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Deep dive into the future of California high-speed rail

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[quote user="CMStPnP"] Also, regards to Germany.    See attached Der Spiegel article that compares Germany to France: <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/frozen-in-ice-how-can-germany-s-high-speed-trains-get-back-on-track-a-699847.html">http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/frozen-in-ice-how-can-germany-s-high-speed-trains-get-back-on-track-a-699847.html</a>  Had a good chuckle about the placement of stations on a high speed line due more to politics than actual ridership.   Having the whole discussion in Texas with the proposed HSR line to Houston having a lack of station stops. <div style="clear:both;"> </div> [/quote] Thanks for linking the article. It is good and mostly correct. There are some differences one should know for a fair comparison. France is a centralist political system with all power in Paris. Germany is a federal system with a lot of power in the federal states and not that much in Berlin. If Paris says there are no intermediate stops than that is it. When Berlin requires no intermediate stops the federal state might not approve the line. So the states usually win. If you look at the map of newly built TGV lines it becomes apparent that all lines go to Paris: [url]<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/France_TGV.png">https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/France_TGV.png</a>[/url] The German High-speed rail started as a network in 1971 connecting the German population and economical centers. It were initially 4 lines with service every two hours, later hourly: <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/DB_IC-Netzplan_1971.png">https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/DB_IC-Netzplan_1971.png</a> In 5 cities, Hannover, Dortmund, Cologne, Mannheim, Würzburg one was able to change between two lines on the same platform within 10 minutes. This design was kept in the ICE train system: <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/ICEtracks.png">https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/ICEtracks.png</a> That makes real HSR lines on many relations less practically. And a last point. Topography makes building HSR line much more expensive in Germany than in France. Germany: <a href="http://www.mygeo.info/landkarten/deutschland/Deutschland_Relief_Topographie_2009.png">http://www.mygeo.info/landkarten/deutschland/Deutschland_Relief_Topographie_2009.png</a> France: <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/France_cities.png">https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/France_cities.png</a> The two coutries had completely different goals. France to connect cities with Paris, Germany to connect different cities wth each other. Regard, Volker
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