jefro says it well. We all love technology, especially really fast technology, but almost all high-speed rail projects around the world are government-subsidized and don't turn a profit. That's okay if the "social" benefits are worth the subsidy, but profit is a really good measure of the efficiency of a program and its benefits. Given the rampant fiscal irresponsibility of governments in general, we probably ought to do a more thorough analysis of the cost and benefits.

The kind of job creation America needs is private-sector (stimulating the economy), not government-subsidized (sucking money from the economy in the form of taxes).

I'm fine with China outdoing us on high speed rail. I don't have China-envy. Until they have freedom and respect for human rights, they have nothing to teach us.

Bravo! @Rockon2612,

That is amazing. Seriously. That puts this article and China's bullet train and any train before it, to shame.

All these fools in Washington can do is waste money. Americans will NEVER ride on trains. Amtrak WAS, IS and ALWAYS will be a complete and total failure. This train is just more of Obama throwing our money down a hole. This time to reward Siemens for illegal contributions. WHAT A SHAMEFUL DISGRACE.

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I think this is great. I live in southern Ohio and we are planning a corridor from Cleveland down to Cincinnati. That'll be connected to the large lines referenced in the article. I'm really excited for it as a college student. My school mostly draws from ohio so it would be really convenient for us during breaks if we don't have cars.

Also, I like the option of going up to ohio state, partying for the weekend and coming back on the train hung over and not having to worry about driving. I'd definitely use this train.

interesting how all locations are very important to Democratic 2012 votes. Jobs, jobs, jobs. Still, good to see this happening.

Any conversation I have about the future ends up with the flying car and Teri forming Mars. For the flying car we must do surgery with our wants with our needs. A design that only has the rich falling to their death on the poor in sixty mile per hour traffic is not automatically an improvement to our society. Large societies need a safe and reliable commute for everyone. For that I suggest a dual hybrid superconductor maglev vehicle. Technically this is flying, that is locked into a magnetic field. It is all weather even if the linear induction motor track is completely covered with ice, the vehicle is locked to the track so even the wind won’t blow you off, and it can go up your building vertically to your apartment balcony/garage. This will make larger cheaper buildings to live in, and more distant cheaper communities to live in, and commute from. Drive on road or rail on the maglev track city to city at 200 to 400 miles per hour. But we must first find a way to make maglev’s more economical. So, we hybrid the vehicle again by making part fly by wire plane. Yes, with a stumped winged vehicle we can fly the gaps between magnets using lasers and censors and networks to reduce the number of linear induction motors in the track. This could significantly reduce the cost of magnetic tracks. Analysis indicates the technologies exist now or in the near future to complete this vision if a maglev can be made significantly cheaper by this method.

As for Teri-forming Mars, at the rate we are going it’s probably going to prove easier to Teri-Form it than deciding to go there.

@rockon2612: I know that the ETT theory has been around for quite some time and I have to agree with you. The potential for global commerce offered by this sytem is impressive. Imagine travel time/costs being reduced so drastically that nearly every person with at least some modicrum of financial means could, realisticaly, travel halfway around the world in a matter of hours. Breakfast in Taipai, lunch in Seattle, and a nice dinner in Marseille? Sounds feasible to me (or I really really hope so) using this technology that, in all reality, isn't all that complex.

Rockon2612,
The 25th century just called and it's waiting for you! I read up briefly on the ET3 thing. Very interesting theoretical travel idea. A couple of centuries from now if we aren't all dead from nuclear or biological self-inflicted holocaust we may have something like ET3.
Til then...hopefully we can get a real high speed rail implemented. And NOT a system of Acela trains on the same old tracks that got its system specs from a wagon and mule team. What we really need is a East-West main trunk line built on maglev technology and 3 north-south lines that intersect it. To keep the thing moving fast like it needs to in order to cover the country in less than one day it should be restricted to one stop per state with smaller slower lines feeding into those stops from other parts of the state. IMHO.
Drud

Americans don't ride on trains? That's just plane ignorant. Many, many people ride on trains in the north east. In and out of NYC all day and night. Americans will use whatever is cheap and fast. If they could build a high speed line that went from east cost to the west coast in good time and reasonable pricess people would use it.

Too much money for things with too little benefit.

High speed rail does not replace cars on the road - it replaces air travel (travelers willing to forgo person transport at their destination). Since air travel is already government supported, this only creates a second, competing, form of government supported travel for people who would otherwise use either slower rail or air travel.

High speed freight lines could and would be implimented over existing lines - if it was fiscally profitable to do so - but at this time it is not.

High speed rail would reduce the number cars on the road only with a "drive on" service (like a ferry, where the vehicle is moved with passangers within) - at a cost comparable with the cost of gasoline and the stress of long drives.

oakspar, ever hear of hertz? or Enterprise? I agree people need transportation once they get to their destination which is why a high speed rail should have similar amenities as airports; restauarants, rental cars, shuttles.

Having traveled in both Japan and Europe on high-speed trains, I can testify to their utility. There is a significant difference however between the US and Japan/Europe and it relates to the distances traveled. High-speed rail could probably be very effective on the East Coast and portions of the Midwest provided the distances are manageable. The biggest problem, however, will be the cost and subsidies required to maintain and encourage ridership. Living in both Florida and Minnesota, I have seen light rail in the Twin Cities as well as some lines from the Northwest suburbs into Minneapolis. At this time I doubt that the ridership supports the cost by any means. In Florida, high-speed between Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa and Miami might make sense if the ridership is adequate. To date, few of the studies have been able to justify the massive expense and subsidies involved.