this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2024
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Fuck Cars

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago (7 children)

For a reference of scale, the largest high speed rail network in Europe is in Spain. Last year it moved some 33 million people (that's just high speed, not including local slow trains or urban metro) and, while overall revenue data is not widely available (there are multiple operators reporting independently), it generated several billion dollars.

If you want to scale that to what it would do in the US with a similar network you can add a zero to all the numbers and you won't be too far off.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Yeah, I've said this before, but USA seems like a perfect place to build a HSR right? It seems like an ez money too now that I think about it.

Copying my comment on [email protected] :

I’m not even from USA to be clear, but my limited image of USA is that it lacks efforts of building public transport, especially compared to other developed countries. Heck, compared to developing countries even.

One of the example, US seems like a perfect place to build a high-speed rail network. Yet, CAHSR seems to keep getting delayed. In comparison Morocco has a HSR. Even Indonesia has one opened last year.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago

Well think of it this way:

A politician COULD approve a project like this, and his area will see improvements in 2-7 years, and everything connected to the network improves in 4-10 years, and if the politician personally invests and things go well (they would, but yOu nEvEr KnOw) then the politician could stand to gain a decent chunk of ROI in a few years.

OR

The politician ~~accepts a bribe~~ listens to lobbyists from the automotive industry, kills all competition to ICE vehicles and more roads, the area stagnates for the third decade in a row, and the politician is $10,000 richer today.

Honestly the politicians hands are completely tied here. Their net worth is only $18 million, do you really think they can afford to wait a few years???

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