this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2023
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Fuck Cars

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[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 year ago (4 children)

lol

lmao, even

Just build a fucking train, it's stupid that Denmark doesn't just have rail everywhere. DSB is a joke. Banedanmark is underfunded. Light rail doesn't go anywhere useful unless you live in Copenhagen. Intercity is way too expensive to matter unless you get discount tickets a month in advance. IC trains are so frequently not-running that it's become a major point in my buddys argument for working from home.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Come to BC. We have trains from Vancouver going to Seattle and Portland(via US run Amtrak(70-100$ US), a transit train from Mission to Vancouver and back, once a day each way(5-15$ depending on distance) and a 3000$ a ticket train going to Jasper, Alberta from Vancouver BC and back.

Yaaay Conservatives. Thanks for ruining passenger rail.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

hmmm... surprising, US has similar issues for unsurprising reasons.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

It's probably the exact same reasons, actually.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

DSB is a joke, Banedanmark is a myth we are all controlled by something greater, TRAINS DNA of public infastructure

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

But in Merica Cars are democracy, Denmark shoils build an 80 lane highway

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

USA! USA! USA!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The continental US is roughly 2/3 the size of Europe. Comparing Denmark to it is nonsensical given the differences in size.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

IDK if size really matters here. Connecting Chicago to Milwaukee (100mi) with HSR probably makes sense

there are many others too:

Chicago-Indianapolis (200mi)

Chicago-St Louis (300mi)

Chicago-Pittsburgh (500mi)

so many good connections

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

We have freight rail connecting that already. Size should matter here because the population densities are not the same.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think size should matter more.

In USA/Canada we end up with population pimples with little in between. This is perfect for HSR, since there are very few required stations between primary cities.

Ottawa-Montréal, for example, is ~200km apart with no major centers in between, so an HSR can cross that distance with no stops

Toronto-Montréal is ~550km apart, with one possible stop in Kingston if the train splits for Ottawa. Again an HSR could make great time here. With the TGV's 270kph station-station time, it would be 2 hours, slightly faster than flying + security (2h10-2h30) and less than half the driving time.

I'm knot as knowledgable about US geography, but I'm positive there and many city pairs like this on the east and west coasts.

[–] jasory 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is perfect for travel but not passenger load which is what makes a transport system economical. Rail costs several million dollars per kilometre, so a Toronto to Montreal would cost at least 500 million, closer to a few billion. And if it travels through low density land you won't be getting many additional passengers except those that actually live in Toronto and Montreal. This is why HSR is in densely populated areas like France or Japan, or China. There is an actual large passenger load that makes the investment worthwhile. An even easier-to-see example is that city driving is much slower than on highways, if point-to-point travel time was really the function of public transit then intercity travel would be prioritised not the much larger and more economical street stops that every public transit system uses.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

so a Toronto to Montreal would cost at least 500 million, closer to a few billion

$3 billion on 1.7km of Gardener Expressway repair. $3.6 billion for Turcot interchange replacement. No one bats an eye at those costs.

passenger load which is what makes a transport system economical

Toronto-Montréal is the busiest domestic flight route, followed by Toronto-Ottawa. Add Chicago and New York to capture the two busiest routes between the two countries (both in the top 20 international flights). Plus however many bus, train, and drive.

Edit: just plugged 15 Nov into Google flights; there are 46 flights from Toronto to Montreal that day (Pearson and Island combined).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

passengers can't ride freight rail tho

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

That all depends on how cool the train crew are