I am aware that I mixed up MARTA and METRA at 18:40 . I apologize to any Atlantans or Chicagoans whose sensibilities were exceeded by this mistake.

It will be ready 500-550 years from now, have faith.

Houston to New Orleans has a lot of demographic similarities to LA to Vegas. Would be interesting to see.

As someone from the Jackson, Mississippi metro area who has used Amtrak to get to New Orleans before, this seems absolutely amazing! I’m surprised that you would even consider us here, most people think that Mississippi is just too rural to have any public transit. This would be the most amazing thing to me.

I think I see a way to solve the downtown Atlanta station conundrum, since it potentially lies at the nexus of several routes. Lots of tunnels, but the station could be places north of the convention center parallel to the existing railroad tracks following Northside drive to the Norfolk Southern tracks through the Pittsburgh neighborhood until the interstate to the airport.

It’s a shame 110 MPH is considered the target speed to an already hypothetical “HSR” train route when they’ve had 200MPH+ trains in Asia for decades.

I want to see Pensacola -> Destin -> Panama City in my lifetime

Personally, I feel like Charlotte to Atlanta is the best one. They’re both big ass hubs that can easily be electrified over the next few years if they just started tomorrow.

I'm worried how many Houstonians wouldn't take the train to Nawlins when they find out they'd have to get off in Red Stick and switch to a local.

I thought high-speed rail does well under 500 miles. There isn't a city big enough between Houston and Atlanta. I would like to see something for Charlotte NC and Atlanta Georgia. Charlotte is a big financial hub. While Georgia has a big Airport hub. The distance between these cities are not great, so that is a win. There also horrible traffic on the Atlanta end. And would take many cars off the road. Atlanta also has one of best rail transit in the South by far.

Need to get the Dallas to Houston segment first.

What about DC to Chicago? Same kinda deal, but tons of different connects and city pairs. This kinda covers keystone at the same time. My thoughts are DC to Harrisburg to State College to Pittsburgh to ... to Chicago (2 ways to go from Pittsburgh, but Columbus always seemed better to me) But then a local connector between Philly and Harrisburg.

It looks like that the much talked BR-New Orleans commuter train service may be come a real thing in the next few years. Not HSR (80mph) but it's a start.... I would skip the connection to Atlanta for now and add San Antonio into the route to Mobile.....I doubt any true HSR project is going to happen along the Gulf coast anytime soon though.

Another great one! I absolutely *love* the incorporation of the bypasses! We get to maintain speed and serve “city centers.” Also, great minds think alike. You chose the same Downtown Houston station location I would. (And I would argue Texas Central should use it too!)

Rail might take longer than air but it's comfortable. Private individual cars.You wont mind spending a little more time. You can sleep in peace knowing you will not crash.

For the spur going to Mobile - might as well go all the way to Jax - with a stop in Pensacola and Tallahassee. I could see Brightline eventually extending all the way up to Jax - making for a nearly complete Florida line.

This is great content. Keep up the good work.

I really enjoy these videos of yours. Thanks for producing them. Greetings from Bremen Germany

Amazing video!! One small thing, honestly, looking at the approach to the terminal station in New Orleans I'd swallow the bitter pill and connect it to the system. My reasoning being that trains coming from Atlanta or Houston would have a more than good reason to terminate in New Orleans, which also means that the likely setup of 2+2 tracks for the envisoned New Orleans station (2 bypass tracks in the middle) is just not enough, even worse if it's just 2 tracks. The same also goes for potential regional level services in direction of Mobile and/or Baton Rouge and Lafayette. sure trains going from Houston to Mobile via New Orleans would only use the outer station, as would regionals making the loop from Lafayette to Slidell, but simply due to its location New Orleans would most likely be a terminus for a lot of services. Also, even if u find the necessary space for a few more side tracks at the outer station you still have the issue of being very far outside the city center. If properly reworked Union Station gives you 10 terminus tracks and a maintenance facility, both excellent to turn trains around. The good thing is that the row is probably wide enough to afford 3-4 tracks from a certain point before the split going back onto the outer loop onto the freight row. This is good because with a flyover or two you could eliminate conflict points with switches which could significantly complicate operations and cause last mile delays, which often happens in my home country of Germany. Also, regarding Atlanta: If we take your previous Atlanta-Charlotte video into account it's safe to say that a downtown through tunnel with a direct linkup to the airport would be a better option than having a terminus and a ring along I-285. More expensive sure, but MUCH more convenient and also quite a bit faster I'm willing to bet. At that point you might even ask if it is even worth it to connect the airport in Atlanta instead of just directly heading east towards I-20 and then on to Charlotte, most likely underground for a good bit. Me personally I'd like the airport connection, but I also find the direct tunneling towards I-20 option very appealing for time reasons, and also because transit to the airport already exists, and is only 12 minutes slower than the hsr train, goes without saying that that does not take into account the other qualities of the service, which I'm personally unaware of. What are your thoughts on this?

I don’t believe most people understand how expensive a ticket will be on these fantasy rail lines.

I'm in favor of long distance HSR routes for two reasons. FIRST, by chaining connections between intermediate population centers that should double as (sub)regional hubs, the continuation of the line to city after city should attract more riders away from short and MEDIUM flights. SECOND, longer trips accommodate full sleep, half-day sessions of work or school, even movie marathons with meals and drinks between. Planes trap a rider in layover and tight-seating situations with few options of activities, whereas trains allow one to move around and do almost anything one would do in their own house, classroom, or workplace. That makes short and medium trips opportunities for work or play, not confined to a seat. One could take an overnighter from Houston to Atlanta or beyond. Tracking the Gulf Coast HSR through New Orleans as presented in this video is great for anybody going to NOLA, but lengthens the ride for everyone else and misses some population centers. Better to create a spur or perpendicular line with matching arrival and departure times, as in having a train departing on every outbound track simultaneously. Individual train cars might detach and reconnect with a train going one of the other directions, as Amtrak used to do, though the process would have to go a heck of a lot faster. With a more successful network, trains would be frequent enough such that no such maneuvers would be necessary because transfers would be reliable The more riders, the more attractive increased frequency and speed, and therefore the greater distance a person can travel in half a day or a night of sleep. I traveled throughout Europe on Eurail this way, almost never had to pay for sleeping accommodations in a sleeper car or hotel/B&B. I spent all my money on food and entertaining myself, waking refreshed each morning, taking showers at stations when I needed. It was far less onerous than I ever imagined, and I came to prefer it over luxury or expediency, because no longer did 3/4 of my trip cost go to a stationary bed. The more that people feel that their intermediate travel needs are met without a car, they will feel comfortable owning an EV for near-home needs. The more that short travel and metropolitan needs feel met, the more likely individuals will feel comfortable skipping car ownership altogether. Renting a medium or smaller car every second or third weekend for the three-day deals is less expensive and eliminates the maintenance headaches compared to owning a car. The family needs too many trips that can't be met by transit and bicycling? That's why EV and EV hybrids are great, as well as vehicle pools for housing complexes and neighborhoods (car sharing). I lived years this way, found I didn't even rent a car more than once a month, but always made sure to add one more day if three days was not enough, in order to run all the shopping and moving errands in a go. We usually made a little local day trip to nearby parks or beaches not served well by transit. It saved so much money, even with monthly transit passes, that I had workmates who thought I got paid twice as much as they did. It's a revelation to discover how much stress vanishes for not owning a car. ONE MORE idea which it amazes me train companies and served cities don't think about: the value of destination stations where people deliberately spend time and money, not because they have nothing else to do during a layover. Every large station should feel like a vibrant town center with great restaurants and other fun stop-over activities like, say, miniature golf, and some of the town's other leisure activities inside the station or close. Long trips become more attractive when scheduling is flexible or portions of trains are unbooked, which accommodate such leisure. Major European stations, and often stations serving medium-size cities, have all the shower, laundry, dry-clean, and similar facilities a passenger could need, with grocery, banking, mail/shipping, pharmacy, bakeries, inside or within a block outside. The main stations in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Frankfurt (Germany) are great examples of layovers not at all feeling like layovers that even inspire passengers to stop intentionally for a couple of hours to drop some dollars in the local economies. Heck, even gyms with day passes and towels and gym clothes included, spas, art museums, amusement parks, dance clubs, park venues for town/neighborhood events and farmers' markets, and so on, if located within or adjacent to the station, become attractions to passers-through as much as locals. And, of course, hotels for those people who really can't ride and sleep at the same time. :-) [I'm blessed with the ability to sleep better on transit than in a quiet room.] If every American were given a month-long Eurail pass and a thousand euros to live on (plus fare to get to Europe and back, duh), then nearly every American would clamor for all of these facilities to be built at home! Yet more jobs and making travel more pleasant than onerous. In the digital age, with all our technological abilities, transportation with accompanying facilities should make it possible to be homeless without anyone able to tell, and yet a fully productive person within the economy. In fact, a substantial proportion of people who currently vagabond by way of gas-guzzling vehicles would switch, and other people who can't quite swing the vagabond lifestyle they want, could spend more time traveling. Heck, it would probably help tremendously with rent prices, and it could also spread out dollar circulation even more than merely "working from home" in a "flyover" state to escape the places already bogged down by high cost of living. I'm not finding any downsides to improved mobility, reduced pollution, and sharing economic benefits with cities small and large. It's a capitalist way to partially achieve what socialism offers, which should please an awful lot of people who don't know what I mean by socialism. lol Okay, my little blurb turned into a big pro-train diatribe. :) Have fun, y'all. Demand the ability to travel all you want, see all the world you want, without destroying it in the process with pavement and poilution. :)

I understand New Orleans is going downhill but having a highspeed rail there may help it a lot. If you centered the Gulf Coast in that historic city then you'd be able to have one connection between Huston and Atlanta as a "true high speed rail." Just some thoughts I had at the 6 min mark (maybe you answer it in video near the end).

I noticed you picked Jackson! Jackson could serve as a regional hub for regional high-speed rail: Jackson to New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Jackson to Birmingham and Atlanta. Jackson to Shreveport and Dallas / Fort Worth. Jackson to Little Rock. Jackson to Memphis. Jackson to Nashville. Jackson to Mobile and Pensacola. Jackson to Montgomery and Columbus.

Cant help but think about the similarities to the Tokaido shinkansen in terms of geology and challenges surrounding natural disasters, to connect to Texas C. i'd even say to just adapt their system

I like your injection of Jackson as an alternate solution to the to the problem of low population density west of Birmingham. An alternate solution would be to send the route further along the coast Mobile-Pensacola-Crestview before heading north to Dothan-Columbus-Atlanta. That might just be me recreating the extension of the Sunset Limited between New Orleans and Pensacola. I'm not as familiar with the area or the rights of way so I suspect that those concerns likely make the Jackson route much better. There should be good rail service from Atlanta to Birmingham but your right to point out that it's hard to find a good next stop after Birmingham.

Just curious what the route between Chicago or Indy to Nashville is called? Could you do a video about that route? Either that or from Memphis to Gatlinburg? I appreciate it 🙏 Thanks.

when you list the segments and the whole trip for trains you should have also listed how long it takes to get there by car and even plane at same time so diffraces can be seen.

Your outro is always funny! Interesting discussion as usual :)

Maybe in the initial route planning, disregard the environmental aspect of the HSR route. After the most efficient and convenient route (s) has been chosen, then figure out how to minimize the adverse environmental impacts, preferably eliminating them altogether. When the route would go through a wetland area, figure out how to put it there without affecting the alligators and crayfish. No grade crossings, no sharing the trackage with freight services. Put in a spur route from Baton Rouge to New Orleans to Mobile, Tallahassee and Jacksonville. Put in medium speed connector line from Atlanta down to the gulf coast. I realize I have just advocated the tripling of the plan, but a bare minimum system will always be a bare minimum system. While we are at it, a route from Houston across to El Paso, Tucson, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. May as well tie in Salt Lake City to Las Angeles with a connection to Brightline. Fifty years ago when I was in College, we would sit around eating pizza and drinking beer, discussing the best way to improve public transportation in the US. Still not enough money for the projects and a lot more people to move. Don't give up the dream. Your voice is critical.

HTL to Nola HSR I’ve been SAYIN this!!!!!!

This plan completely leaves out Florida. A line along the lines of the former Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad, starting in Mobile, and serving Pensacola, Destin-Ft. Walton, Tallahassee, and Jacksonville should be in the mix. Another line connecting to it and serving Gainesville, Ocala, Brooksville, Tampa, Bradenton, and Sarasota would be good. From Jacksonville it could connect to Brightline, which would go all the way to Miami.

But what is the demand? How many people on a given day of the year actually need to go from Atlanta to Birmingham, Baton Rouge to Jackson, or from Jackson to New Orleans? That's what this analysis is missing. While projects such as this are often justified on a "Field of Dreams," i.e. if you build it they will come philosophy, we've seen many projects around the world where such demand utterly fails to materialize, as another "bridge to nowhere" fails to produce expected demand.

Zero chance any government find a megaproject through the south’s ‘Blackbelt’

These are great plans and it's a good analysis, unfortunately, the problem is conservatives in the south and Republican representatives, they would not allow it. They look at trains as too European and therefore socialist/communist. It's retarded and shameful, but it's where we're at as a country now.

Houston areas only about 7.3million regional wise

HSR between Houston and Jacksonville Florida would be nice who has connections to Atlanta... I would let brightline handle it and call it brightline gulf...

must build someday a though high speed station new orleans station. new orleans is a major tourist trap of a place is the home of delta bluese andj azz music its airport is named for lois armstrong. also you save alot of money is fewer road accident with everyone that goes to mardi gras goes home by train. but thought new orleans service could be a second or third step in a mutli step building plan

Another issue that is hardly mentioned is, would this hsr being given to a private operator like Bright line, Amtrak or a state run entity?

Amtrak used to run between New Orleans and Jacksonville. That is the REAL Gulf Coast corridor. Georgia never touches the Gulf. Hint: Florida is the third most populous state (bigger than New York). Second Hint: the US Dept of Transportation recently agreed to spend $550 MILLION for highway and bridge improvements on Interstate 10 in Mobile, Alabama (the largest federal infrastructure grant in Alabama history). Magically, Mobile has now voted to support Amtrak use of the train station and rail lines to reintroduce passenger rail service, while explicitly saying there was no quid pro quo between the two situations (laughter ensues ...).

Okay... so... love the video and your bypassing of New Orleans from the highspeed mainline is understandable given the set-up you've described here, but the map at 17:27 is ludicrous. (this is not meant to be mean or nasty, just pointing some things out) First off, the "nearest rail transit" location you indicated here is in the middle of a residential neighborhood that is about a mile and a half from the actual passenger rail terminal. New Orleans Union Station is located in the heart of downtown, directly adjacent to the Superdome and in the shadow of multiple hotels and office buildings. Next up, at the far left of the map you completely ignore the existing railway ROW that feeds that station. Some of this trackage is municipally owned (I believe, could be wrong) and would definitely be used for any proposed BR-NO regional/commuter rail (not to mention there has been some interest in an Amtrak Long-Distance route from New Orleans to Dallas-Fort Worth). Now, while the existing New Orleans Union Station is currently set-up as a terminus and the area around it might seem tight, there are multiple avenues to construct a through running station (similar to the retrofitting of Los Angeles Union Station) in and around the Postal Sorting facility and Superdome's "out parcel" properties. I get that following highways and interstates to find ROW in a load of situations makes sense, but following Interstate 610 is too far removed from downtown. If you were the (hypothetical) Federal HSR planner coming to me the (hypothetical) local New Orleans politician or City Manager I would ask why we are ignoring a retrofit/conversion of the existing New Orleans Union station to through running instead of redeveloping some working-to-middle-income neighborhoods... the main draw of the city is downtown tourism and business. Literally the "Proposed Station" site you've selected defeats the entire purpose of running this train. City planners and citizens would expect this project to better funnel tourists from Houston and Atlanta directly into the downtown core. Even if Federal dollars went into a comprehensive "Muni Metro" type LRT or "Skytrain" type light-metro system to connect up the city (which we should build anyways) to compliment and feed the HSR you propose here... locals are not going to want tourists (Texans of all people!) clogging it up -as they currently do our roads. I'm not saying it's a bad plan, but there are some cost savings you are missing as well as some costs I don't think you have considered. Finally... the cost of running trains through "all the marshes" might be a bit more than you suspect generally. Two points come to to mind: 1.) Interstate 10, as it crosses the Atchafalaya Basin, is carried by the third longest road bridge in the world... while I agree it needs to be built, that's one hell of an regional rail/HSR bridge (literally the I-10 bridge was so long they had to factor in the curvature of the Earth while designing it). 2.) Crossing the Mississippi in Baton Rouge will be a multi-billion dollar bear all on its own and I don't think that has been factored into your calculations here. There is a rail bridge crossing the river in BR but it's the older US 190 bridge (the one upriver), not the I-10 bridge (the one downriver). Both are nearing the end of their life cycles so replacement is coming and the addition of even regional rail would be a phenomenal, but here's the added cost: both have to be high enough to accommodate ocean-going vessels in regular river traffic. This raises their decks and thus the shallow grade needed to run up the HSR to get into the Capital. A dedicated tunnel under the river and continuing subterranean route into downtown Baton Rouge might be a better plan. It could reemerge directly into interstate ROW somewhere before the Interstate 10-12 split on the south-side of the city. Just some thoughts! Stuff like this always gets messy and, like I said, I love your videos! Keep 'em coming!

When you look at the reasons people say HSR would be in rregions instead of a network and you'll see why thiis project doesn't make any sense.

sound ok but with Brightline now to Orlando what happens if it goes to Pensacola with no track between it and Mobile?

I think we’re numb to how much $1,000,000,000 actually gets us … $98 billion??

Better To CREATE A OCEAN LINER futro Ship train farie thing Highspeed Super ship from miami round off the coast of florida up and over to texas

Why not have the HSR line go from New Orleans to Mobile to Birmingham?

How does your high-speed rail route compare to High Sped Rail Alliance rail routes? What makes more sense? Is electrification worth it for that long of a distance? Lots of other things to consider.

How about just making an overnight, direct service between Atlanta and Houston for now?

Amtrak silver service next?

Moreee

I don’t see this actually happening.

unfortunately, the only map you need to focus on is population density. high speed rail only works when it travels along a highly dense corridor. based on that map, it would only make sense in along east coast and west cost. the most economic case would be to upgrade existing medium speed rail infrastructure so that one day, it can operate at high speed when the economic case arises. often people who argue for high speed rail forget is that the costs of maintaining trains and rail infrastructure exponentially increases above a certain speed. (fyi, high speed is generally between 110-185 mph) if you're talking medium speed (~110mph max), then yes there are plenty of opportunities to connect distant metropolitan cities.

2:07 a+ pun

knowing that his video is to promote American railtravel, I do not understand the use of so many European train shots. Is there really no free US footage aviable? 09:25 can be shot in the USA though? (instead of England, now used). It is a simple shot of trains moving in/out of a station.

It's depressing that it's still "miles" in the US...

Hey! Someone stole your Chicago hub video and edits on KZfaq!

110-150mph is NOT HSR

Metra 😂😂 its MARTA

Completely opposite of what HSR stands for: too many stops, utilizing existing right of way, connect directly to other transit system, connect to international airports. Because of high number of stations, people will assume and expect that will bring more revenue but it will be completely opposite. HSR is not and should not operate like freight railroad where it can reach every small communities to deliver goods and services. All the HSR projects are for and should be about connecting major metropolitan cities. To acheive this, the system must: 1. Have limited amount of stations (reduces travel time) 2. Separated and away from airports (to avoid the huge crowd, congestion, and other traffic problems) (Does anyone see NY Penn Station & JFK Int'l Airport together, Chicago Union Station & Chicago O'Hare Int'l Airport together, or Los Angeles Union Station & Los Angeles Int'l Airport together?) 3. Tunnel should be an option to make sure the train travels staight line as possible What happened to FL when GA doesn't even touch the Gulf of Mexico? To complete the HSR in CA, hire more people and get them off the streets and couches and give them those construction jobs.

never going to ger it done Cost of Labour.

Obviously, it's impossible to complete CAHSR within five years at thtis point even with unlimited cash...

Sorry, but I think this one is a pass. It's too much money and not enough benefit.

Wrong. Alabama's the poorest most depressed most rural state in the united states

Why not route the train to Union Passenger Terminal in the CBD? of New Orleans?