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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It is TIME for Congress to either approve fast speed cross country rail or make air travel a public utility. It cannot be that in the “wealthiest” nation on earth one of the six private air carriers can go down like this leaving people stranded across the country until Thursday / Friday at the earliest. [/quote]

It's about 2,300 miles from DC to LA as the crow flies. The fastest high-speed trains under consideration in the US go about 130mph, so assuming no stop, no mountains, and a direct path from DC to LA, will anyone sit on a train for 18 hours?[/quote]

If it was 18 hours from DC to LA by train, and if the train included cabins, I'd absolutely do that.  Flying to LA direct is about 6 hours, squashed into an airline seat, and only part of that flight time can be used for working on the computer or sleeping.  With an 18 hour train trip and a cabin, I could get a day's worth of work done and a night's worth of sleep.[/quote]

Most people wouldn't want to spend 18 hours sitting on a train. I know my company wouldn't pay for that.

It's also more expensive. Let's look at Washington-Chicago on a random day in March (3/13).
On Amtrak, the direct train takes 18 hours and is $986 for a bedroom.

On United from DCA, the flight takes 2.5 hours and costs $129 in economy or $308 in first class.

Let's say Amtrak doubled their speed. That's still 9 hours to get to Chicago, and for more than the cost of flying.

Trains work well in Europe because the distances are shorter. The UK has a great rail system but the country is also 1/40 the land size of the US. Arizona has more land area than the entire UK.[/quote]

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