
Can high speed rail compete with self-driven cars, all of future-tech? - iProject
http://www.forbes.com/sites/singularity/2012/09/04/can-high-speed-rail-compete-with-self-driven-cars-improved-airlines-and-all-the-technology-of-the-future/
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lifeisstillgood
No, not really, and pace the "we will all want to sit in single pod cars,
talking to no-one" approach, I do think rail as we know it is over. Welcome to
the car-train.

The subsidies for rail travel are vast, and when there really is a viable
alternative an order of magnitude cheaper, the rail industry will go the same
way as the dockers did after 1957 (first use of container freight)

That will be a horrible wrench across the world, and will need to be managed
well - preferably starting now.

On the plus side, there will be quite a lot of suddenly cheap land for sale
throughout western cities - that will play havoc with house prices in 2030.

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lifeisstillgood

      The internet itself is extremely simple and has 
      survived mostly unchanged from the 1980s ...
      innovation to take place at the edges...
      allow decisions and implementations to be delayed to a 
      time when everything can be done faster and smarter. 
    
      Big projects that don’t plan this way are doomed to 
      failure.
    

This is the most interesting point out of the article for me - many of the big
government projects are being technologised away. How do we judge government
spending from now on? By its ability to be flexible in face of change? By its
lack of vast gobs of money?

