China opens world's longest high-speed train route, cutting 22-hour journey to 10 hours - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Morcam;38984223]I ignored norway, finland, the UK and Spain. I suppose dropping spain was probably a bad idea. If you take that into account, i'm about a texas off :) Should've said alaska. That's about right.[/QUOTE] alaska isn't even in the picture of infrastructure in the US, so you're really wrong either way

[QUOTE=Morcam;38984223]I ignored norway, finland, the UK and Spain. I suppose dropping spain was probably a bad idea. If you take that into account, i'm about a texas off :) Should've said alaska. That's about right.[/QUOTE] You could fit France and Switzerland into Texas. Add the Low Countries for Alaska. You'd need another Texas for Germany, and another for Italy, though the shape is kinda janky.

[QUOTE=Prez;38982210]FTFY[/QUOTE] It's the most densely populated part though.

[QUOTE=Morcam;38983743]Where'd you get those numbers from? [editline]26th December 2012[/editline] You have to remember that most of mainland Europe could fit inside Texas. Aircraft are both cheaper and faster here in the US. That's not to say there aren't some appropriate routes for railroads, but with the profusion of cars, roadways, and aircraft, it's not really necessary.[/QUOTE] Building a high-speed rail network in the United States, [i]from scratch[/i], would be one of the most daunting and expensive endeavors in the nation's history. Certainly more daunting than the U.S. interstate was to build.

[QUOTE=Madman_Andre;38984736]Building a high-speed rail network in the United States, [i]from scratch[/i], would be one of the most daunting and expensive endeavors in the nation's history. Certainly more daunting than the U.S. interstate was to build.[/QUOTE] And how beneficial do you think it might be?

If the Chinese have a bullet train then there's only one thing we here in the US can do to top it- build a railgun train. Passengers get on and giant magnets shoot the entire train to the next stop.

their high speed trains are seriously great... their train stations look like airports dammit. [img]http://www.secontrols.com/assets/uploads/575---Wuhan_railway-station.jpg[/img]

[QUOTE=leach139;38983529]Also the TGV interior you posted is first class[/QUOTE] No it's not, it's where the pleb is seated at, I would know, I take the TGV on a monthly basis.

[QUOTE=DaysBefore;38984545]You could fit France and Switzerland into Texas. Add the Low Countries for Alaska. You'd need another Texas for Germany, and another for Italy, though the shape is kinda janky.[/QUOTE] You could fit France, Germany, Italy, and Poland into Alaska. There's certainly more countries there, but there's slightly more area left over for some of the smaller countries. Tack on Texas if you want more area for, say, Spain. The comparison I made was to emphasize that Europe has a much higher population density than the United States, on average. This means trains are more effective. By contrast, people live all over the United States, which would require significantly more train-related infrastructure, and therefore it is not as cost-effective. I'd say we all recognize at least the idea behind that. 739,165,030 people live in Europe, in an area of 10,180,000 km². 311,591,917 people live in the United States, in an area of 9,827,000 km². That'd be double the population density.

[QUOTE=Cushie;38982057]That's awesome. I wish we could have faster trains in the UK sometime soon. My friend that went to South Korea said that train journeys are 10x cheaper and 10x faster than over here.[/QUOTE] Thatcher is a true British patriot for privatising the trains. The Free Market will fix this soon enough.

[QUOTE=Swebonny;38983863]That's second class. I sat on one of those seats for 8 hours on my way to Shanghai. Lucky me, I was sitting just in front of a stinking malfunctioning toilet that was clogged with shit. [editline]27th December 2012[/editline] And just about 10 meters from me were the people that paid more for their tickets. They get their own closed of compartment with beds. I was jealous a fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.[/QUOTE] what does first class look like and what are cost for 2nd or 3rd ( because what you said might be worth paying an extra buck for better seats )

To my fellow Americans, if it makes you feel any better, California is [I]trying[/I] to get high speed rail done... it looks pretty nice too...

It would be interesting to see how this train route competes with the airlines. Right now, a flight from Beijing to Shenzhen (close to Guangzhou) takes about 4 hours, excluding the taxi time between downtown and airports (which probably amounts to another hour to 1.5 hours, depending on traffic). So, the train is undoubtedly slower still, but it should be cheaper. A 2nd class highspeed rail seat normally costs 200-400 yuan (40-70 bucks), where as a flight should cost at least 800 yuan (130-140 bucks). I'm normally skeptical of the economics behind long distance train routes, but given the large price difference, it's possible some passengers might opt for the train. 10 hours is not terribly bad, especially since you actually have leg room on these train seats, as opposed to cramped up planes.

Makes me wish we had things like this in Australia, as there is only one or two trains that go between major cities here.

[QUOTE=WingedAssailant;38988706]Makes me wish we had things like this in Australia, as there is only one or two trains that go between major cities here.[/QUOTE] I wouldnt mind being able to travel to Melbourne or Brisbane in only a few hours. At the moment, the closest thing we have to a high-speed train is the Countrylink XPTs. I mean theyre fast, but cant exactly show it on the track we have.

I like to see the day humanity create a long train railway that connects from Britain in Europe to the US to the East Russia via Alaska and enters China and go all the way back to Britain.

The new trains built for China have special suspension built by EDI in my hometown of Maryborough. It was developed behind closed doors so that foreign manufacturer couldn't copy it. Does anybody see the flaw in their plan to keep their suspension system a secret? :v:

And yet US still haven't got em.

[QUOTE=areolop;38982481]Per my sister who goes to school in China: The things made in China for the US are the "high quality" goods. Chinese goods made in China suck even more.[/QUOTE] Well every single hardware part your pc is probably partially made in china. Those horrible plastic toys and ridiculously shit electronics are only a small part of export goods, and they are only made because silly western people buy them regardless of quality.

[QUOTE=leach139;38983529]There's a huge, [b]HUGE[/b] difference between Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV, the french HST) and the Bullet trains used here. Here's an example of a Japanese bullet train's interior: [img]http://www.tropicalisland.de/japan/hakone/images/NRT%20Yokohama%20-%20interior%20view%20of%20a%20japanese%20Shinkansen%20bullet%20train%20from%20Tokyo%20Station%20to%20Hakone%203008x2000.jpg[/img] Also the TGV interior you posted is first class, which I know from first hand experience is a fuckton comfier than second class (although you can easily wind away a 6h+ journey in both classes) We do have high speed trains in the UK, the first one (HS1) is the Class 395 Javelin from London to Ashford [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Unit_395008_at_Ebbsfleet_International.JPG/300px-Unit_395008_at_Ebbsfleet_International.JPG[/img] look at its cute little yellow nos- [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdJCA0eQkwI]OH HOLKY FUC[/url][/QUOTE] Doesn't the UK have a speed limit of 125mph regardless?

Meanwhile, in Australia. [img]http://www.businessreviewaustralia.com/sectors/downertrain.jpg[/img] technologically advanced master train race.

[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;38984856]If the Chinese have a bullet train then there's only one thing we here in the US can do to top it- build a railgun train. Passengers get on and giant magnets shoot the entire train to the next stop.[/QUOTE] No the next logical step from bullets is lasers. I suggest we vaporize the passengers with lasers and transport their ashes in particle accelerators to the next stop. [editline]27th December 2012[/editline] "Suck it China"