'World's fastest bullet train' starts test runs in Japan | Hacker News Reader

'World's fastest bullet train' starts test runs in Japan

asia.nikkei.com

18 pointsmelling9 comments

Much of the world is adopting high-speed rail. The US does not seem to be capable of effectively building HSR:

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/07/why-is-there-no-high-speed-r...

China has 19,000 miles of rail. This sort of infrastructure will pay future dividends.

when it comes to public infrastructure, the US does not seem to be capable of effectively building anything. the best we can do nowadays is build very slowly and expensively.

I don't know about that. The United States has an excellent highway system that pretty much negates the need for high speed rail (or sabotages it, which is also a valid viewpoint).

I doubt we'd be able to reproduce that feat. My state took 5 years to widen 8 miles of state road in a loosely populated area near me. They didn't need to bulldoze any houses or anything...it was literally add another road in parallel so it converts from 2 lane to 4 lane, and put a new bridge for the new direction.

I bought my house when it looked almost done, but there was another year to go for final touchup, certification or some junk.

On the flip side, when the I-85 bridge collapses in Atlanta (I live in Atlanta..in the burbs) that was redone ASAP.

If the government wants it done, it can be done. I just feel the appetite for infrastructure isn't really there like the past.

True. There's a great story about the I-580 ramp collapse in San Francisco that was rebuilt in just a few weeks in 2007 that also demonstrates that it can be done if there's the will. I posted it to HN a few weeks ago, but it didn't get any votes. I've reposted it here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19887849

But the big build out of the highway system occurred in a different era: 1950s - 1970s. I can't think of a single new public infrastructure project that was built so quickly in the US.

Projects almost always become bogged down with environmental impact studies, NIMBYism, and bloated costs caused by politically-connected contracting firms and unions.

Odd what constitutes a “bullet train”; the maglev train in Shanghai hits 430kph and has been operating for quite some time (albeit over a short distance).

I think the term "bullet train" often refers only to trains that run on standard gauge tracks, so maglev trains would naturally be excluded.

(video)

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