30.4.07

Why doesn't the US have fast trains?

This past weekend I went to visit a friend who is an Au Père in Germany. To get there I had to take a combination of trains which took about 8 hours going (that included an hour and a half of layovers) and 9 hours coming back (due to a delay). According to google maps the same trip by car should have taken just under 8 hours. While on this trip I rode a high speed train in Germany which toped 100 mph and a high speed train in France which reached about 150 mph. On the return trip my second of three trains was delayed causing me to miss the third. This didn’t really matter though as I simply caught the next one which left 20 minutes after I got in.

In the US I have ridden the train multiple times from Elkhart, IN to Martinsburg, WV which ends up being often a 14+ hour ride without a train change. The distances however are about the same as those of my trip this past weekend.

About a month ago the French broke the speed record on standard train rails with a very High Speed Train. This train will start carrying passengers at speeds up to 350 mph by the end of the summer.

The Eurostar carries passengers from the heart of Paris to the heart of London in 3 and a half hours. As you don’t have to show up early for security one could leave ones house in Paris and four hours later be at a friends house in London 4 hours later.

2 comments:

Valerie and Justin said...

why ride on trains when SUVs are so much more fun AND better for the environment? i mean, COME ON, julian, get with it!

Sharon said...

speaking of fast trains between Paris and London ... :) How long are you in France?