On Mon, 17 Feb 2020 09:49:19 -0600, "Byker" wrote:
"PhantomView" wrote in message
.. .
That said, for intercontinental travel, greater use
of trains IS possible.
Only if you have a LOT of time on your hands. If you have a two-week
vacation and want to travel from NYC to LA, you'll spend half your time just
getting there and back.
Depends on your mission.
New York to Chicago by train is no faster than it was at the turn of the
20th Century:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicag..._Line_Railroad
"Trains would run at 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) and complete the journey
between Chicago and New York in 10 hours. At the time the two fastest trains
between New York and Chicago, the New York Central Railroad's 20th Century
Limited and the Pennsylvania Railroad's Pennsylvania Special (forerunner of
the more famous Broadway Limited), each required twenty hours to make the
journey."
Things haven't improved much, if at all:
"Amtrak has one train a day from New York to Chicago. It takes 19 hours, and
you sleep overnight on the train.": https://tinyurl.com/y7dnm6tf
"An average trip on Amtrak from New York to Chicago takes 22 hours and 45
minutes, while the fastest available Amtrak trip will get you to Chicago in
19 hours and 5 minutes.":
https://www.wanderu.com/en-us/train/...us-il/chicago/
Chicago Union Station Amtrak to New York Penn Station via Amtrak = 19 h 53
min https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Chicago/New-York
It's actually faster to take a Greyhound bus: 17 h 40m
https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Chicago/New-York
Planes or airports ... you STILL waste a lot of time at the
terminal ends of the journey. Then you have to get a taxi
or rent a car to get you from the airport/station to where
you really need to be.
I can believe Greyhound is a bit faster sometimes.
Less BS to slow things down.
The utility of trains -vs- planes is also dependent on
how FAR you need to go. For a shorter hop, scheduled
train travel may be superior. Airport delays negate the
speed advantage of planes. Now 500+ miles, then the
plane is surely better.
One factor of note is beginning to have an effect. The
actual NEED to have an actual human being go from
NYC to LA in a day has diminished. Teleconferences
can replace a lot of that - and the younger generation
is more comfy with 'virtual' meetings (though maybe
they should not be).
Now I would not mind a three-day train trip across
country in a VACATION scenerio. The trip would be
part of the vacation itself, kind of like a cruise ship
or one of those barge excursions a lot of people like.
However the condition of the rail network is iffy in a
lot of places. I would have a little worry about the
thing coming off the tracks.
But a big touring bike would be much more fun.
An Indian, maybe a Goldwing trike :-)
Now across oceans ... even powered ships are too
damned slow - and Greta wants to get rid of all those
and go back to sails. You can see the messianic
fevor in her eyes .......... never trust a zealot.