Orland-Tampa train proposal includes a stop at Walt Disney World

When you look at the US a train from NYC to LA doesn't make much sense. But when you look at NYC to Pittsburgh to Cleveland to Chicago, etc, it starts to make a lot more sense.

It seems insane to me that things like Hyperloop are even discussed when the solution already exists and has been implemented for over 40 years around the world.

When state and local governments are in the "business" of transportation I have to wonder, how much do they really want to stomach competition? Here in Florida we have the Turnpike and other regional pay as you drive systems in place and they do some pretty big business. Reliable mass transit (particularly if it is private like Brightline/Virgin) could eat into what is really a monopoly.

eightdotthree said:
When you look at the US a train from NYC to LA doesn't make much sense. But when you look at NYC to Pittsburgh to Cleveland to Chicago, etc, it starts to make a lot more sense.

And that’s the thing. Do we need a direct east to west HSR line? Probably not. But high speed between cities. Boston to NYC thru DC, Philly, Pittsburg, Cleveland, Chicago? Yes. Up and down the wear coast? Yes. Clusters of high speed rail that maybe kind of start connecting? Absolutely.

Connection DFW, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio also makes a ton of sense, especially since there's pretty much nothing in between them.

ZDT's...

Article that talks about certain differences in Europe, Asia and the US and the impacts of those differences in terms of high speed rail.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/03/11/why-doesnt-the-united...693395c080

The Acela route from DC to Boston isn't half bad given the constraints mentioned in the Forbes article---I suspect because in that corridor, population density justifies it. I've used it a few times, and if I lived somewhere near it, I'd use it a lot more often. It is vastly more pleasant to take the Acela from e.g. DC to NYC than to fly.

I recently took Acela for the first time from DC to Philadelphia and I was totally impressed with every aspect of the experience. Comfortable seating, smooth ride, power and (good) WiFi at every seat. There was a bar car where you could grab a quick snack and/or a drink and you could get up and go to the bathroom whenever you wanted.

If I ever need to travel within the Boston/DC corridor again, Acela is the way to go and way better (and in some cases faster) than flying.

Flying sucks, but I just flew to Boston last week and it was an hour and 15 (flight time). Factor in travel time to the airport and TSA checks and it's still about half the time it would take on Amtrak.

In October we flew from Maui to the neighboring Big Island. For a seventeen minute flight we spent the better part of the day dealing with all that goes with rental cars and air travel.
Mind you, rail service would likely be an improbability for Hawaii, but it really opened up my eyes to the process and I couldn’t imagine having to do that frequently. I guess there used to be boat service, but no longer. Flying is probably still faster.