yeah airplanes are typically faster above a range of 300 miles or sth
the problem with long-distance trains isn’t ideology, it’s just an issue of physics/engineering. Airplanes typically travel around 800 km/h (~ 600 mph), which means you can make the 3000 km (2000 miles) distance from seattle to new york in roughly 4 hours.
good luck trying to achieve these speeds with a train.
Yeah but you can get a pleasant experience overnight in a cubbyhole bed on a train. Functionally speaking, the time spent traveling while getting good sleep doesn’t really count, does it? You were gonna have to sleep anyway. Good luck doing that on a plane. Plus then trains can be built to go right into the heart of downtown, meaning a much shorter “last mile,” which planes can’t really do. Then you got the airport vs train station experience, the café car on the train, the larger seats, etc etc etc
I used to work remote in Brooklyn and occasionally have to report to the office in Baltimore. HR would always offer plane tickets and I would decline in favor of having them pay for cheaper business-class Acela tickets. It was better in every possible way: I could walk to and from the stations at both ends, didn’t have the TSA porno-scanner hassle, had more personal space in transit, and ironically when the entire door to door trip was considered the train was actually 40 minutes faster. Regional trips are that sweet spot where even a slower train beats flying.
My math was Portland to NYC = 2500 miles / 200 mph = 12.5 hours, thus the overnight. The $80 came from a certain other country’s nationalized high speed rail price tiering. I don’t care that planes are faster, they’re a miserable experience and an ecological travesty, rock me to sleep on the coast to coast redeye.
btw the reason why airplanes always travel at that speed is because it’s slightly below the sound barrier, which would make things a whole lot more difficult. speed of sound is 1200 km/h (800 mph).
yeah airplanes are typically faster above a range of 300 miles or sth
the problem with long-distance trains isn’t ideology, it’s just an issue of physics/engineering. Airplanes typically travel around 800 km/h (~ 600 mph), which means you can make the 3000 km (2000 miles) distance from seattle to new york in roughly 4 hours.
good luck trying to achieve these speeds with a train.
Yeah but you can get a pleasant experience overnight in a cubbyhole bed on a train. Functionally speaking, the time spent traveling while getting good sleep doesn’t really count, does it? You were gonna have to sleep anyway. Good luck doing that on a plane. Plus then trains can be built to go right into the heart of downtown, meaning a much shorter “last mile,” which planes can’t really do. Then you got the airport vs train station experience, the café car on the train, the larger seats, etc etc etc
Ain’t everything about the advertised speed.
I used to work remote in Brooklyn and occasionally have to report to the office in Baltimore. HR would always offer plane tickets and I would decline in favor of having them pay for cheaper business-class Acela tickets. It was better in every possible way: I could walk to and from the stations at both ends, didn’t have the TSA porno-scanner hassle, had more personal space in transit, and ironically when the entire door to door trip was considered the train was actually 40 minutes faster. Regional trips are that sweet spot where even a slower train beats flying.
My math was Portland to NYC = 2500 miles / 200 mph = 12.5 hours, thus the overnight. The $80 came from a certain other country’s nationalized high speed rail price tiering. I don’t care that planes are faster, they’re a miserable experience and an ecological travesty, rock me to sleep on the coast to coast redeye.
btw the reason why airplanes always travel at that speed is because it’s slightly below the sound barrier, which would make things a whole lot more difficult. speed of sound is 1200 km/h (800 mph).