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Originally Posted by Pooka
As far as a high speed train running into anythng....
High speed trains have NO grade crossings. They either go over or under grade crossings so they never have any reason to slow down. This is one reason they cost to much to build.
Security of the right-of-way is something that can be accomplished. Pipelines and refineries have very good security, and some pipeline companies have even considered leasing their right-of-way to rail lines so the high speed trains could be a source of revenue to them.
One big deterant to high speed rail, as odd as this may sound, are the land owners whose property the line would cross. These trains scare the life out of cattle and make plowing a field rather difficult.
But the biggest deteriant is the airline industry. There was a line like this proposed to run between Dallas and Houston about 20 years ago and the airlines fought it tooth and nail. I guess it never occoured to the airlines that they should invest in the rail line for if they had it would be a big source of revenue to them now. (That is, if it could be done at a profit.)
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If terrorist attackers where widely know to follow all traffic laws and only cross rail lines when the barriers and lights signaled then this might be important! Having traveled on the French TGV a decade ago from my seat you could see miles of opportunity where the only impediment is a fence; I can assure you a psychopath can drive a large object into its path without a whole lot of effort. A homicide bomber with a large vehicular bomb on an overpass above or in an underpass below would have significant success.
Regarding the comparison between the security that would be required of a 300 MPH train and the present day pipeline infrastructure is false. In this country there has seldom been a concerted effort of individual and groups willing to die in the process, the same would likely not be true for jihadi bent on causing mass casualties. In other places where pipelines are targets the security is regularly breached, example in Iraq and places like Nigeria abound. As an aside I regularly hunt a couple natural gas pipelines in my area and would have little problem driving a machine into the area and excavating a hole the size of a couple houses.
The big deterrent for passenger trains of any type is financial, virtually every one around the world and here in this country are taxpayer subsidized to an enormous extent. The cost of acquiring, constructing and maintaining such enormous expanses of infrastructure is staggering, if effective security aimed at preventing real threat possibilities was factored it would make airline security costs look cheap. The reality is with air travel basically security is concentrated at either end but once the travelling public leaves the ground it’s pretty much a free ride, with rail you would need basically the same level of security at each boarding and disembarking termination and you would have to maintain security along the entire route at all times. If the jihadist elements ever elevate their game to include a credible surface to air destructive capability that would put air travel on threat parity with high speed rail travel.