The other thing of course is both the Germans and the Europeans do not design for failure as much as we do as you saw with the absolute disintegration of the ICE cars on the last ICE crash. Another example, what happens to those electronic bathroom doors when the car looses power in a crash? Is there an override?
Why does the HSR train ride softer than the American counterpart, could it be the wheels are a composite mixture of materials? American reporters likewise never ask these questions.
When I served over in Germany I was amazed how far behind they were in the automotive area in both safety and pollution controls, many which have been fixed now. However items like "safety glass" that we would take for granted in a U.S. Automobile was a much newer concept in Germany. Same with I beams in the passenger doors to prevent crash intrusion into the passenger compartment, etc, etc. When you ask Germans about this they say "Trains are not meant to crash and should not be designed that way"..............yeah right.
By far the best quote I remember from my German experience. Someone was gunned down by the Polizei (German Police) and I turned to my German girl friend at the time and asked "So are they going to investigate this shooting". The answer was: "Investigate? He should have listened to the policeman and he would still be alive if he did so" Very much like Mr. Spock on Star Trek.
It is a different culture.
From pg 3 "Central city stations maximize the economic development and mobility benefits of HSR. Secondary sub-center stations in large urban areas can also bring HSR closer to many patrons without significantly slowing service."
It seems the German model of distributed stations would work in the U.S. Of course this is the fight of AAF and Texas Central. This document was put together by a local transit/ city planner with a USDOT/ FTA grant.
"Though the French model allows for much faster station-to-station travel times, one trade-off is that connections from HSR to public transit systems are not as seamless as in Germany, and the network does not serve smaller and mid-sized cities well."
The article seems to suggest you do stop in smaller urban areas when those are more distributed as in Germany.
Actually it's an American view of German public transportation and the ever present neophyte American question of 'why can't we have this here?' No reference to history of domestic transportation. No reference to history of transportation in Europe or Asia. One needs to learn history before it can be overcome.
Editor Emeritus, This Week at Amtrak
Article stating how HSR will work better in the US. Big points are center cit to city center. As well do not stop is rural areas. That will be very hard for many communities to swallow. However having both expresrvice and local service is the answer ?
http://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2015/9/13/9308189/high-speed-rail
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