I took the bullet train from Tokyo to Osaki in Japan one time. Took couple hours (350 miles maybe?) and it was a nice break from air travel.  But I don’t see high speed trains ever taking market share in the US. Air travel is just too economical and the infrastructure needed for highspeed trains would cost billions to put in place. The payback would be measured in centuries…

SECURITY: The security you need is the security required to keep yourself out of trouble.
Those nations which are more or less regularly "targets of terrorists" are, if you look carefully, those same nations which:
- have a rich and thick history of colonialism,
- colonized with an overdose of "Gung Ho! Me White Man, you garbage!" attitude,
- use "private security" (=Mercenaries by the Geneva Convention) to push their own industrial interests,
- all of the above.

It's a matter of attitude.

A little respect helps, too.

Remember that anecdote of mine regarding the "Latte" in the airport? Attitude and respect.

I just threw up in my mouth a little bit........

WebsterMark wrote on 11/18/10 at 11:30:14:

that's alot better than throwing up a little bit in your shorts.

Funny how this thread swayed from VW to bullet trains to politics...

...now everybody's a Minuteman...

WM -

Living in Ohio, I've followed this insanity since it began.

There has always been a dream to connect Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland.  Before the interstate highway system, we had old U.S. Rt. 3, called the "3 C Highway" that ran that route.

Now, Interstate Rt. 71 does the same, and therein lies the root of the reason that the train is such a silly idea.

I live in Columbus, almost 1/2 way between Cincinnati and Cleveland.  From here, it's about 115 miles southwest to Cinci, and about 125 miles northeast to Cleveland.

I can drive from my office in suburban Columbus to downtown Cinci in about 2 hours, and to downtown Cleveland in 2.5 hours.  Rt. 71 is in good repair, and traffic flows smoothly along it, except for those few days in the depth of winter when the northern 1/3 of Ohio is battered by snowfall, since that part of our state lies within the region known as the Lake Erie snowbelt.

To make either trip by train would take longer.  I would have to drive to a train station, obviously arriving there at least 1/2 hour before departure time to park the car, get my ticket, clear some level of security, and board the train.  Then, the train, at 68 mph, would go exactly as fast as I drive on Rt. 71.  When arriving at some station at the destination, I would then have to get off of the train, get in a cab line with all of the other passengers, and get a cab to wherever I would go in the downtown.

But if my final destination isn't downtown, but in some outlying area of either city, then the whole trip becomes absolute nonsense if by train.

These distances are just too short to make public rail transportation reasonable.

Even those who need to go from Cinci to Cleveland, or the reverse, can drive the trip in just a little over 4 hours.  Again, that's far less time then if they go by this proposed train.

Now, a train would make sense from Columbus to Chicago, New York, St. Louis, etc. - trips of 300 miles or more.  But train travel is nonsense for a 125 mile trip when that same route is served by a very good Interstate highway.

Everyone forgets that train stations are like airports - never your final destination - you have to spend time somehow getting from the station to and from where you're actually going in the destination area.

In Europe, things are much different - gasoline is so much more expensive that travel by private car isn't nearly as cheap as it is here.  Old European cities are more densely populated and the cities don't sprawl as much as ours do, hence, getting from your home or office to the train station isn't as big a hassle as it is here.  Sure, Paris and London are huge and spread out, but the more common, smaller cities are much more dense.

Then there is one more problem,air travel is uncomfortable,crowded, the seats are worse than the seat on a savage. using the bathroom is a nusence.
My trip from LA to NY  and back was great, Steak dinner every night ,
full breakfast,both in comfort,stroll down to the bar have a few cocktails, go watch a movie,game of cards with fellow travelers,I was at first reluctent to go that rought but my wife will not fly, So that's what we did.Very enjoyable.

Jerry Eichenberger wrote on 11/19/10 at 09:23:29:

train tickets were $2,800 a piece that included a cabin and all meals.
As for your 300 miles ,get yourself a 600cc ninja,door to door 5 hours.