And is that more terrorist proof than the airplane? I think not.

True. Now, lets talk of it like the bus or any other public transport. Will it go exactly where I want? Probably not. How about leave when I feel like it? Probably not. Who will run it? Govt? Oh, that will work all right. Gives them another money pit to play with. No thanx.

Europe and Japan are a lot denser than we are and thus it might work there. People are a not as independent minded as we were. It might not work with the logistics and mentality we have.

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note the photographs in the following link. note the train has it's own rail system built high above the earth, far from interference from cars or trucks. as far as sabotage, simply place a 1,000,000 volt electric fence along both sides of the rail system. any wannabe terrorists would first have to figure out how to climb up to the train level, then figure out how to cross the 1,000,000 volt electric fence barrier. passengers could watch the Al-Qaeda whackos shock themselves to death while enjoying a cup of coffee. fun!

http://www.gluckman.com/Maglev.html

Yup, it's going to keep getting worse. At some point, I expect to be living elsewhere.

A totally unworkable solution to all of this is to just do what I did when I needed to travel: Take a company owned private jet.

It is really very easy. You just call the company air operations center and tell them you need a jet to go to where you are going. Then you take a taxi to the airport and your jet is waiting for you with two pilots and lots of food and even fresh flowers on board.

I know this will be a bit difficult if you don't work for a major oil company, so get those resumes out there!

I have not flown commercialy since 1978, so I am really a bit out of touch with all of this security stuff. And, now that I am retired, I drive everywhere I go.

See how easy that is?

But where? I suppose if you are lucky, they won't reach it before you die of other causes. If not, you are just moving from one place to the other. Might as well stay put and slug it out. If they want to die, oblige them. Problem is we don't have the stones to wipe them out by killing every man, woman, child.

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Can you guys cite anywhere in this country (or the world for that matter) where trains have made a profit ?

I'm not trying to be snarky, but I have not heard of any, and if anyone is going to propose that trains (slow or fast) are a good business option, then I'd like to hear about a 'success story'
...or, just let them rest on the 'save the earth' laurels - thats really enough for me, but I'd feel better voting for it if I thought that it was a good financial decision.

-John

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Spot on...Just look at Virgin group in the UK. Richard Branson is running planes AND trains in the UK.

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europeans are more willing to park the car and take the high speed rail than we are. a friend of mine recently traveled to Stuttgart on her way to Luxembourg. she was able to travel to her destination via rail, no cars were involved in the trip.

in contrast, people in the United States are MARRIED to their cars (in reality, the western equivalent of a horse). we'd rather choke on the other guy's exhaust and search for parking than give it up for high speed rail. go figure.

I'm not afraid of terrorists, I'm just annoyed by the americans overreaction to them.

I can live wherever there is interesting work, don't really care about nations and their little spats.

Warren Buffet just bought the Burlington Northen-Santa Fe line. But that is freight and not passanger rail.

I think your question would be 'Where has passanger rail made a profit.'

The Orient Express does well. It costs a bit more than air travel, though.

The South African Blue Line might be a money maker, but I think the RSA gov is involved in that.

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.

Just to throw some thoughts out there....

Aircraft took over from trains because, supossedly, they offered speed. What they really offered was a chance to be more productive since you could get to your destination in hours and not days. Airlines charged more, but you could make more money if you took them.

Now... You can, in some cases, work with your laptop and cell phone like you are at the office. If you board a high-speed in Dallas bound for St. Louis you could be there in three hours (with a one hour stop in Tulsa) which is about one hour more than by air. Chicago would be a six hour trip from Dallas, really seven since you would need to be there about an hour ahead of time to check-in and what not.

It would also be comfortable and not so much subject to delays. You could be as productive as if you were in your own office if you wished, or you could wander into the dining car and/or smoking car and really relax.

I am old enough to remember rail travel. It was slow and boring, but it was better than being beat to death on a piston driven airliner. When Jets took over it was good-by rail!

Could it be time to say good-by airtravel?

When we were in Berlin 3 years ago, we took a 1 hour train ride to visit some relatives out of town. We walked to the subway from our hotel. Took the subway to the main train station that just opened. Bought a train ticket at the kiosk. Went to the right platform. Waited 10 min for the train and hopped on when it got their. Found a seat, and enjoyed the ride. No muss, no fuss.

I know it would take a huge investment to get a system like that up and running here in the states, but we have to start some where. And if we do not start now, it will cost even more later on.

I do not think air travel has to say good bye. I think they can work in tandem. Plans for long distance, trains for shorter distance.

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Planes do not leave when you want them too or go where you want them too. They leave on a specified schedule and go to a airport. Trains leave on a schedule and go to a train station some of which are at airports. Go figure. Take a train to the airport to take a plane somewhere else.... wow. Might be on to something there.

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last I heard, Las Colinas, Texas was working on that very idea. they WERE building a train from Las Colinas out to DF/W. don't know if the idea is still in play, but if not, it should be.

the biggest problem I can see is that most people in the United States are still very much MARRIED to their cars. the idea of parking the car and taking a 300 MPH elevated mag lev train might never get off the ground. they'd rather tailgate my a** at 70 MPH and then pass me as if their a** is on fire. cars are today's equivalent of the horse. every man has to have his horse.