

China passenger train hits 300 mph, breaks record - mmphosis
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article929388.ece

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dailo10
"The line is due to open in 2012 and will halve the current travel time
between the capital Beijing and Shanghai to five hours."

In the meantime, CA is spending billions to build a 54-mile high speed rail
segment from Madera to Corcoran - aka the "train to nowhere".

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schan
There is too much friction to build high speed rail in the US due to the
democratic process. You have to get everybody along the way to agree which is
pretty much impossible as you get to populated areas. In a place with a
centralized government system like China, the nice thing is that things get
built very quickly, but it sucks for the people who are affected negatively
along the way.

~~~
muhfuhkuh
Eminent Domain displaces people in the US all the time. When a developer wants
a pretty lake by the highway to build a condo complex, guess where the trailer
park that was next to the lake goes?

Kelo v. City of New London for just one example.

~~~
natrius
Kelo-style eminent domain is uncommon. The idea is that the land is taken for
the benefit of the public, and usually that benefit is direct, like a new
highway. In Kelo, the public benefit was the jobs and tax revenue from new
private development, which is why it went to the Supreme Court.

~~~
splat
How do you define uncommon? Here are just a few cases of Kelo-style eminent
domain:

[http://blogs.cuit.columbia.edu/current/2010/04/11/from-
the-e...](http://blogs.cuit.columbia.edu/current/2010/04/11/from-the-editors-
lost-in-manhattanville/)

[http://reason.com/archives/2009/10/13/private-developers-
hav...](http://reason.com/archives/2009/10/13/private-developers-have-no-rig)

<http://boortz.com/nuze/alabaster.html>

[http://www.castlecoalition.org/index.php?option=com_content&...](http://www.castlecoalition.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=261)

[http://www.ij.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view...](http://www.ij.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=961&Itemid=165)

[http://reason.com/archives/2003/02/01/wrecking-property-
righ...](http://reason.com/archives/2003/02/01/wrecking-property-rights)

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schan
This reminds me that California has approved construction of a section of high
speed rail too.

[http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-high-speed-
route-201...](http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-high-speed-
route-20101203,0,2569735.story?page=1)

Hard to evaluate the cost/benefit of high speed rail since the costs are
obvious while the benefits are delayed and not as obvious. It would be really
cool to get from SF to LA in 2-3 hours though.

~~~
ghshephard
SFO -> QLA takes 2 Hours, curb to curb, and costs $50 with pretty much every
airline that flies the route. It costs me more for the taxi to get from
Redwood City to SFO, than it does for the flight to Los Angeles.

It is neither the cost, nor the time that attracts me (neither of which are
likely to be that much better on a train), but the possibility of using that
4-5 hours a day productively on a reasonably civilized train ride instead of
the horrible experience one gets in the Cattle-Like experience every morning
in the airport.

~~~
loewenskind
I would value not having to fly very highly. At least until some idiot decides
we need a security theater for trains as well.

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RiderOfGiraffes
Same story from Yahoo:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1968712>

No comments or upvotes on that item, but it is a different source.

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albahk
"Chinese passenger train" or "Passenger train in China". _China passenger
train_ sounds wrong although I cannot explain why.

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MarkMc
Grand infrastructure projects like this often signal the height of a
construction bubble that will pop sooner or later.

