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California Bullet Train Off Target

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  • Member since
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Posted by henry6 on Thursday, June 7, 2012 4:22 PM

I don't think that would happen Victorla1.  But reminds me of private railroads stopping trains at state borders because the state with train demanded it run.  Then they could prove to the ICC that the train was no longer viable and could be taken off.  But the revrese, building or running to a boarder to force the other state to build won't happen.

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Posted by oltmannd on Friday, June 8, 2012 7:32 AM

Victrola1

Concerning compatibility, when will one state build high speed rail to their border and encounter non high speed rail to continue farther?

It brings to mind the 1920's and paving roads. Illinois took the lead and Iowa lingered. Towns along the Mississippi river became known as places where the pavement ends and the mud begins.

This is exactly the problem of railroading in Europe.  Interoperability between various countries is a big issue.  One of the biggest hurdles is the train control systems.  Each country has different laws and mandates that manifest themselves differently.  If you want to run a train from Germany to Italy, you have to have three sets of train control equipment on board.  That adds over $1M to the cost of a locomotive.

It's good to avoid such things, but I don't think it's worth stalling project work several years until you work out a good set of specs.  Sometimes, it's just best to "blunder ahead" and let things sort themselves out on the fly.

-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

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