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Japan is a leader in rail travel

3K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  BP-43 
#1 ·
#2 ·
There are probably several reasons. Much of the U.S. isn't dense enough or concentrated enough to support extensive door to door rail travel. In additional, our destinations aren't set up for extensive supplemental transportation upon arrival. And above all, we love our cars and the independence they give us.

In addition to the East Coast, there are efforts being made in California to get Hi-speed rail travel between LA and SF. It's proving to be a challenge economically.
 
#3 ·
Still no excuse in my opinion. I live in Utah and my wife has taken Amtrak from Salt Lake to Sacramento and back many times. Bad service and poor schedule. I want to take Amtrak from SLC to Charleston SC to visit our son but it is very expensive with a sleeper and one has to change trains in Chicago in the middle of the night and again in DC.
I believe that much more can be done to improve US domestic rail service despite the legitimate reasons you cite.:smilie_daumenneg: Canada has a great transcontinental rail service in the sparsely populated west. :appl:
 
#8 ·
Well yes, Japan has been a leader in rail travel for several decades now. I first rode the New Tokaido Line (Bullet Train) from Tokyo to Kyoto back in 1973. I remember building a house of playing cards on the tray table in front of me at 160 mph, flying past Mt. Fuji, and it stood. The ride was that smooth. But it's a dedicated electric railway only for bullet trains, similar to the passenger trains in Europe.

In the U.S., the diesel-electric Amtrak trains travel thousands of miles over railways owned by freight railroads, except for the Acela in the Northeast. So there is quite a difference.

We're also a big country from sea to shining sea, where the four densely-populated islands of Japan could fit into the state of California.

Airlines and cars have taken over the continental U.S., with passenger railroads (Amtrak) a distant third.
 
#9 ·
Japan rail service




You're right, rail travel in Japan is second to none. And that's not just the JR Shinkansen trains. There's a patchwork of national and private railways that make the customer feel like s/he is getting something special. Customer Service also amazing. A first-class classy operation no matter what train you get on.

:appl:
 
#10 ·
It's true, it takes massive investment to produce a really good efficient rail system, and of course political will. In the UK High Speed 2 or HS2 will link London Birmingham Manchester and Leeds. Cost is estimated to be $60bn. There has been huge opposition but it will happen.
As GRJ says the German network is fantastic, fast and efficient. As the minute hand turns to the allotted time the train is pulling into the station. I once travelled to Hanover via Eurostar, going down through Belgium where they changed locos in the middle of the night hardly waking us in the sleeper. All this costs and in the UK fares have constantly risen by more than inflation.
 
#12 · (Edited)
I am a massive fan of traveling abroad. I haven't been to Japan yet, but I plan to go there as soon a possible. I like to visit exotic places, try new food and meet people with different roots. But I always make sure to inform myself about every country’s particularities. When my colleagues and I traveled to Serbia as part of a work trip, we researched it thoroughly in terms of safety and the required documents. The last thing we needed was trouble with the customs officials. You can look here to check out the useful tips we got when we were embarking on our trip to Novi Sad.
 
#13 ·
I often wonder why that here in the USA that there are not better railways? I my youth rail was the only way to travel. Japan and Europe, not to forget Canada have all exemplary systems!
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/luxury-on-the-rails-in-train-mad-japan-8955058
Logistics time and money.
East Coast and West coast may be a lost cause due to no real estate and needing lots of it for a dedicated high speed rail.
Even if we do build some high speed rail lines?
You cant compare us to Japan.
Unlike Japane we are spread around/sprawled all over the place.
The reason that stuff works in Europe and Japan is because they have public transportation everywhere.
It takes me 8 hours to drive from one end of NY state to the other WNY to NYC, this will take even more if I go from upstate.
You don't have enough population density to make the high speed travel financially feasible.
If the USA was the size of Japan and 3/4 of our population lived in once city this might have worked.
I keep hearing "well in country X...."
Well we aren't country X we are continent sized nation made of deserts, forests, mountains, frozen plains and hot valleys.
Some things are simply not practical for us even if we subsidize it. Hopefully hyperloop and high speed tunnel boring machines will change this metric.
 
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