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Comment by freshyill | Hacker News Reader

I don't think there is now, or will be anytime in the foreseeable future, the demand for 300mph service between DC and Baltimore. The only possible driver for this would be for affordable housing. Home prices in and around DC are exorbitant, but they are relatively affordable around Baltimore. So this would have to be a 300 mph commuter train. And commuter trains make a lot of stops, meaning it wouldn't approach anything close to that speed.

Bullet trains would only make sense over long distances. This won't happen. What we need is more commuter rail capacity, and more lines, so the trains can make fewer, faster stops. We need to move more people more efficiently, not just faster.

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Yes, the commuter railroads are already at capacity in the DC metro area. Simply increasing the old fashioned rail capacity by adding more tracks to the MARC trunk lines would provide far, far greater bang for the buck. See: http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/20426/marc-backs-aw...

Faster trains can support more trips per day on the same track. Now, the problem is that people generally want to leave at the same time, but if the journey time was say 15 minutes, you could do 5 minute frequency during peak with a few trains.

There would have to be few stops...even point to point, for this to work though. Think Shinkansen.

We don't need more trains per day. It only matters at rush hour. The MARC trains probably aren't even moving at full speed during the morning and afternoon rushes. We need more trains during peak times and the existing lines probably can't support that.

We need more lines going to different places, which would allow people to drive shorter distances to get to the stations, decreasing road traffic, and also helping with crowding on the trains themselves.

I make the commute from Baltimore to DC every day, and I absolutely agree. The Northeast Regional averages about ~90 mph between Baltimore and Wilmington. If it did the same from Baltimore to DC, it'd be a sub-30 minute trip. The only reason it can't is the lack of capacity through tunnels in Baltimore, tunnels into DC, and at DC Union Station. Heck, the biggest bottleneck is probably the single escalator in Union Station leading down from the MARC/Amtrak concourse to the Metro station.

Or maybe DC - Baltimore is the best place for the first phase of a DC - Boston high speed corridor, since it's short.

But nobody would use it as just one leg. It would be completely impractical for commuters, and nobody needs to get to Baltimore in 10 minutes—at least not enough to support this. They'd have to be building multiple legs in parallel, not slowly building their way north to Boston.

A Maglev train would be more logical between San Jose and LA.

Boston to Washington with stops in NY and Philadelphia would also make some sense. Save a lot of flying.

Los Angeles and Las Vegas makes a great deal of sense too, and would be a shorter (and MUCH cheaper) route.

It would make sense it would also be very diffuclt. Maglev's expect flat and straight.

The Baker Grade outside of Baker (small town with the Greek Resutrant and literally nothing else, you've ate their if you went to death valley). Is one of the stepest grades in the nation, rising ~6,000ft in ~19 miles. Overall the course will drop you as low as 100ft above sea level, and see you rise to 6,400ft. With minor peaks and vallies dropping as low as 500ft, rising back to 4,000ft.

Source: A lot of automakers vet transmission designs on that highway.

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