@firebreathingduck@social.vivaldi.net
2026-09-26 15:57 UTC
@manchuck@phpc.social @chartier@toot.cafe
The US government uses eminent domain to take land for roads all of the time, and has spent trillions of dollars on road construction.
If a small portion of that had been shifted to rail, our public transit system would be awesome. Definitely not as good as Europe, China, or Japan - our population density is lower. But we don't need 200 mph trains every way you look to get a huge benefit.
Where I live there's a nice set of rail tracks between the two closest medium size towns. They've been inactive for decades.
Replies (1)
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@manchuck@phpc.social 2026-09-28 14:17
@firebreathingduck@social.vivaldi.net @chartier@toot.cafe You can't put high-speed trains on curvy tracks. Most of the time, they have to be straightened. Another challenge is that these tracks were built before they used thermite to join the rails. The rails had to be replaced to withstand the stresses. The CCP just seizes the land required, and when Japan rebuilt after WWII, it was less of a challenge due to all their infrastructure being destroyed