AGV - very high speed trains

[WMAveteran]

 Alstom has produced a next-generation very high speed electric passenger train with distributed power that travels at 360kph (223mph).  Check out their website www.alstom.com/transport for information and cool videos.  Such a train in the United States would travel from Washington to New York in about one hour!  We should all live long enough to see that type of train in the United States!       

[WayneNYC]

That's awesome.  I'd love to see such a train in the US.  It still amazes that here in the 21st century, this country is still talking about having true high-speed rail.

[WMAveteran]

Wayne: that is a potent observation.  In many ways the United States is a third-world nation in the area of rail transportation.

[mrpete]

The first 25 AGV's are under construction for Italian private operator NTV. The only orders so far.

[Sand Box John]

WMAveteran
Wayne: that is a potent observation.  In many ways the United States is a third-world nation in the area of rail transportation.

It amuses my every time I read comments like that.
The North American common carrier railroad network is envied by the vast majority of the rest of the world. The commercial enterprises that operator the network do so at a profit, something not common elsewhere in the world. In most nations the railroads are heavily subsidized or are outright state run enterprises. Many of the nation where passenger rail service is operated and heavily subsidized, freight service is given second class importance, China being the best example. China is building passenger rail infrastructure at an accelerated rate but they are shipping coal to industry hundreds of mile by truck.

[Tristan]

I think he's referring to passenger rail.  I'd rather have a subsidized high-quality passenger network than a crappy commercialized freight network with passenger trains on it.

[Sand Box John]

Tristan
I think he's referring to passenger rail.  I'd rather have a subsidized high-quality passenger network than a crappy commercialized freight network with passenger trains on it.

Who is going to pay for it? Certainly not the people that would ride it.

The reason why commercially operated passenger train service died in the United States is because it became unprofitable. The only reason it lasted as long as it did is because of the contracts the railroads had with the United States Post Office Department.

[WayneNYC]

I think he's referring to passenger rail.  I'd rather have a subsidized high-quality passenger network than a crappy commercialized freight network with passenger trains on it.

I totally agree with ya.  In my mind, it looks like Europe and Japan is light years ahead of North America in terms of passenger rail transportation.