The American mind is just incapable of comprehending trains
this post was submitted on 18 May 2026
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We can comprehend just fine. There's a project, California High Speed Rail, under construction to connect these two cities. The trouble is that our political and economic systems have become so sclerotic that China has built an entire HSR network since work on this line began, and it won't even be done before 2031.
We can still build highways, because the political and regulatory mechanisms to create them were fine-tuned as the system crystalized into inflexibility.
Frankly, this exact inability of U.S. society to change and adapt to new conditions was the signal indicator of the incipient collapse, for me.
If you wanted to build a track for these "high speed buses" it would require special safety features, signalling, barriers etc. that make it look much more like a train track than like a motorway. So you'd gain exactly nothing over building a train track.
Not true. Not even close. According to the article, the bus lanes would be built on existing infrastructure. The bridges exist, the right-of-way exists, there would be comparatively little political resistance, the cost would be MUCH lower. Also, maintenance costs would be much lower.
But those aren't going to do 180 km/h. No existing bus will achieve this kind of speed on a regular motorway. This is all just a bunch of hot air.
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Well, yes, exactly. A nation cannot remain an economic superpower by frittering away its wealth on expensive, but suboptimal shit like a "highway" for high-speed buses. If it's no longer able able to build effective, cheap infrastructure because it doesn't benefit an entrenched industry, then collapse isn't far off.
There’s a project, California High Speed Rail, under construction to connect these two cities.
Proposition 1A passed in 2008, followed by the awarding of federal stimulus funds in 2010.
The California HSR was a plot point in the second season of True Detective, which began production in January of 2014.
18 years later, the Phase One between San Francisco and Anaheim is still under construction.
It's funny because 80% of comments about general "Americans" are also falling for the propaganda
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I comprehend it fine. UK life, no car, train only for going on five years. Cheaper than owning a car, even with the occasional taxi ride. Get more steps in, too.
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We've been force-fed this line of bullshit about cars being freedom. Public transportation is for freaks and losers. I mean. GM and Standard Oil say so!
Have you ever looked at how much the land costs where we would put the trains?
This is more of an unrestrained capitalism thing rather than a distinctly American thing.
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I thought they ate the onion but somehow this appears to be an actual serious study. I can't imagine how uncomfortable a bus going 140mph would be. At that point the engineering required to keep the road in appropriate shape is likely more expensive than just using rails...
Once again, the Onion has predicted the news before it happens..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNixDlRoMvA
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Trying to turn I5 into the autobahn with a 140 mph bus lane would result in so much chaos and destruction that honestly I'm all for it.
There is 0 chance that the average American drivers liscense having brain could comprehend this concept.
Most people can't even keep an actually reasonable following distance, or understand the concept of a passing lane.
This is a literally comically stupid idea, its a B movie plot element from an 80s scifi movie.
Fuck it -> Do it for the lols.
This is a literally comically stupid idea, its a B movie plot element from an 80s scifi movie.
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The reason for busses is simple and seems to be ignored by literally everyone.
The private property between SF and LA keeps increasing in price so the costs for the project are in the billions before anything is even built. The signing of the land is in the billions. Now build a rail in Trump's economy and it becomes nearly impossible to succeed at anything rail.
Busses builds an audience that can be used to later justify rail to get buses off the road. Americans hate big trucks on the road but there they are anyway. It's a slow burn turn to morph the car brain into train brain.
Weird how cities used eminent domain to bulldoze entire black and Hispanic neighborhoods to build highways yet can’t use eminent domain to get some rich assholes overpriced real estate for this.
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The private property between SF and LA keeps increasing in price so the costs for the project are in the billions before anything is even built.
Damn, if only eminent domain existed
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Build a train you fucken cowards
🚂🚃🚃🚃
Wow, 140MPH! That's ... still 84MPH slower than the fastest trains in Europe, and 127MPH slower than the fastest train in Asia (Shanghai maglev).
These stupid fantasies are still a pale shadow of what the rest of the world has already managed to achieve. Just finish building the fucking train already!
Not to mention that's quite a dangerous speed for a bus
Hey, if that bus drops below 55, we got a way to deal with that.
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recycling the classics
Obama Replaces Costly High-Speed Rail Plan With High-Speed Bus Plan
Everything but rail, huh?
psssst! .... trains....
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!
I bet they will do a "special track" for them
There is no amount of traffic that would make me consider getting in a robot-controlled 140 mph bus lmao.
You can always trust in the US-americans to do the right thing, after having exhausted every other possible option.
Trouble is, every time you think they've hit rock bottom, they'll find a new depth to sink to.
There are already rails between LA and SF. Why not use them?
Because it takes 8+ hours.
I was being rhetorical. There is infrastructure that can be developed here.
They're currently building high speed rail, but it's 14 years from opening by current estates.
Was supposed to be done by now, it's been a shitshow, but it seems to have improved in recent years.
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Y'all, they're building a high speed train, but it's mired in problems, and if the economy crashes, it will be decades before it's completed. This would be a medium-term solution that's easy to build, and easy to take down when it's no longer needed.
These "high speed buses" don't even exist in theory. So it would just be plain old regular buses. You can have these now.
They should explore eminent domain and build real transit.
But what if there aren't enough minority neighbourhoods to bulldoze?
The farmland between LA and SF isn't minority neighborhoods. But my comment was more an off the cuff dismissal of this ass-backward bus idea than an actual policy opinion. Here's a real policy opinion: Stop making excuses and run the fuckin trains.
There you have your problem: That farmland belongs to rich white people.
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We already did that then tore it all out and let the railroads keep the property and money they schemed, scammed and straight up stole.
Land isn't an issue for high speed rail in CA (anymore), so... high speed busses with dedicated lanes is extra silly.
I've got one! A people movie treadmill! 300mph. You catch a local taxi, it accelerated to 80mph. Then you jump on to a plane which then takes you from 80 to 300. Then you jump on the treadmill. Don't know yet how to get you off. Bit its not disgusting.
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So trams are not on their mind ?
This bus proposal is basically a 'back to the drawing board' plan. How can you get people to travel between SF and LA faster than driving, and maybe cheaper than flying, especially if jet-fuel prices stay high.
It's going to follow the existing roadways. What the original high-speed rail project could have done, instead of jogging far inland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Route_of_California_High-Speed_Rail
Given diesel fuel costs, they'll probably end up with EV, perhaps with overhead cabling. And to avoid expensive 'self-driving' buses, maybe they'll put down 'guide lines.' To be able to go faster than cars, they'll have their own lane, or use center divider areas. And to avoid pollution and wear and tear, instead of rubber tires, they'll go with metal wheels. But to prevent damage to the roads, maybe they'll have to swap the guide lines with hard metal, protective lines...
Meanwhile, elsewhere: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_China
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