Eurostar set a new Paris to London rail speed record of just over two hours on Tuesday with the first train to use Britain’s long-awaited high speed track at around 320 kilometers (about 199 miles) per hour.
The normal journey time from Paris to St Pancras Station [London] will be 2 hours 15 minutes.
Eurostar also says it has been helped by people switching from plane to train due to concerns about the environment.
Environmental statistics put the CO2 impact of aviation anywhere between four and 10 times that of rail on short-haul journeys.
The Euro rail web that will complete build-out in the next few years enables most capitol-to-capitol transit in an hour more than air travel – tops! This is without a commute to and from the airport for any in-town destination – and without all the delights of TSA-style strip searches and seating as comfortable as a toilet in a small closet.
Firms like Alstom are in early stages of a similar design for China. And in the United States? What do you think is being done?
“And in the United States? What do you think is being done?”
Jack/Shit.
>>What do you think is being done?
Same thing they’re doing to make cell phone service better, and provide municipal WiFi.
God Bless America.
We tried this with Acela in the East Coast, based on the same design as the french TGV (cruise speed 200MPH).
Acela got heavier due additionnal upgrades imposed by government ‘regulations’, thankfully it is still capable of going up to 130MPH; however, the train tracks in the US are not designed for high speed trains and as a result Acela is forced to run at a ridiculously limited speed of 100MPH !!!!!
This is clearly an environmental disaster! I am perfectly happy with the way things are in the US. I want all my taxes to go to funding the WAR.
And in the United States? What do you think is being done?
Well, we could give Amcrash yet another subsidy for them to spend on more real estate.
http://www.fra.dot.gov/us/content/1566
Highways were identified as a better method of transport for national defense 50 years ago… and we’re still feeling the impact of that decision today.
To be blunt, train and bus travel is looked up as only for the poor in this country… unless it is being done in some posh setting in an interesting location. People in this country are willing to pay for a better service, even if “better” is only a perception.
This is how we operate:
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=5830
And yes, highways were identified as better options by Firestone, GM and Standard Oil in cahoots with corrupt local politicians.
Actually, the Federal Railroad Administration rules in the US more or less preclude high speed trains. Unfortunately, they have decided that the answer to safety is continuing to increase buffer strength requirements for passenger rail cars to the point that the required weight is incompatible with high speed service.
And then, there’s the money!
And the airline lobby!
And the highway lobby!
I do prefer the US model of not wasting billions of dollars to save 10 minutes of travel time.
My mistake, it appears that I misunderstood the article to say the the current travel time is 2hrs 15 minutes.
I do wish we would stop funding Amtrak, and maybe we would get some more of these things here.
How about the amount of time you’ve got to be at the airport before you actually get to take off? Is it two hours now? Or a little less…
the cities of nyc, philly, boston, d.c. and baltimore alone constitute 11,351, 848 people roughly 34% of the u.s. population are serviced by commuter rail lines along the northeast corridor — and i didn’t even add all the towns and cities in between
that makes it critical infrastructure
i might even go so far as to say that since 1 in 3 american taxpayers is serviced by the trains, it’s not unfair to say that tax dollars to help upgrade the tracks is not too much to ask.
especially considering that we in the northeast pay more in taxes to the fed than we get in revenues. (compared to gop strongholds where the opposite is true, go figure)
so um, get off it already.
Absolutely nothing.
As long as the political structure in this country is such that deep pocket oil companies and airlines can buy their regulations with some well-placed contributions.
Oh wait..they can’t do that anymore? Guess again,
How much does it cost for that speedy trip from Paris to London?
I for one, would love to have affordable high-speed train service to all metro areas. Notice I said affordable.
When I was overseas I used trains. It’s no big deal. Here in CONUS I use a car. Not because I like to drive everywhere it’s because I don’t have an option other than flying and I can only put up with a colonoscopy once in a while and not every time I want to go 2 or 3 hundred miles.
#13 – Adult 1-way starts at $94, Paris-London.
#9 i take you don’t live in the northeast where trains are critical
i can’t figure this out do conservatives actually believe that infrastructure is a luxury and that america should only rely on private industry to tend to the business of moving people to and fro?
who’s job is it to build roads? train tracks? airports? private industry will only cover the cost for profit centers and small town and poor neighborhoods will be left aside — to wit, ma bell had to be forced to provide phone service to out of the way towns — they would never bother otherwise
if we can’t all pitch in so that all of us can have decent transportation infrastructure, then what is the point of being a nation at all?
#2 – Mister Mustard – Same thing they’re doing to make cell phone service better, and provide municipal WiFi.
And high speed Internet connectivity… again, how much has our speed increased the last ten years? Markets without real competition tends to stagnate. But what does our politicians do about? Nothing… they need the campaign contributions for the next election. 😛
What are we doing? – we’re giving away tax money to the airlines – to lenders that did all those “do you have a pulse” loans – to big big business when they ask for a tax exemption to move into a state – to big NFL teams that get all the revenue from tax built stadiums.
#9 – If amtrack could drop unprofitable stops – it would easily make money. The problem is its mandated by law to make those stops.
To heck with going to metro areas. I want to ride one of these through a metro area – since that would involve blowing a hole through the city to make room for the track.
#19 right, because train lines don’t actually go through cities.. oh wait, they do…
oh well, it sounded funny anyway!
Rail is the only civilized form of transport and until you have experienced it, don’t knock it. All that stuff being transported with trucks could be moved more economically on rail. The Mexican truckers would have nothing to tear up your tax paid roads hauling about. Lets keep the money in this country and in your pockets. OH darn, I forgot, most of the American rail now is owned by CN.. Canadian National… Darn, maybe the Canadians will let us have rail service if Senor Bush stops shitting on them.
#11 Grog – what figures show 34% of the population live along the NorthEast rail corridor?
China has the Maglev train in the planning stage from Shanghai to Beijing.
Currently there is a demonstration Maglev train from Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport to about 30kms closer to Shanghai.
Shanghai is divided by a river. The old Shanghai is Puxi and is west of the river and Pudong, the new Shanghai is east of the river. The Maglev DOES not cross the river. Take for fun if you are planning to stay in Puxi. (You can also take Longdong Rd to Puxi from Pudong – I must take a photo of that sign!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Maglev_Train
It does go fast – 431 km/h (268 mph) is its normal operational speed.
This is where your Wal Mart dollars are going…
Cheers
#22 oh my god how embarassing
11,351,848/302,782,256 = .037, not 0.37
ooops i’ll say it for you “what a freakin moron”
sorry guys! 1 in 30, not 1 in 3
p.s. links to numeric sources
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0763098.html
http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html
#6 – Wait a second. You’re saying politicians didn’t just start operating in this manor yesterday? Shock!
>>Well, we could give Amcrash yet another subsidy
Eurostar’s funding came from the public till.
Just recently got back from Britain and took the Eurostar train from Waterloo station to Paris. It was a pleasure and took 2hrs and 35minutes.
I was in Britain for about 10 days and rented a car for only 3 days. Cost was not to bad. Even used the subway (the tube) in London several times. Never was late. The rest was train travel. I really with they had that setup here in America.
Maybe $10 gas would do it?
How about calling the bluff of all those Amtrak executives that go before Congress and say if you don’t give us the funding we want, we’re gonna chop off service to stations x,y,z,etc. Let them close them down, and privatize Amtrak. If that means only service to some places so be it. It could get us better train service. I’d much rather not have taxpayers footing billions of dollars in extra bills.