TxAg82 said:
We could. But why would we? Chinese car ownership rate is like 17%. They get around by rail. US car ownership rate is well over 90%. We get around by personal vehicle.
I certainly wish we could have both systems in place but I think autonomous driving is going to revolutionize how we get around by personal vehicle/hired vehicle/busses before we get around to building thousands of miles of passenger rail.
I take the Von Lane busses between Texas cities on occasion and it is very convenient. No need for rail lines when we could ramp up nicer busses and convenient routes on existing interstate highway infrastructure.
My neice always take the Von Lane coming from TCU to Austin and back. It's efficient. She tried to take Amtrak ONE TIME to have the experience. 7-8 hours after leaving later she finally made it to Austin. Never again, she says.
Here's the problem... Passenger rail in Texas has to defer to freight rail 100% of the time, as the freight lines own the tracks. It was an exceptionally busy day with more freight trains than usual, so she spent hours sitting on side tracks waiting for the freight train to make it through. Sometimes multiple freight trains 10-15 minutes apart would go through before her train would move again.
The most beautiful train station complex in the world would still be empty if passenger rail continues to be significantly more expensive and twice as long of duration than travelling by road vehicle.
