My idea for the high speed rail network. Map.

[bamacrat]

You may have to save this and magnify so you can see everything but there are national centers and regional ones with smaller stops along the way. The far northern states arent as covered due to the extreme climate in the winter. It may be possible but I dont know how that much snow and ice would affect HSR. Yes I do have too much time.

[Roon]

1. Man!! That would be so awesome! I hope one day we have that network or something similar

eom

[livetohike]

2. Nice job!

This project is long overdue. There is sorrow in Pgh. because the MagLev project which has been in the works for decades isn't getting any funds, but there are many projects that would affect more people that deserve it, imo.

[Lars39]

3. My request is that they make it so you can go from Memphis all the

way to East TN, with stops in between.:hi:

[Love Bug]

4. Why Lansing, MI instead of Detroit?

Just curious.

[LisaM]

9. I don't know, but Lansing is the capital, and it would also serve Michigan State

There are currently two lines running from Chicago to Michigan; one goes to Port Huron and the other to Detroit. I think they should go both places, as well as Ann Arbor.

[bamacrat]

12. Just put it centrally don't know how accurate the map is exactly if you look DFW is switched.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

17. Why Lansing, and not Ann Arbor? This is so screwn.

go blue

:hi:

[jmowreader]

5. You just did it as straight lines...

Make a few changes and I think you're golden:

Atlanta to Detroit instead of Atlanta-Lansing. You can still run the east-west line through Lansing, but more people will want to go to Detroit.

Run the Boise-Seattle line through Lewiston and Spokane. This does two things for you--services Lewiston (the world's highest ocean port) and eliminates the need for a spur line between Seattle and Spokane.

Add one line running from OKC through Kansas City to Des Moines.

Run a northern line along either the I-90 Corridor or the Amtrak Empire Builder route.

[bamacrat]

13. Well yeah, if I were asked to design it it wouldnt be all straight lines but this is a rough..

I may refine it with more detail later. This type of thing is a hobby of mine.

[gmoney]

6. Boise to Vegas, but no Columbus to Indy?

No Wasilla to Fairbanks?

[Cant trust em]

7. Why do you hate Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas?

You're such a MontanaWyomingDakotist!

[Moondog]

8. Indeed. Cheyenne, WY

has all sorts of Union Pacific RR stuff located there. All sorts of RR rights of way already bought and paid go through there. Uncle Sam has a lot of stuff in there too - the kind of stuff that would benefit from HS rail, and which Uncle would probably be happy to help fund as a result.

[hunter]

20. How about Salt Lake City to Winnepeg?

That'd work.

[Captain Hilts]

10. Gotta get Norfolk VA on the line somehow. nt

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. Way to leave out Hawaii, Racist Hitler.

:eyes:

Seriously, though - that's a pretty good plan! The routes are generally quite excellent, and I would approve. A few I might change, and add a few cities, but overall it's great.

I do hope, though, that WHEN they are built (and I pray that they will be), there will be stops along the way in smaller towns.

[bamacrat]

14. That would be amazing but scary to ride a train that far over open ocean.

Yeah this was just a rough I may refine it and send it to whitehouse.gov. Think of all the jobs a system that large would create.

[XemaSab]

15. A small suggestion

It would be easier to have a line going Portland-Redding-Sacramento-Fresno-Bakersfield-LA, with two spur lines connecting the Bay Area to Sacramento and Fresno.

There are mountains along the coast, and the inland areas are flat so you could get more speed going.

[hedgehog]

16. BTW, are you aware that some states in the lower 48 have no train service now?

Lots of states have no service within the state, just a stop or two at the borders.





Now, if you're a pallet of freight, you can get practically anywhere and everywhere:

[bamacrat]

22. My only thought would be the lack of population for it to economically worth it.

Thats why I dont have any in the Dakotas, Montana or Wyoming. I mean yeah they would use it too but it may not be feasible. But if I am asked to design it I will look at everything.

[TheMightyFavog]

18. Run a line north from Milwaukee to Green Bay.

It'd be a great way to get a lot of drunks off US 41 and I-43 on Gold Star package game days. Plus, you have commuters going to and from Green Bay and the Fox Cities every day. (Appleton, Oshkosh, and Fond du Lac)

[crispini]

19. No Dallas-Houston link?

No Houston-Austin link? North Texas thanks you, but I think the Houstonians would be more than a little peeved. :D

[OrwellwasRight]

21. You need San Diego to LA.

I'm also wondering if a city in the middle of the rocky Mountains (Denver) should be a hub. Just on practicality purposes for crossing the Rockies, wouldn't there only be a few ways across and perhaps the hubs collect folks from the northeast and southeast and then separately from the northwest and southwest and then send them over the Rockies in a few selected passes based on current rail lines -- and then they can separate out into other trains based on their destination from the hub on the opposite side of the Rockies from where they began?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

23. One line of the Japanese Shinkansen runs through Japan's snow country

and they deal with it by having heated rails.

[quakerboy]

25. Japan is what, 500 miles from stem to stern?

Montana is that wide, but snow country the whole way, with Idaho/western Washington on one side and the Dakotas on the other. I suspect this would be a problem.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

29. Japan is about the same size as California from top to bottom

but contains a population half that of the U.S.

[quakerboy]

33. Thats my point

Volumewise, Japan is about the same size as Montana. Transportation can be much more efficient because it has much less distance to cover than here in the US. We would have to create and maintain a whole lot more heated rail to cross Montana than they do to cover sections of Japan. Almost assuredly with a lot fewer users to justify it.

[Writer]

24. There needs to be a tiny little branch of tracks from Denver to Fort Collins, CO.

Otherwise - amazing!

I think the north central states not being served has more to do with sparse populations than with the weather.

[SoxFan]

32. That seems like a natural commuter rail corridor

Use Denver as the hub, with lines running north to Ft. Collins and Greeley, and South to Colorado Springs.

[Rhythm]

26. Atlanta to Raleigh to DC, but go around Charlotte?!

You've got some good ideas in places, but not others... like skipping a southeastern metro area of over a million people.

[BarbaRosa]

27. I've long thought Denver to El Paso would be a good one.

[rug]

28. What have you got against Honolulu?

[lunatica]

30. Each hub city could have cottage industries directly linked to the speed trains

I can visualize car rental businesses for those businessmen who would travel to a near by city that doesn't have a station. That way there would be little need for trains to go to every single city. Restaurants and businesses would probably move closer to the train stations to capitalize on their convenience which would also serve to shorten driving times. It would make national tourism a whole new industry creating millions of jobs in all the cities that have stations. Shuttle services would transport people to all parts of the cities. All this would cut down on people having to drive on highways in order to get anywhere. If you have a good transportation out from each station it would be a real jobs creation. Restaurants, museums, businesses, and all the stuff we like so much, like bookstores, shops and all the amenities of tourist centers.

[SoxFan]

31. Boston-Montreal

Very preliminary discussions are already underway regarding a Boston-Montreal corridor. It would run along the existing MBTA Lowell commuter rail line, then run through Manchester and Concord, NH, before veering to the northwest, more-or-less following I-89 to White River Junction, VT before continuing into Canada. Currently, Boston-Montreal passenger traffic has to follow a slow Springfield-Albany route.

[Dhalgren]

34. Hey! That's some pretty good stuff! And, yeah, you got too much

time on your hands - :P

There will never be an overall plan or design that pleases everyone, but you have to start somewhere. And this is really a pretty damned good start! The idea that should drive all this is not only the jobs it will create (which is a huge consideration), but, mainly, how it will facilitate a public transport solution that gets us away from the antiquated personal automobile model we have today. We got to evolve or die (even though the later is looking better for the world every day...) Sorry for the down turn. Good design - keep it up - oh and, get a job!

}(

[smalll]

35. Problem - no direct NY to LA route --

You'd go from NY to Cleveland, OH and then face a mess of zig-zags to get to Lincoln, Nebraska before you could start going directly again towards LA.

Of course if we built all this, it would probably cost trillions.

[Odin2005]

36. You left out the Northern Plains!

This Fargoan is NOT amused! :rant: