U.S. Left in the Dust as China Unveils World's Fastest High Speed Train

[Froward69]

http://www.dailytech.com/US+Left+in+the+Dust+as+China+Unveils+Worlds+Fastest+High+Speed+Train/article18635.htm

<snip>The U.S. under President Barack Obama has committed $13B USD in high speed rail investment. That seems somewhat impressive until one hears about China's high speed rail commitment. China has already spent $259B USD on high speed rail and plans on spending a total of $1T USD by 2020 to install 16,000 miles of high speed rail track -- or roughly 1/3 of the length of the U.S.'s total interstate highway system.

China put the exclamation point on its efforts last week with the unveiling of its flagship high speed rail model, the 380A train. With a 236 miles per hour top cruising speed, the train is the world's fastest.
<snip>

http://www.dailytech.com/US+Left+in+the+Dust+as+China+Unveils+Worlds+Fastest+High+Speed+Train/article18635.htm

[Old and In the Way]

1. Sad...this type of investment could be part of our economic recovery plan

if we had a Congress that wasn't bought and paid for by Big Oil / Big Auto / Big Air Transport.

[David__77]

4. Well at least the world economy benefits from China's rapid development.

China is a trailblazer in high-speed rail and this will help its economy grow, its demand grow and make the technology cheaper and better in the long run.

[jp11]

2. Trains, who needs trains we have cars, lots and lots of cars and pavement, THIS IS AMERICA!

[damntexdem]

3. Nonsense: the U.S. doesn't even have the dust anymore!

;-)

[MindandSoul]

5. Yes, it's a great system. . .Europe is not quite as advanced as China. . .

But,as of this year, they have developped (across countries) 29000 kms of train tracks for the high speed train (250 km an hour) alone. This translate to about 19,000 miles of track already in place and the top speed of the TGV is about 175 miles per hour.

And yet, in the "old country," there is a lot less space between large cities, and a lot more constructions limitations had to be overcome to develop this system (the reason the train can go that fast is that it is basically travelling on a "flat and straight" rail. . .which met. . .clearing whole neighborhoods and demolishing the houses if they were in the way of the "straight" rail, digging tunnels in mountains and building long bridges over valleys if they were in the way of the "flat/straight" rail!

My brother's home was 2 houses away from a massive work project where an undeground tunnel was built for the TGV. . .The project just in that area (about 5 miles project!) took 3 years to complete and caused a lot of headaches to residents. . .but when it was completed. . .it looks like nothing had happen, the tunnel was covered with dirt, plantations, and is now a beautiful park in the middle of the country side and the TGV travels at full speed with no sound, no polution, about 100 feet below the park. . .to reappear 5 miles further at ground level before it travels on a massive railroad bridge that crosses over the Meuse river!

It would be so much easier (and cheaper) to complete such a project across the flat land of Kansas. . . It's amazing that it is taking so long to adopt such a project in the U.S.!

[FarCenter]

6. China is way behind -- we completed our rail system almost a century ago

Haven't needed to upgrade it since.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. We're keeping our dust dry.

[lib2DaBone]

8. China is surpassing the U.S. on many fronts....

Education, research and transportation.

While the United States is busy running all over the globe protecting Big Oil.... China is making solid business deals and locking up scarce resources, ports and trade routes.