That's why my data is based on the top US cities by GDP. You can also find the busiest domestic airport pairs to back the analysis up. Oddly, the busiest air route in the US is NYC-Miami --- which is not amenable to rail travel.
I'm simply trying to identify the markets where HSR would work. For some reason, you identify as the critical factor. Then you identify NYC to Miami as the busiest air route, and Miami isn't on your gdp list. So, perhaps we only need one city from the list to another highly populated city?
At any rate, we've both identified a handful of US cities that meet both our criteria. Shouldn't we agree that's where to start building?
So, look: you've lost the context of the thread a little. Skim from the top:
* Someone commented that freight right of ways were impeding passenger rail in the US.
* I said geography had more to do with rail's status in the US than freight.
* You asked, "why are you talking about trips of 1000 miles or more"?
* I said "because those are the most economically important trips in the US".
* You said "no".
* I said, voluminously and conclusively, "yes".
Now you seem to think I'm opposed to SF-LA high speed rail. I am not, nor have I said that I am.
Where rail makes sense, it makes sense. If there's a cost effective way to get passenger rail rights of way from SF to LA, we should do that. We should get 200mph service from Chicago to MSP and to STL. We should get 200mph service from Houston to Dallas.
But even after we do that, rail is going to be a second-tier mode in the US, far surpassed by air, which will through economies of scale also be cost-competitive with HSR even in places where HSR is viable. The tactical routes we're talking about, the under-700-mile routes, will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to deploy, and will probably never recoup their costs or meaningfully change patterns of transportation in the US. HSR between SF and LA isn't going to make SF-NYC any less economically important, and SWA alone is going to remain more important to the economy than Amtrak.
Shit, I think I talked myself out of Chicago-MSP a little there.
It's also irrelevant. NYC-Miami is a popular air route. Tampa-Miami is not. The inclusion of Miami in the list I gave upthread would, as I said, make the numbers worse for his argument.
