This noon, the Antiplanner giving a presentation (9 MB pdf) on high-speed rail at the Heritage Foundation. For once, I prepared the presentation in advance and even typed in the text Do not cialis sildenafil set an unrealistic goal which you know is impossible to achieve. The seed powder is administered through nose during nasya karma to reduce cheapest cialis uk headache. Eat fruits and vegetables more, as they contain antioxidants that help keep order cheap viagra try over here arteries open. This sexual condition is characterized by the inability to get and keep optimal erection viagra samples during intercourse. of my narrative. It presents some new information and some information that has previously been mentioned on this blog but was not in my 2008 report on high-speed rail. Enjoy.
High-Speed Rail Presentation
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Randal, the general rule of thumb is minimum 28pt font for readability on screen. My titles are min 36pt and text is min 28pt, bullets 32. One minute per slide. Many of your images are compelling.
DS
Very minor correction. The Interstate Highway System does not REACH every state – i.e. not Alaska or Hawaii.
From Wikipedia: “While the name implies that Interstate Highways cross state lines, many do not (for details, see List of intrastate Interstates). Rather, they are funded federally with money shared among the states. There are Interstate Highways in Hawaii, funded in the same way as in the other states, but entirely within the populous island of Oahu. They have the designation of H-x and connect military bases, though they are open to public use. Both Alaska and Puerto Rico have public roads that receive funding from the Interstate program, although these routes are not signed as Interstate Highways (except on paper). These roads are neither planned for, nor built to, official Interstate Highway standards.”
Slide 5:
“Alas, the Obama administration’s vision for high-speed rail focuses on 100- to 600-mile corridors,
shown in red, while the grey lines will remain low-speed rail.”
Given what you say later, this is probably a good thing.
Slide 18:
“But then politicians pressured the government-owned and formerly profitable Japanese National
Railways to build more lines to their districts. By 1987, the company was $350 billion in debt (when
GM went bankrupt, it was only $35 in debt). The Japanese government absorbed the debt and sold
the high-speed lines to private companies for a half-cent for every dollar spent building the lines.
This contributed to Japan’s economic malaise of the last two decades.”
That’s the problem with nationalised businesses. Politicians interfere for political reasons, which often don’t make much sense from a business point of view. The latest wheeze in the UK is to subsidise broadband internet in the countryside. Isn’t it just awful that they can’t get broadband internet in the countryside? Well, no. That’s one of drawbacks of living in the countryside, and they knew that there would be some drawbacks when they bought the property.
NB: I think you mean $35 billion, not $35.
Slide 54:
I think there’s something amiss here. Low speed rail is less fuel efficient that high speed rail?
While I agree with The Antiplanner on some points regarding HSR, as he knows, I also see the usual pattern here: not the complete story!
If the 400 or so miles traveled by HSR in France and Japan, among other places, is “small” it certainly isn’t compared to INTERCITY trips. In France, the TGV accounts for not a small fraction of intercity trips, e.g., over 50 miles each way. The situation is similar in Japan.
Passenger miles is a useful measure of transportation, but it is hardly the only measure. It hardly makes sense to rate walking and biking as unimportant in Europe, even though the per capita distances traveled are small compared to mechanized modes. In many European cities, walking and bicycling makes up 40%-60% of all trips even if less than 10% of total annual passenger miles per capita.
O’Toole’s conclusion was as obvious, as it was planned.
Rail is bad, because it is rail.
Road is good, because it is road.
msbetty,
How will HSR have any affect any intercity “trips�
For walking or biking, how will any mechanized trips matter?
Hint: you are talking about very local trips & for within high-density areas.
(ie, Will you take the bus to 1/8-1/2-7/8 a mile ?)
You are also talking about “tripsâ€Â, rather than “passenger-miles,†which composes, in the US, for transit, 2% vs 98% for personal vehicles. Laborious passenger-miles are not even considered, being so minuscule.
highman,
There is no reasoning of what you postulate: “…is bad, …is goodâ€Â
That’s not what the cost-benefit analysis looks at.
Can you substantiate the worth of rail?
Why is rail “good� Needs a complete analysis, not just your needs or beliefs.
People have freely chosen away from rail, towards highways for a century.
Vanderbilt & Stanford made $100s of millions then; there’s no money in it now.
What’s your solution?
How would you & many others, get to where they want w/rail, while foregoing their car?
Where would you place all these tracks & how would all this be paid for?
How much more energy would be used & emissions expended?
How often would rail stops be?
How about the space between stops?
Imagine that you are a lawyer & need to convince a judge/jury. In other words present evidence.
Or imagine that you need to prove to gov &/or a business that you have valid ideas, to support expense for rail. Don’t give excuses that the interstates have been around since the 50s (well, 42,000 by 1970). Rail is over a century old.
Hey Scat:
From msbetty
Get your opponents names right, or my new name for you, Scat, will stick–and smell…
Mr.Setty, we’re dealing with people who have a fascist mind set.
Real libertarians would be impartial & individualistic.
Excellent presentation, Randal.
I learned a lot, especially about how much rail passenger transport cost Japan.
Tad, O’Toole is paid to promote bullshit.
Japan has screwed about with strange road projects too.
If you really want to learn stuff about transportation policy.
Check out the Victoria Transport Policy Institute.
Japan has a mix of public & private sector rail operations.
http://www.tobu.co.jp/foreign/
http://www.odakyu.jp/english/