lets go we're so back

In the arguments against high speed rail allegedly being feasible due to our "size" (and our population density), what gets lost is that we have states and regions with much higher population densities than countries that have already figured out this high speed rail thing. Areas like Southern California, Ohio, Florida, and that Dallas-Austin-San Antonio-Houston triangle-shaped area in Texas all have the population density.

Thats awesome that we might finally get some high speed rail in the usa!!!!

It's really great to see someone covering HSR with optimism, let alone realistic optimimsm about the topic. A lot of cities definitely are the right distance and have enough population to justify an upgraded or purpose built HSR corridor. Time is yet to tell for when we get it, though.

People are acting like HSR in the US can't be done or is just now starting to exist, when the Acela has been doing this since 2000. Of course we can do high speed rail, we just need to actually get off our asses and make it happen.

Probably one of the best videos ive ever seen from a channel this small

The two big ones now are the California HSR project and the start of the Brightline West project between Las Vegas and Rancho Cucamonga. The Brightline West operation could extend to Los Angeles Union Station, but the cost of getting the right of way to expand the current Metrolink line to double track and installing overhead wiring could be almost as expensive to building from Rancho Cucamonga to Las Vegas itself!

Thanks for a long, in-detail video about this topic.

A few comments on Brightline West: You mentioned that we don‘t know how long the individual cars of the Brightline Novos will be, and while that‘s true, Siemens does state that for the Novo in general, cars will have a length of 28.75 meters or just over 94 feet. This would make them among the longest passenger cars in the world and is a continuation of a trend that started with the ICE 4 units that entered service around 6 years ago. I assume they will keep the length the same for their US offering. Then talking about stations on BLW: I find their placement extremely odd. They managed to put two stations perfectly around Victorville, whilst ignoring the actual city completely. If anyone wants to get to the train in Victorville their only choice is a lengthy drive which to me is a bad start, because then the incentive is there to just say “well, I’ll drive the rest too”. I also doubt Victorville would be a place where TOD would work so well. It seems like a pretty barren city and with the climate not exactly getting cooler, I wouldn’t wanna live in an actual desert dustbowl. Lastly, grades and alignment: I was hoping that BLW would remove itself from the highway median in sections where the highway curves too much or too tightly for high-speed running, but I guess I was wrong. I live near what is probably Germany’s most prestigious ever rail project, the Cologne-Frankfurt HSL, which also parallels a highway for its entire length, but it isn’t as glued to it. It was built to engineering extremes in both gradients and radii, and only the ICE 3 and 4 series are permitted to run on it. It’s sometimes nicknamed “the rollercoaster” for its alignment. It shows very well how high-speed lines can share transport corridors with highways and that high-speed trains can handle pretty extreme terrain without a significant loss of speed (whole line is built for 300 kph running), but it also shows the limitations of paralleling highways, in that the trains often have massive bridges to cross valleys, because the gradients the highway has are impossible for the railway to match. I hope BLW doesn’t cheap out completely on their mountainous section and does build a few strategic cuts and tunnels to keep trains faster than road traffic at all times. Really enjoy your essays, keep up the good work!

HSR LETS GO BABY!

The Metroliner is kind of funny to me. It was popular amongst riders, and the schedules were good - it was a good service, that was held back by bad rolling stock. A great example of how good rail service is absolutely craved in the United States and has been for decades, but the infrastructure and the equipment simply lag behind, because the government wants to do it on the cheap while giving far too much funding to highways. Nowadays, we have the equipment, we just don't have the infrastructure. But that's on the precipice of changing. The next 30 years are going to come to define the future of rail in America, and it's been looking pretty impressive lately. Hopefully the momentum is maintained.

I like the rail lines across the Long Island Sound, High Speed, Freight Rail, Commuter Rail & maybe commercial and private vehicles. A bridge and/or tunnel a the narrowest point of the Sound. How many ferries cross the Long Island Sound every day????

Great video Steve. One sligght error. At 10:55, when you introduced Brightline West, you mention Rancho Cucamonga, in the Inland Empire Region, being west of L.A. Actually, it's east of L.A. :)

Resurgence in rail in the United States? It’s showtime my guys

My dad would always rant to me about the poor design of NE corridor segments. Now I'm the one ranting. If only dad were here to see some fixes finally come into place.

*ARLINGTON HAS ALMOST POPULATION OF 400K AND IT HAS NO PUBLIC TRANSPORT?! HOW COULD IT EXIST?!?! I KNOW TOWN CALLED SENICA OF 20K (NO 200K, I REALLY MEAN 20K) AND IT HAS 4 BUS LINES! COME ON ARLINGTON, WHO WOULD EVEN WANNA LIVE THERE?!*

Yeah, this is first about mid range service, some high speed sleeper services could be at mid high, but only a well built maglev can do that as a day service and would have to be a sleeper maglev to run the cross continent route, but that would actually be competitive as a sleeper and would be the last thing developed. The first thing to do though is the city pairs and regions like Boston to Washington or the Desert Southwest, the Texas Triangle, the Deep South, the Midwest, the Cascades, and Via Rail mainline corridor. Maybe also San Antonio and Houston to Monterrey and maybe Mexico City. Also, The Tōkkaido Shinkansen itself was over budget and took decades to build. Also, the original version of the North East Corridor took almost 90 years and several new technologies to build.

That Chicago to St. Louis line would be perfect for Cardinals and Cubs fans... 😏

Bring the PA Turnpike full circle- build PAHSR!

That you only have 1660 Subscribers is a Crime. Real great video with great infos and pictures.

WE need an extension to tampa from Orlando either from brightline or more Amtrak service because fighting I-4 traffic is insane and is only getting worse

Excellent report.

California needs to start construction on San Jose to the central valley asap, just that connection might do wonders for relieving the Bay Area housing market and uplifting the valley. They just need to spend the money, $1 billion a year won't do it

The point at 33:03 is important. I've ridden from Firenze to Roma and Italy won't be great without it. I had no idea it took that long.

35:09 Southwest doesn't fly to DFW (yet), they fly from Houston Hobby to Dallas Love. Southwest primarily flies to smaller airports where they are the dominant carrier especially in Texas where the Wright Ammendment is a thing until next year. Correction: Southwest also has served Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport since 2020 but will be ceasing all flights to the airport on August 4th, 2024

Welcome back, Steve!

The frederick douglass tunnel is planned to serve marc and amtrak trains, marc is supposedly going to electrify its penn line fleet by the time it's done.

0:47 i like your vlog. You should try riding Whoosh in indonesia, the first high speed train in southeast asia with a speed of 350/KMH. There are still many more trains in indonesia that you can make your youtube video. greetings from indonesia, Keep spirit and keep healty😊

27:23 I actually worked on those, they were built in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Awesome video. Just to give a little info on Metro North's role in the Northeast Corridor, I'm pretty sure they only own the portion of the tracks running from New Rochelle to the border between NY and CT. The Connecticut DOT owns the rest of the portion up to New Haven, with this disjunction (pun intended) contributing to Metro North's New Haven line being their worst in terms of delays, which in turn affects Amtrak Services along this route. Any grade separation plan would unfortunately require the two to cooperate, though here's hoping!

0:49 Finally, someone who doesn't butcher the pronunciation of "tokaido shinkansen"

This might be the most comprehensive video about American HSR, talking about the two (actually three but one doesn't really count) definitions, the various projects (planned or otherwise) as well as their gimmicks. I think my favourite point is that there are much fewer HSL which are exclusively used by HST than some ought to make it to be. For example, it is common to state that the Shinkansen has no conventional trains but few mention that this is more the exception than then rule since Europe is much (even if it does make operation more difficult but it's also a matter of frequency), not to mention we (Europeans) also have first upgraded our tracks before building new ones when the Japanese did that right away (of course, they also were forced to build a new line given their standard gauge is too narrow to support higher speeds than 120 km/h IIRC). Also Cascadia UHST, lol. I know that speed records are bound to be broken but over 400 km/h in regular passenger service is quite ambitious with steel-on-steel technology but also standard gauge.

An interesting look at high speed rail in the USA. There is definitely lots of areas in the USA that could benefit from HSR travel. As you said in the conclusion; it's all in the will of the people and politicians.

6:36 thank you this map pisses me off so much with its ignorance and poor planning. also my hatred for front range HSR

MORE HIGH SPEED RAIL IN USA! Ignore the stupid naysayers and haters!

They need to expand the monorail to the future Bightline West Station. This will benefit both system.

W video as always

Corporations Lobbying Against HSR: "You can't defeat me!" State Governments: "I know, but he can." *Another Lobbying Corporation Busts Through the Wall*

Not to nitpick, but...Rancho Cucamonga is EAST of Los Angeles, not West. The only think west of Los Angeles is the Pacific Ocean. And Rancho Cucamonga is actually an ideal spot for the western terminus, as it's close enough to L.A. to make a difference, but not so close as to cause a lot of problems with the crowded L.A. area. And as said in the video, there is already rail service from Union Station in L.A. to Rancho Cucamonga - Metrolink. That being said - I would LOVE to see Brightline West completed in my lifetime, but...given the litigious nature of this state (California), I doubt it will be done while I am still alive.

29:40 This looks like the old Claymont station, but the new one was opened before Septa heritage units, of which one is seen here. You show clips of the new Claymont station before

Also when it comes to the ALC-42E's in Diesel and Electric mode they will be capable of 125mph. Also the MTA doesn't own entire section of the NEC from New Haven to New Rochelle. CDOT owns most of the line. The state of NY only owns like 8 miles. Which use to have a track speed of 90mph. Also I love the way you end your videos. Great stuff. Im a Amtrak engineer and the corridor is something very special. We need more High Speed Rail.

As far as I know, the velaro novo is a modernized and modified version of the ice 4.

God okay, I live in Portland Oregon I would be so for 250 mph, Is it unrealistic? Yes. But is Cascadia also one of the most innovative regions in the entire world? Also yes. It would be wildly difficult to get 250 consistent, but we are optimistic people up here, and I believe we could get it done!

like your optimisim its just the wait which is around 90 to a million years and by then the ticket will be about 9 trillion for a ticket with livestock

The high speed lines in China are built to allow more freight on their legacy lines as they don’t have as much overall tracks as the USA

45:20 - In Arlington Texas, is the place named "Entertainment District", better known as "Six Flags"?

Regarding Brightline West, I have no idea how the Velaro Novo had any chance with that ugly front nose. And yes, I wanted them to go with the Avelia Liberty as that train is much better to look at.

i still remain skeptical, and there's no fault on mine

❤❤❤

Soooo the B&P tunnels have a top speed of 30mph. And Union tunnels have a top speed of 45mph.

We are so back

Great great video and attempt at setting the record straight! But still too much Brightline bootlicking and too much anti-rail propaganda bashing of CAHSR. A lot of inaccuracies or even outright anti-rail propaganda have sadly made their way into this video. The video is not bad overall. It really isn't. But we as a community need to learn how to filter the propaganda "issues" from the real ones if we want this country to actually get good at building a ton of high speed rail quickly. Here are a few inaccuracies, 1. There is only one HSR standard in the US: >125 mph. This is literally in the "Definitions" section of the relevant Federal law. Yes, that same law and the FRA allow investment of HSR-earmarked funds into 110 mph corridors, but with the understanding that they can one day be upgraded to at least 125 mph. 2. Brightline West is not Category 1 HSR. In fact, it kind of doesn't qualify by the international standard for HSR status at all. According to their own top speeds from the EIR documents, under 10% of the route will be at >=155mph HSR speeds. Everything else is single-tracked and under even 125 mph for the highway median sections. Yes, all the way. Google their EIR. The map is literally in the documents that they filed under penalty of perjury, and all that. No, they can't magically go faster than what they got permissions for via the EIR. That's not how government planning documents work. 3. The seats on the Brightline, VIA, and the Amtrak Siemens Venture trains are all the same. The anti-government part of the foamer community made up whole-cloth some magical fantom difference alongside a bunch of other idiotic anti-Amtrak conspiracies related to the Chargers and Ventures. Yes, the seats have different materials for the upholstery, but the padding and the seat design is the same "parts bin" design that Siemens uses everywhere. Small details are different (vinyl color, materials, handles, tray table shape, etc.), but the structure and padding are identical. Siemens is by far the most famously anti-custom rolling stock manufacturer in the world. They just don't do custom. Their clients have to beg them just to get slightly different color vinyl on those seats. And the fact that the seats are identical has been confirmed both by the people who rode all three Venture versions (myself included) and Siemens themselves. Oh, and the seats are basically identical to the Viaggo Comfort seats on Railjet as well. Like I said, Siemens doesn't do custom. 4. CAHSR did not end up with a bunch of mostly land acquisition delays because Caltrans is anti-rail. They are, just like any DOT on this continent (including those in Canada and Mexico), but they simply weren't running that show. There was a heavy anti-rail political campaign that as an explicit public goal wanted to kill the project with delays and resulting cost overruns. This is all public knowledge. The Republican politicians in California's Central Valley wanted to kill "Obama's train" and achieved a fair bit of success in engineering delays and cost overruns, nearly succeeding. And a few years ago when Newsom put the kibosh on those attempts by refusing to kill the project, they just moved the trolling campaign to Texas Central and killed that project off almost immediately. 5. The CAHSR costs per mile that everyone is circulating include both a ton of litigation costs and planning for future extensions. The actual cost per mile of the actual construction, design, and planning is less than half. IN very rough terms, so far CAHSR has about 90 miles of guideway completed for about $12 billion dollars under $10 billion of which is actual construction in the Central Valley (excluding Caltrain and LA Area projects). That puts the cost per mile at under $100 million. Yes, higher than in the lower cost countries, but perfectly on par with similar labor cost economies in Europe and Asia. Actually, that's pretty damned good for a first-in-the-nation type of project. There's a ton more, but I just don't have the time to analyze everything. This is a complicated topic and there's a ton of literal propaganda swirling around these projects that tries to get them cancelled for political reasons.

I second the comment below that I appreciate you optimism. But Amtrak in the NE Corridor does not deserve a positive attitude. Fares are ridiculously high and will remain so because capacity is being increased only modestly. I hope CA HSR does not end up as a service that only those with cars can afford.

i dont think $400 for 1st class tickets is that obscene. i suspect the mean ticket price on blw will be a lot less

Is this the fastest train around the township?

46:51

'MERRRICCAAA

You also ignored the SEHSR RALEIGH TO RiCHMOND TO DC

Lightning

I have to ask: Has CAHSR ever figured out what to do about several cities along the route suing to get stops in their "fair cities"? The sheer number of additional stops being litigated will KILL the time from L.S. to San Francisco. It will make driving look time-saving, and the airlines will be having a field day.

Go birds

Love your videos and I mostly agree with you but I have a few nites. I think you're making a mistake with those private ventures especially as, like you said, you did this before and it was great but ended badly as passenger trains are not profitable and real estate driesnout in the end. It's not that private companies have no place but giving public funds to private companies without any commitments from them is wrong. I'm talking on, at least, minimum service obligations, so they won't close upmshop when it's inconvenient, like Brightline did for 18 months during the pandemic while true oublic transport continued to serve the public. They should also be obligated to use the same systems as you worked hard to homologise the network and you don't want to find yourselves like Europe. As for brightline west, and in general high speed definishion, top speed is not important if the it is nit sustained for the majority of the line. Most definishions disregard this but the US tax code regarding tax exemptions for private activity bonds (PAB) does define HSR as lne that can sustain speeds of at least 155 mph for the majority of the rout, which is what any definishion should include. As for the cost of BLW, you cannot compare a high speed line built in the median of a highway where only a few segments will reach true high speeds thatbhas no special allignments, bridges and tunnels to allow that and will mostly be single track and does not go into city centers to projects that did all that. Apart from all that I'm starting to think like one of the other commenters, maybe starting with HSR is not tje right way to go. It is importand and the US should invest in them but maybe start with ensuring cities have good local public transit networks? In the end most rides people take are the shorter ones where they live and the vast majority of passengers use loccal transit and not intercity. It will be a shame if someone jumps on the HSR to quickly get to a different city just to find out he has no way to get from the station to his destination in that city. I believe you shoud do both but this won't happen so maybe start with local and regional networks first.

41:33 - Brightline will replace SunRail?

4:14 it's km/h, not "kph", like it's mph, not "m/h".

Amtrak would double ridership and revenue with just adding one more train to one train a day routes across the country! No High Speed needed. HSR should come, but the public doesn't even know what a train is in most of the country yet.

Why would I get on a train when I can fly?

NON of these are HSR NONE, the US is INCAPABLE of producing a HSR, HSR it's above 200 MPH, the US thinks HSR it's 120 MPH. IT IS NOT!

what nonsense, 34 trillion in debt, people losing ground to real inflation every year and someone promotes this, totally impractical and illogical

There is no scenario in this country that I would be supportive to HSR. The country has larger needs for more service period to the entire country. I’m not asking for trains to run everywhere, but let’s have a suitable network of conventional rail serving the big cities adequately before we dabble into massive mega projects like HSR. It’s too much money, it doesn’t serve the transport needs of rural or suburban America, and politically because of the lack of track record on such projects it is a white elephant when billions are poured into it with no return. Our money is much better spent on other rail related projects. When 1 HSR line’s cost would fund the start up of 20-30 conventional rail services, services that we need, no way I support it.

America is not a country name lol, educate yourself

Money pit 😂

I like the rail lines across the Long Island Sound, High Speed, Freight Rail, Commuter Rail & maybe commercial and private vehicles. A bridge and/or tunnel a the narrowest point of the Sound. How many ferries cross the Long Island Sound every day????