MI and/or IL: a chance for the Jet Train?

But the needs are still there. And so is, in some cases, low speed track.

I think that in the public consciousness there is a lot more to high speed rail than the actual achieved speed - it's the imporession of speed in a comfortable train. Something Amtrak is far, far away from delivering.

Talgo offers the XXI. No, it hasn't been built on our shores, but it is possible. It is able to achieve 110 mph. But it is also possible to run this at slower speeds as well.

Just because there are no funds now to produce a high speed rail line, doesn't meant that you have to give up completely on the idea. There are several routes where even a relatively fast train, if it felt modern and capable of running at a decent speed, would do well. Why not, for instance, purchase the XXI diesel and run it on the tampa-Orlando-Miami route for now? No, it's not going to run at high speed, but it will run comfortable and modern. And when high speed upgrades do become available, then it can run on those as well. You have to create the demand for it, and his might do that.

I think that in the public consciousness there is a lot more to high speed rail than the actual achieved speed

If that were true, then people would ride trains no matter what speed they operated at. Best practice overseas demonstrates unequivocally that speed indeed sells.

Irish Chieftain wrote:

I think that in the public consciousness there is a lot more to high speed rail than the actual achieved speed

If that were true, then people would ride trains no matter what speed they operated at. Best practice overseas demonstrates unequivocally that speed indeed sells.

Eurostar has captured a large percentage of the London-Paris market (more than 60%) because the time, city centre to city centre is a little less than the time city centre to airport, hang around being checked and then the same in the reverse.

Speed is important. They will attract even more people next year when the second part of the Channel Tunnel Rail link opens, with High speed from St Pancras all the way to the tunnel.

Irish Chieftain wrote:If that were true, then people would ride trains no matter what speed they operated at. Best practice overseas demonstrates unequivocally that speed indeed sells.

If you have a choice between high speed and regular speed, then yes, that would be true. But in this case it's a choice between comfortable, modern service and old, plodding ancient service.