France building 5 new high speed rail lines for $15.6 billion

France has approved 13.4 billion euros [USD15.6 billion] of investment into five new high-speed rail TGV lines. They will make the buildout over the next five years. This is an increase of 40% over the previous five-year high-speed rail budget.

The Five new lines are
* Bordeaux-Toulouse axis, the two stations of the two regional metropolises will be enlarged in the first place to accommodate more passengers and more trains.

* Montpellier-Perpignan line on the Montpellier-Béziers section

* Marseille-Nice line, first phase Marseille-Aubagne must be launched completed by the section between Cannes and Nice.

* Paris-Le Havre line is the extension of the St Lazare station. It is a preliminary site and will be followed by the Paris-Mantes and Mantes-Rouen sections.

* Roissy-Picardie section will open a new access to Ile-de-France to the south of the Hauts-de-France region. Users will be able to reach Paris Roissy-Charles de Gaulle train station from Chantilly, Creil, Pont-Sainte-Maxence, Clermont, Compiègne (Oise) and Amiens (Somme) without any connection.

france launches its last high speed rail lines going so fast France Rail Map 608 X 701 pixels – Map of USA States

95 thoughts on “France building 5 new high speed rail lines for $15.6 billion”

  1. Because the governments involved (mostly state level) are incompetent at actually building these things out, that’s why. Or corrupt or both. Remember the Big Dig? Over $30 billion? That’s how much it will cost to build the Wall yet Libs who fed at the corruption of the Big Dig trough don’t seem to bring it up while screaming about the Wall. SF Bay Bridge? Mostly incompetence, not graft. California High Speed Train to Nowhere The Voters Approved At Costs The Voters Also Didn’t Approve? Corruption masquerading as incompetence because even Libtards in CA can’t be this incompetent, can they? List goes on and on.

  2. New high speed passenger rail service is something the US hasn’t done for decades. High Speed commuter rail lines can dramatically increase the value of land further away from the core cities.

  3. Because the governments involved (mostly state level) are incompetent at actually building these things out that’s why. Or corrupt or both. Remember the Big Dig? Over $30 billion? That’s how much it will cost to build the Wall yet Libs who fed at the corruption of the Big Dig trough don’t seem to bring it up while screaming about the Wall.SF Bay Bridge? Mostly incompetence not graft.California High Speed Train to Nowhere The Voters Approved At Costs The Voters Also Didn’t Approve? Corruption masquerading as incompetence because even Libtards in CA can’t be this incompetent can they?List goes on and on.

  4. New high speed passenger rail service is something the US hasn’t done for decades. High Speed commuter rail lines can dramatically increase the value of land further away from the core cities.

  5. Wish we had these in the US, or even better maglev. I’m hopeful the hyperloop stays relevant, and some of those get built here. Eventually Musk would likely have his own Hyper Loop system…which will be underground…so no giant windows to check out the view. 🙁

  6. Wish we had these in the US or even better maglev. I’m hopeful the hyperloop stays relevant and some of those get built here. Eventually Musk would likely have his own Hyper Loop system…which will be underground…so no giant windows to check out the view. 🙁

  7. If they are doing this, does that mean Alstrom will finally push ahead with their double decker AGV project? Because capacity problems are a thing on the existing TGV lines as well as the new lines subsuming other regional lines. This has happened before, where overnight sleeper trains were discontinued but appropriate high speed service substitutes were not properly phased in to compensate. Though that manifested a bit more on ICE services interoperating down towards Spain The current TGV duplex trains provide double decker service, but have surprisingly low passenger capacity due to a 4 across seating arrangement, partly because of the loading gauge restricting the dimensions of the train, and partly as a conscious decision to not go completely cattlecar class (2+3, though 3×3 might be possible with no armrests) so the seats are dimensionally more comfortable. However, TGV duplex trains have a little trouble going really fast (that speed record one was a stunt train that short with bigger wheels and overpowered catenary), like AGV based designs which makes coexistence on the network with AGV based stuff running really fast harder, so what they will deploy? The japanese have started to retire their double decker high speed trains because they couldn’t make a new version that could keep up with the faster single deck ones, and chose a higher train frequency schedule to compensate.

  8. If they are doing this does that mean Alstrom will finally push ahead with their double decker AGV project? Because capacity problems are a thing on the existing TGV lines as well as the new lines subsuming other regional lines. This has happened before where overnight sleeper trains were discontinued but appropriate high speed service substitutes were not properly phased in to compensate. Though that manifested a bit more on ICE services interoperating down towards SpainThe current TGV duplex trains provide double decker service but have surprisingly low passenger capacity due to a 4 across seating arrangement partly because of the loading gauge restricting the dimensions of the train and partly as a conscious decision to not go completely cattlecar class (2+3 though 3×3 might be possible with no armrests) so the seats are dimensionally more comfortable. However TGV duplex trains have a little trouble going really fast (that speed record one was a stunt train that short with bigger wheels and overpowered catenary) like AGV based designs which makes coexistence on the network with AGV based stuff running really fast harder so what they will deploy? The japanese have started to retire their double decker high speed trains because they couldn’t make a new version that could keep up with the faster single deck ones and chose a higher train frequency schedule to compensate.

  9. I read a critique that said the hyperloop would have to be underground – the steel tube expanding in the sun would add hundreds of metres length between LA and SF, and near vacuum tube expansion joints are not a credible technology. Going underground would probably triple the build cost. That was only one of many show-stopping technical flaws.

  10. I haven’t been on a TGV for years, but according to this news item, the ‘ Ouigo ‘ budget service is doing very well. It only runs to 28 high-traffic destinations, has no bar service and tight luggage restrictions, but only costs, for example, 25 euro Paris to Strasbourg instead of 90E.

  11. I read a critique that said the hyperloop would have to be underground – the steel tube expanding in the sun would add hundreds of metres length between LA and SF and near vacuum tube expansion joints are not a credible technology. Going underground would probably triple the build cost. That was only one of many show-stopping technical flaws.

  12. I haven’t been on a TGV for years but according to this news item the ‘ Ouigo ‘ budget service is doing very well. It only runs to 28 high-traffic destinations has no bar service and tight luggage restrictions but only costs for example 25 euro Paris to Strasbourg instead of 90E.

  13. I am not that big a fan of government building anything. I would much prefer that private enterprise that the risk. As for the Wall, the Wall will not be only be totally ineffective but the Wall itself is a racist idea. Money for nothing except for upsetting Hispanics. High Speed passenger rail makes sense for going from city center to city center where the cities have large populations and are relatively close together. It doesn’t make sense to drive an hour or two to the airport, take an hour or two to board the plane, fly an hour or two then drive an hour or two from the airport to the city. Unfortunately, America may not be the best place for Hi Speed rail because most people don’t live in the cities and the cities are much further apart. Only in California and the East Coast it would make sense.

  14. I am not that big a fan of government building anything. I would much prefer that private enterprise that the risk. As for the Wall the Wall will not be only be totally ineffective but the Wall itself is a racist idea. Money for nothing except for upsetting Hispanics. High Speed passenger rail makes sense for going from city center to city center where the cities have large populations and are relatively close together. It doesn’t make sense to drive an hour or two to the airport take an hour or two to board the plane fly an hour or two then drive an hour or two from the airport to the city. Unfortunately America may not be the best place for Hi Speed rail because most people don’t live in the cities and the cities are much further apart. Only in California and the East Coast it would make sense.

  15. A rail interest group looked in to the failure of a wholly privately funded HSR proposal in Florida to get approved. It turned out that the line would have passed beside a golf course, and that several of the millionaires who golfed there had set up and funded a bevy of phony “grassroots” groups opposed to the line. I have no words to describe such people, even the Romans at least liked building aqueducts.

  16. A rail interest group looked in to the failure of a wholly privately funded HSR proposal in Florida to get approved. It turned out that the line would have passed beside a golf course and that several of the millionaires who golfed there had set up and funded a bevy of phony grassroots”” groups opposed to the line. I have no words to describe such people”””” even the Romans at least liked building aqueducts.”””

  17. Natural gas pipelines operate at high pressures every day. The main pipeline between the gulf coast, and the northeast runs within a few miles of my home, and I’ve never heard of it having to be dug up to be repaired. I don’t think keeping 15 PSI out of a steel tube, would be any harder than keeping hundreds of PSI inside a tube. In the eastern part of the US, you’d be keeping water out, if you were very far underground. There is a difference of opinion what the best pressure would be. You might want to fill the tubes with O2 at the partial pressure at say 15,000 feet altitude of normal air, so if the system failed, people would be able to open the pods without suffocating. The partial pressure of O2 at 18000 feet is on the order of 75 torr, so 100 torr, or 1.93 psi might do. If this were done, likely you’d need to use maglev, as you would not want to use compressed O2 in an air bearing for safety reasons.

  18. It’s crazy to build conventional high speed lines, before seeing how the hyperloop mania shakes out. This is typical of what happens when politicians make decisions about technology, the decision becomes a incumbent player biased popularity contest, instead of being the result of unbiased analysis. I suspect the TGV will suffer the same fate as the Erie canal, once railroads became commonplace. I suspect railroads will be relegated to carrying the most bulky, or hazardous cargo, like agricultural limestone, and building materials, or LPG, and H2SO4. Something similar to the proposed hyperloop will carry lighter, safer, more valuable cargo, and replace short, and medium distance airline flights, particularly if the TSA can be kept away.

  19. Natural gas pipelines operate at high pressures every day. The main pipeline between the gulf coast and the northeast runs within a few miles of my home and I’ve never heard of it having to be dug up to be repaired. I don’t think keeping 15 PSI out of a steel tube would be any harder than keeping hundreds of PSI inside a tube. In the eastern part of the US you’d be keeping water out if you were very far underground. There is a difference of opinion what the best pressure would be. You might want to fill the tubes with O2 at the partial pressure at say 15000 feet altitude of normal air so if the system failed people would be able to open the pods without suffocating. The partial pressure of O2 at 18000 feet is on the order of 75 torr so 100 torr or 1.93 psi might do. If this were done likely you’d need to use maglev as you would not want to use compressed O2 in an air bearing for safety reasons.

  20. It’s crazy to build conventional high speed lines before seeing how the hyperloop mania shakes out. This is typical of what happens when politicians make decisions about technology the decision becomes a incumbent player biased popularity contest instead of being the result of unbiased analysis.I suspect the TGV will suffer the same fate as the Erie canal once railroads became commonplace. I suspect railroads will be relegated to carrying the most bulky or hazardous cargo like agricultural limestone and building materials or LPG and H2SO4. Something similar to the proposed hyperloop will carry lighter safer more valuable cargo and replace short and medium distance airline flights particularly if the TSA can be kept away.

  21. The Berlin wall no longer exist. But when it did it took a police state to keep people from crossing it. And it wasn’t thousands of miles long. I don’t know much about the Hungarian border barrier. But if I had a choice between dozens of European states to take refuge in Hungary would be dead last on my list. There is a difference between thinking the Wall will be effective and knowing the Wall will be effective. Most of the new illegal immigrants in the US fly in. They buy a plane ticket and fly in. They just don’t leave when their visa expires. So much for the Wall. They will find a way in if they have to go over, under, and around the Wall. You can’t stop them unless you are willing to turn America into a police state like East Germany.

  22. The Berlin wall no longer exist. But when it did it took a police state to keep people from crossing it. And it wasn’t thousands of miles long. I don’t know much about the Hungarian border barrier. But if I had a choice between dozens of European states to take refuge in Hungary would be dead last on my list. There is a difference between thinking the Wall will be effective and knowing the Wall will be effective. Most of the new illegal immigrants in the US fly in. They buy a plane ticket and fly in. They just don’t leave when their visa expires. So much for the Wall. They will find a way in if they have to go over under and around the Wall. You can’t stop them unless you are willing to turn America into a police state like East Germany.

  23. Please look at the map of california and observe that what you define “hardly nowhere” is actually part of the route between SF and LA” No, it is not. What it is SUPPOSED to be is what the voters approved. They did not approve a high speed train between Fresno and Bakersfield. Nor at the cost that it is costing. Fresno and Bakersfield are by definition ‘nowhere’. Nowhere the voters approved from A to B and nowhere people want to go. I don’t have to look at a map, either. I am a native Californian. It’s not what the voters were told nor approved. Who cares what the BS bureaucratic ‘plan’ is/was. The voters were told it would be built between LA and SF and it would cost X. Period. Please stop lecturing people to look at the map when the map you refer to isn’t the issue.

  24. Please look at the map of california and observe that what you define “hardly nowhere” is actually part of the route between SF and LA. I’m not sure how you could’ve missed that, but please check maps before making such a comment. The law was passed to build rail and they started building. You don’t need all the money at day 0 because it takes years for approvals plus even more to actually construct. The law was setup to build “Operating Segments”, so what’s built today is an operating segment that can be used by existing trains that you claim go to nowhere – again, please check the map again and observe large cities like Fresno that are there.

  25. Please look at the map of california and observe that what you define “”hardly nowhere”””” is actually part of the route between SF and LA””””No”” it is not.What it is SUPPOSED to be is what the voters approved.They did not approve a high speed train between Fresno and Bakersfield. Nor at the cost that it is costing.Fresno and Bakersfield are by definition ‘nowhere’. Nowhere the voters approved from A to B and nowhere people want to go.I don’t have to look at a map”” either. I am a native Californian.It’s not what the voters were told nor approved. Who cares what the BS bureaucratic ‘plan’ is/was. The voters were told it would be built between LA and SF and it would cost X. Period.Please stop lecturing people to look at the map when the map you refer to isn’t the issue.”””

  26. Please look at the map of california and observe that what you define hardly nowhere”” is actually part of the route between SF and LA. I’m not sure how you could’ve missed that”””” but please check maps before making such a comment. The law was passed to build rail and they started building. You don’t need all the money at day 0 because it takes years for approvals plus even more to actually construct. The law was setup to build “”””Operating Segments”””””” so what’s built today is an operating segment that can be used by existing trains that you claim go to nowhere – again”” please check the map again and observe large cities like Fresno that are there.”””

  27. Please look at the map of california and observe that what you define “hardly nowhere” is actually part of the route between SF and LA” No, it is not. What it is SUPPOSED to be is what the voters approved. They did not approve a high speed train between Fresno and Bakersfield. Nor at the cost that it is costing. Fresno and Bakersfield are by definition ‘nowhere’. Nowhere the voters approved from A to B and nowhere people want to go. I don’t have to look at a map, either. I am a native Californian. It’s not what the voters were told nor approved. Who cares what the BS bureaucratic ‘plan’ is/was. The voters were told it would be built between LA and SF and it would cost X. Period. Please stop lecturing people to look at the map when the map you refer to isn’t the issue.

  28. Please look at the map of california and observe that what you define “”hardly nowhere”””” is actually part of the route between SF and LA””””No”” it is not.What it is SUPPOSED to be is what the voters approved.They did not approve a high speed train between Fresno and Bakersfield. Nor at the cost that it is costing.Fresno and Bakersfield are by definition ‘nowhere’. Nowhere the voters approved from A to B and nowhere people want to go.I don’t have to look at a map”” either. I am a native Californian.It’s not what the voters were told nor approved. Who cares what the BS bureaucratic ‘plan’ is/was. The voters were told it would be built between LA and SF and it would cost X. Period.Please stop lecturing people to look at the map when the map you refer to isn’t the issue.”””

  29. Please look at the map of california and observe that what you define “hardly nowhere” is actually part of the route between SF and LA. I’m not sure how you could’ve missed that, but please check maps before making such a comment. The law was passed to build rail and they started building. You don’t need all the money at day 0 because it takes years for approvals plus even more to actually construct. The law was setup to build “Operating Segments”, so what’s built today is an operating segment that can be used by existing trains that you claim go to nowhere – again, please check the map again and observe large cities like Fresno that are there.

  30. Please look at the map of california and observe that what you define hardly nowhere”” is actually part of the route between SF and LA. I’m not sure how you could’ve missed that”””” but please check maps before making such a comment. The law was passed to build rail and they started building. You don’t need all the money at day 0 because it takes years for approvals plus even more to actually construct. The law was setup to build “”””Operating Segments”””””” so what’s built today is an operating segment that can be used by existing trains that you claim go to nowhere – again”” please check the map again and observe large cities like Fresno that are there.”””

  31. “Please look at the map of california and observe that what you define “hardly nowhere” is actually part of the route between SF and LA”

    No, it is not.

    What it is SUPPOSED to be is what the voters approved.

    They did not approve a high speed train between Fresno and Bakersfield. Nor at the cost that it is costing.

    Fresno and Bakersfield are by definition ‘nowhere’. Nowhere the voters approved from A to B and nowhere people want to go.

    I don’t have to look at a map, either. I am a native Californian.

    It’s not what the voters were told nor approved. Who cares what the BS bureaucratic ‘plan’ is/was. The voters were told it would be built between LA and SF and it would cost X. Period.

    Please stop lecturing people to look at the map when the map you refer to isn’t the issue.

  32. Please look at the map of california and observe that what you define “hardly nowhere” is actually part of the route between SF and LA. I’m not sure how you could’ve missed that, but please check maps before making such a comment.

    The law was passed to build rail and they started building. You don’t need all the money at day 0 because it takes years for approvals plus even more to actually construct.

    The law was setup to build “Operating Segments”, so what’s built today is an operating segment that can be used by existing trains that you claim go to nowhere – again, please check the map again and observe large cities like Fresno that are there.

  33. The Berlin wall no longer exist. But when it did it took a police state to keep people from crossing it. And it wasn’t thousands of miles long. I don’t know much about the Hungarian border barrier. But if I had a choice between dozens of European states to take refuge in Hungary would be dead last on my list. There is a difference between thinking the Wall will be effective and knowing the Wall will be effective. Most of the new illegal immigrants in the US fly in. They buy a plane ticket and fly in. They just don’t leave when their visa expires. So much for the Wall. They will find a way in if they have to go over, under, and around the Wall. You can’t stop them unless you are willing to turn America into a police state like East Germany.

  34. The Berlin wall no longer exist. But when it did it took a police state to keep people from crossing it. And it wasn’t thousands of miles long. I don’t know much about the Hungarian border barrier. But if I had a choice between dozens of European states to take refuge in Hungary would be dead last on my list. There is a difference between thinking the Wall will be effective and knowing the Wall will be effective. Most of the new illegal immigrants in the US fly in. They buy a plane ticket and fly in. They just don’t leave when their visa expires. So much for the Wall. They will find a way in if they have to go over under and around the Wall. You can’t stop them unless you are willing to turn America into a police state like East Germany.

  35. The Berlin wall no longer exist. But when it did it took a police state to keep people from crossing it. And it wasn’t thousands of miles long. I don’t know much about the Hungarian border barrier. But if I had a choice between dozens of European states to take refuge in Hungary would be dead last on my list.

    There is a difference between thinking the Wall will be effective and knowing the Wall will be effective. Most of the new illegal immigrants in the US fly in. They buy a plane ticket and fly in. They just don’t leave when their visa expires. So much for the Wall.

    They will find a way in if they have to go over, under, and around the Wall. You can’t stop them unless you are willing to turn America into a police state like East Germany.

  36. Natural gas pipelines operate at high pressures every day. The main pipeline between the gulf coast, and the northeast runs within a few miles of my home, and I’ve never heard of it having to be dug up to be repaired. I don’t think keeping 15 PSI out of a steel tube, would be any harder than keeping hundreds of PSI inside a tube. In the eastern part of the US, you’d be keeping water out, if you were very far underground. There is a difference of opinion what the best pressure would be. You might want to fill the tubes with O2 at the partial pressure at say 15,000 feet altitude of normal air, so if the system failed, people would be able to open the pods without suffocating. The partial pressure of O2 at 18000 feet is on the order of 75 torr, so 100 torr, or 1.93 psi might do. If this were done, likely you’d need to use maglev, as you would not want to use compressed O2 in an air bearing for safety reasons.

  37. Natural gas pipelines operate at high pressures every day. The main pipeline between the gulf coast and the northeast runs within a few miles of my home and I’ve never heard of it having to be dug up to be repaired. I don’t think keeping 15 PSI out of a steel tube would be any harder than keeping hundreds of PSI inside a tube. In the eastern part of the US you’d be keeping water out if you were very far underground. There is a difference of opinion what the best pressure would be. You might want to fill the tubes with O2 at the partial pressure at say 15000 feet altitude of normal air so if the system failed people would be able to open the pods without suffocating. The partial pressure of O2 at 18000 feet is on the order of 75 torr so 100 torr or 1.93 psi might do. If this were done likely you’d need to use maglev as you would not want to use compressed O2 in an air bearing for safety reasons.

  38. It’s crazy to build conventional high speed lines, before seeing how the hyperloop mania shakes out. This is typical of what happens when politicians make decisions about technology, the decision becomes a incumbent player biased popularity contest, instead of being the result of unbiased analysis. I suspect the TGV will suffer the same fate as the Erie canal, once railroads became commonplace. I suspect railroads will be relegated to carrying the most bulky, or hazardous cargo, like agricultural limestone, and building materials, or LPG, and H2SO4. Something similar to the proposed hyperloop will carry lighter, safer, more valuable cargo, and replace short, and medium distance airline flights, particularly if the TSA can be kept away.

  39. It’s crazy to build conventional high speed lines before seeing how the hyperloop mania shakes out. This is typical of what happens when politicians make decisions about technology the decision becomes a incumbent player biased popularity contest instead of being the result of unbiased analysis.I suspect the TGV will suffer the same fate as the Erie canal once railroads became commonplace. I suspect railroads will be relegated to carrying the most bulky or hazardous cargo like agricultural limestone and building materials or LPG and H2SO4. Something similar to the proposed hyperloop will carry lighter safer more valuable cargo and replace short and medium distance airline flights particularly if the TSA can be kept away.

  40. A rail interest group looked in to the failure of a wholly privately funded HSR proposal in Florida to get approved. It turned out that the line would have passed beside a golf course, and that several of the millionaires who golfed there had set up and funded a bevy of phony “grassroots” groups opposed to the line. I have no words to describe such people, even the Romans at least liked building aqueducts.

  41. A rail interest group looked in to the failure of a wholly privately funded HSR proposal in Florida to get approved. It turned out that the line would have passed beside a golf course and that several of the millionaires who golfed there had set up and funded a bevy of phony grassroots”” groups opposed to the line. I have no words to describe such people”””” even the Romans at least liked building aqueducts.”””

  42. I am not that big a fan of government building anything. I would much prefer that private enterprise that the risk. As for the Wall, the Wall will not be only be totally ineffective but the Wall itself is a racist idea. Money for nothing except for upsetting Hispanics. High Speed passenger rail makes sense for going from city center to city center where the cities have large populations and are relatively close together. It doesn’t make sense to drive an hour or two to the airport, take an hour or two to board the plane, fly an hour or two then drive an hour or two from the airport to the city. Unfortunately, America may not be the best place for Hi Speed rail because most people don’t live in the cities and the cities are much further apart. Only in California and the East Coast it would make sense.

  43. I am not that big a fan of government building anything. I would much prefer that private enterprise that the risk. As for the Wall the Wall will not be only be totally ineffective but the Wall itself is a racist idea. Money for nothing except for upsetting Hispanics. High Speed passenger rail makes sense for going from city center to city center where the cities have large populations and are relatively close together. It doesn’t make sense to drive an hour or two to the airport take an hour or two to board the plane fly an hour or two then drive an hour or two from the airport to the city. Unfortunately America may not be the best place for Hi Speed rail because most people don’t live in the cities and the cities are much further apart. Only in California and the East Coast it would make sense.

  44. Natural gas pipelines operate at high pressures every day. The main pipeline between the gulf coast, and the northeast runs within a few miles of my home, and I’ve never heard of it having to be dug up to be repaired. I don’t think keeping 15 PSI out of a steel tube, would be any harder than keeping hundreds of PSI inside a tube. In the eastern part of the US, you’d be keeping water out, if you were very far underground.
    There is a difference of opinion what the best pressure would be. You might want to fill the tubes with O2 at the partial pressure at say 15,000 feet altitude of normal air, so if the system failed, people would be able to open the pods without suffocating. The partial pressure of O2 at 18000 feet is on the order of 75 torr, so 100 torr, or 1.93 psi might do. If this were done, likely you’d need to use maglev, as you would not want to use compressed O2 in an air bearing for safety reasons.

  45. It’s crazy to build conventional high speed lines, before seeing how the hyperloop mania shakes out. This is typical of what happens when politicians make decisions about technology, the decision becomes a incumbent player biased popularity contest, instead of being the result of unbiased analysis.
    I suspect the TGV will suffer the same fate as the Erie canal, once railroads became commonplace.
    I suspect railroads will be relegated to carrying the most bulky, or hazardous cargo, like agricultural limestone, and building materials, or LPG, and H2SO4. Something similar to the proposed hyperloop will carry lighter, safer, more valuable cargo, and replace short, and medium distance airline flights, particularly if the TSA can be kept away.

  46. I read a critique that said the hyperloop would have to be underground – the steel tube expanding in the sun would add hundreds of metres length between LA and SF, and near vacuum tube expansion joints are not a credible technology. Going underground would probably triple the build cost. That was only one of many show-stopping technical flaws.

  47. I read a critique that said the hyperloop would have to be underground – the steel tube expanding in the sun would add hundreds of metres length between LA and SF and near vacuum tube expansion joints are not a credible technology. Going underground would probably triple the build cost. That was only one of many show-stopping technical flaws.

  48. I haven’t been on a TGV for years, but according to this news item, the ‘ Ouigo ‘ budget service is doing very well. It only runs to 28 high-traffic destinations, has no bar service and tight luggage restrictions, but only costs, for example, 25 euro Paris to Strasbourg instead of 90E.

  49. I haven’t been on a TGV for years but according to this news item the ‘ Ouigo ‘ budget service is doing very well. It only runs to 28 high-traffic destinations has no bar service and tight luggage restrictions but only costs for example 25 euro Paris to Strasbourg instead of 90E.

  50. A rail interest group looked in to the failure of a wholly privately funded HSR proposal in Florida to get approved.

    It turned out that the line would have passed beside a golf course, and that several of the millionaires who golfed there had set up and funded a bevy of phony “grassroots” groups opposed to the line.

    I have no words to describe such people, even the Romans at least liked building aqueducts.

  51. I am not that big a fan of government building anything. I would much prefer that private enterprise that the risk.

    As for the Wall, the Wall will not be only be totally ineffective but the Wall itself is a racist idea. Money for nothing except for upsetting Hispanics.

    High Speed passenger rail makes sense for going from city center to city center where the cities have large populations and are relatively close together. It doesn’t make sense to drive an hour or two to the airport, take an hour or two to board the plane, fly an hour or two then drive an hour or two from the airport to the city.

    Unfortunately, America may not be the best place for Hi Speed rail because most people don’t live in the cities and the cities are much further apart. Only in California and the East Coast it would make sense.

  52. “hardly nowhere” <-- nowhere the voters approved. "I'm not sure how you'd propose to build it is you only had about half the money needed" you don't. Because the voters didn't authorize that. Do you understand how the HST To Nowhere was legislated in California? It's was a proposition. And the state legislature can not change the contents of a law passed by proposition w/o voter approval. Not that they changed anything anyway...so far the bureaucrats are doing so illegally.

  53. If they are doing this, does that mean Alstrom will finally push ahead with their double decker AGV project? Because capacity problems are a thing on the existing TGV lines as well as the new lines subsuming other regional lines. This has happened before, where overnight sleeper trains were discontinued but appropriate high speed service substitutes were not properly phased in to compensate. Though that manifested a bit more on ICE services interoperating down towards Spain The current TGV duplex trains provide double decker service, but have surprisingly low passenger capacity due to a 4 across seating arrangement, partly because of the loading gauge restricting the dimensions of the train, and partly as a conscious decision to not go completely cattlecar class (2+3, though 3×3 might be possible with no armrests) so the seats are dimensionally more comfortable. However, TGV duplex trains have a little trouble going really fast (that speed record one was a stunt train that short with bigger wheels and overpowered catenary), like AGV based designs which makes coexistence on the network with AGV based stuff running really fast harder, so what they will deploy? The japanese have started to retire their double decker high speed trains because they couldn’t make a new version that could keep up with the faster single deck ones, and chose a higher train frequency schedule to compensate.

  54. If they are doing this does that mean Alstrom will finally push ahead with their double decker AGV project? Because capacity problems are a thing on the existing TGV lines as well as the new lines subsuming other regional lines. This has happened before where overnight sleeper trains were discontinued but appropriate high speed service substitutes were not properly phased in to compensate. Though that manifested a bit more on ICE services interoperating down towards SpainThe current TGV duplex trains provide double decker service but have surprisingly low passenger capacity due to a 4 across seating arrangement partly because of the loading gauge restricting the dimensions of the train and partly as a conscious decision to not go completely cattlecar class (2+3 though 3×3 might be possible with no armrests) so the seats are dimensionally more comfortable. However TGV duplex trains have a little trouble going really fast (that speed record one was a stunt train that short with bigger wheels and overpowered catenary) like AGV based designs which makes coexistence on the network with AGV based stuff running really fast harder so what they will deploy? The japanese have started to retire their double decker high speed trains because they couldn’t make a new version that could keep up with the faster single deck ones and chose a higher train frequency schedule to compensate.

  55. Wish we had these in the US, or even better maglev. I’m hopeful the hyperloop stays relevant, and some of those get built here. Eventually Musk would likely have his own Hyper Loop system…which will be underground…so no giant windows to check out the view. 🙁

  56. Wish we had these in the US or even better maglev. I’m hopeful the hyperloop stays relevant and some of those get built here. Eventually Musk would likely have his own Hyper Loop system…which will be underground…so no giant windows to check out the view. 🙁

  57. I read a critique that said the hyperloop would have to be underground – the steel tube expanding in the sun would add hundreds of metres length between LA and SF, and near vacuum tube expansion joints are not a credible technology. Going underground would probably triple the build cost. That was only one of many show-stopping technical flaws.

  58. I haven’t been on a TGV for years, but according to this news item, the ‘ Ouigo ‘ budget service is doing very well. It only runs to 28 high-traffic destinations, has no bar service and tight luggage restrictions, but only costs, for example, 25 euro Paris to Strasbourg instead of 90E.

  59. Because the governments involved (mostly state level) are incompetent at actually building these things out, that’s why. Or corrupt or both. Remember the Big Dig? Over $30 billion? That’s how much it will cost to build the Wall yet Libs who fed at the corruption of the Big Dig trough don’t seem to bring it up while screaming about the Wall. SF Bay Bridge? Mostly incompetence, not graft. California High Speed Train to Nowhere The Voters Approved At Costs The Voters Also Didn’t Approve? Corruption masquerading as incompetence because even Libtards in CA can’t be this incompetent, can they? List goes on and on.

  60. Because the governments involved (mostly state level) are incompetent at actually building these things out that’s why. Or corrupt or both. Remember the Big Dig? Over $30 billion? That’s how much it will cost to build the Wall yet Libs who fed at the corruption of the Big Dig trough don’t seem to bring it up while screaming about the Wall.SF Bay Bridge? Mostly incompetence not graft.California High Speed Train to Nowhere The Voters Approved At Costs The Voters Also Didn’t Approve? Corruption masquerading as incompetence because even Libtards in CA can’t be this incompetent can they?List goes on and on.

  61. New high speed passenger rail service is something the US hasn’t done for decades. High Speed commuter rail lines can dramatically increase the value of land further away from the core cities.

  62. New high speed passenger rail service is something the US hasn’t done for decades. High Speed commuter rail lines can dramatically increase the value of land further away from the core cities.

  63. If they are doing this, does that mean Alstrom will finally push ahead with their double decker AGV project? Because capacity problems are a thing on the existing TGV lines as well as the new lines subsuming other regional lines. This has happened before, where overnight sleeper trains were discontinued but appropriate high speed service substitutes were not properly phased in to compensate. Though that manifested a bit more on ICE services interoperating down towards Spain

    The current TGV duplex trains provide double decker service, but have surprisingly low passenger capacity due to a 4 across seating arrangement, partly because of the loading gauge restricting the dimensions of the train, and partly as a conscious decision to not go completely cattlecar class (2+3, though 3×3 might be possible with no armrests) so the seats are dimensionally more comfortable. However, TGV duplex trains have a little trouble going really fast (that speed record one was a stunt train that short with bigger wheels and overpowered catenary), like AGV based designs which makes coexistence on the network with AGV based stuff running really fast harder, so what they will deploy? The japanese have started to retire their double decker high speed trains because they couldn’t make a new version that could keep up with the faster single deck ones, and chose a higher train frequency schedule to compensate.

  64. Wish we had these in the US, or even better maglev. I’m hopeful the hyperloop stays relevant, and some of those get built here. Eventually Musk would likely have his own Hyper Loop system…which will be underground…so no giant windows to check out the view. 🙁

  65. Because the governments involved (mostly state level) are incompetent at actually building these things out, that’s why. Or corrupt or both.

    Remember the Big Dig? Over $30 billion? That’s how much it will cost to build the Wall yet Libs who fed at the corruption of the Big Dig trough don’t seem to bring it up while screaming about the Wall.

    SF Bay Bridge? Mostly incompetence, not graft.

    California High Speed Train to Nowhere The Voters Approved At Costs The Voters Also Didn’t Approve? Corruption masquerading as incompetence because even Libtards in CA can’t be this incompetent, can they?

    List goes on and on.

  66. New high speed passenger rail service is something the US hasn’t done for decades. High Speed commuter rail lines can dramatically increase the value of land further away from the core cities.

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