Portland and NYC are both major cities that would terminate a transcontinental service. The Oregon Trail actually terminated right outside of Portland, though it's certainly the least-major of the 4 major west coast metros, one day it'll be subsumed into Sea/Tac.
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).
I mean, it's home. I have many many criticisms and want to get the ability to leave if necessary. But it's where I've always lived, it's where my family is, where most of my friends live, where I met my wife, where I buried my mom. It has natural beauty that I've been fortunate enough to see a lot of and a history of preserving it for future generations. I love a lot of the rights we used to have and I fought for years to make the place better.
But yeah freedom, that was always more of a slogan and an ideal, not something we actually have or can agree on what it is.
yeah centralization would mitigate these issues, i.e. there should be a central location where we all meet up. the difficulty is figuring out where to place this center.
in fact, if you look at population maps, you can easily see that most people are concentrated on the east or west coast. this is largely already because it reduces average travel times between one person and the next. (it also helps the economy, shorter transport -> cheaper transport).
You don't need to find a literal center on the map geometrically though, you need proper mass transit and high speed rail to make places centers and not empty strip malls.
49 Comments
infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net · 58 pts · 47d
$80 for the overnight nationalized bullet train
Oh wait, yea
mech@feddit.org · 16 pts · 47d
That train would have to go at least 300 miles per hour.
FishFace@piefed.social · 30 pts · 47d
I'm seeing nothing but positives.
Wheeeeeeeeee!
MoffKalast@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 47d
The TGV has a top speed of 360 mph. Just hire some French engineers hon hon hon.
Slein4273@feddit.org · 1 pts · 46d
The operational max speed of the TGV is 320 km/h.
The 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph) was the speed record of the TGV
Liz@midwest.social · 1 pts · 46d
Dang I always thought you had to go maglev to beat 300 mph. I guess the US really does have a shot at the world's fastest bullet train network.
infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net · 3 pts · 47d
200 mph, 12.5 hours and you're alseep for most of it.
mech@feddit.org · 2 pts · 47d
Only if there are no stops in between.
infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net · 6 pts · 47d
It's called the coast to coast redeye, not the layover in Denver redeye!
Liz@midwest.social · 3 pts · 46d
Ain't no red-eye if your got a cubbyhole bed!
turbowafflz@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 46d
yeah, once you get to the other coast you take a regional train to your final destination
infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 46d
Portland and NYC are both major cities that would terminate a transcontinental service. The Oregon Trail actually terminated right outside of Portland, though it's certainly the least-major of the 4 major west coast metros, one day it'll be subsumed into Sea/Tac.
gandalf_der_12te@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 47d
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.
Liz@midwest.social · 7 pts · 46d
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.
infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net · 6 pts · 46d
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.
infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net · 4 pts · 47d
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.
gandalf_der_12te@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 0 pts · 47d
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).
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 47d
Looks like NYC to Portland, Oregon. 70.6 hours is high speed right? Only $540 for coach ($3876 for a private room).
FuyuhikoDate@feddit.org · 33 pts · 47d
I am sorry for both of the girls.
Cannot imagine to live in a country where they are ruled by an living orange and no good train system exists...
UxyIVrljPeRl@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 47d
I dont now how people manage to like the united stupid of america, or believe there is freedom
red_tomato@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 47d
Mostly because of Hollywood
MrKoyun@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 47d
And dumb Social Media feeds, created by and feeding back into their irrecoverable stupidity.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 47d
I mean, it's home. I have many many criticisms and want to get the ability to leave if necessary. But it's where I've always lived, it's where my family is, where most of my friends live, where I met my wife, where I buried my mom. It has natural beauty that I've been fortunate enough to see a lot of and a history of preserving it for future generations. I love a lot of the rights we used to have and I fought for years to make the place better.
But yeah freedom, that was always more of a slogan and an ideal, not something we actually have or can agree on what it is.
13igTyme@piefed.social · 20 pts · 47d
Plot twist, their both in Salem.
TwentySeven@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 47d
Or Portland
infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 47d
Oregon doesn't really do original place names. Best they can do is a mispelling or mispronouciation of another place's name.
This is to make up for the fact that the name "Oregon" is so original that nobody is certain of it's origin.
mech@feddit.org · 16 pts · 47d
This is what VR and internet-capable vibrators were invented for.
Shirow@lemmy.zip · 16 pts · 47d
Nothing beats physical touch though.
It helps to be able to communicate and have some intimacy even far away, still.
Hugs are awesome. :3
de_lancre@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 47d
Shirow@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 47d
Honestly I was never really hugged nor did I hug someone until I was 23. It felt really weird at first and I was so ticklish 😄
Hope you'll find friends or more that would do that.
snoons@lemmy.ca · 13 pts · 47d
I too, wish there were cross-country high speed trains.
Shirow@lemmy.zip · 13 pts · 47d
Even across countries 🥲
TotallynotJessica@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 6 pts · 47d
And that's just the nearest one!
yogurtwrong@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 46d
Jimbo@pawb.social · 10 pts · 47d
At least y'all are in the same hemisphere, I'm next to Antarctica
mech@feddit.org · 3 pts · 47d
I'm currently working manual labor at 36°C and envy you.
Grail@multiverse.soulism.net · 3 pts · 47d
Well then you should move to Alice Springs, it's on the continent next to Antarctica, should be breezy!
TotallyWorthLife@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 47d
Me in Europe and my gfs in Brazil and the US :(
Gonzako@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 46d
Can't the GF get to the EU through Brazil>Portugal>Your home?
TotallyWorthLife@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 45d
Uh... there is this thing called "money" that neither of us has to do that, at least yet.
Gonzako@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 45d
Just have your company IPO and steal some american retirement funds
rtxn@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 47d
Just hop on the transcontinental high-speed train and...
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 47d
Is 70.6 hours high speed?
lemmy_acct_id_8647@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 47d
This is me with nearly every trans friend I have (am trans)
buran@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 46d
At least they are in the same country, some couples aren't even in the same continent.
dumples@piefed.social · 3 pts · 47d
Meet up in Minnesota!!! It's in the middle
Smorty@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 47d
both trapped ;(
gandalf_der_12te@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 0 pts · 47d
yeah centralization would mitigate these issues, i.e. there should be a central location where we all meet up. the difficulty is figuring out where to place this center.
in fact, if you look at population maps, you can easily see that most people are concentrated on the east or west coast. this is largely already because it reduces average travel times between one person and the next. (it also helps the economy, shorter transport -> cheaper transport).
supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 46d
You don't need to find a literal center on the map geometrically though, you need proper mass transit and high speed rail to make places centers and not empty strip malls.
infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 46d
Reject metropolitan centralization, embrace ubiquitous urbanized small towns and local ecological stewardship.