by Irish Chieftain
Click Here
Worthy of note is that China intends to have 7,200 miles of HSR by 2020. Germany's Siemens has the contract for the trains, which will be EMUs similar to the ICE III. The USA might have less than a quarter of China's population, but in the face of increased highway spending, growing population and further dispersement of said population away from urban centers, excuses for lack of rail investment will run dry rapidly. (Incidentally, the USA has a similar population distribution to China, with most people concentrated east of the Mississippi River still, and along the Pacific Coast.)
Also, apparently, France's Alstom is switching to EMU technology for, as the article describes it, "the fourth generation of TGV".
The article's author is behind the times on a few things (EMD not being part of GM anymore, for example, as well as the top speed of the Acela Express in Rhode Island), but he's accurate in noting that the USA is "sitting this one out" (i.e. the HSR boom worldwide).
Worthy of note is that China intends to have 7,200 miles of HSR by 2020. Germany's Siemens has the contract for the trains, which will be EMUs similar to the ICE III. The USA might have less than a quarter of China's population, but in the face of increased highway spending, growing population and further dispersement of said population away from urban centers, excuses for lack of rail investment will run dry rapidly. (Incidentally, the USA has a similar population distribution to China, with most people concentrated east of the Mississippi River still, and along the Pacific Coast.)
Also, apparently, France's Alstom is switching to EMU technology for, as the article describes it, "the fourth generation of TGV".
The article's author is behind the times on a few things (EMD not being part of GM anymore, for example, as well as the top speed of the Acela Express in Rhode Island), but he's accurate in noting that the USA is "sitting this one out" (i.e. the HSR boom worldwide).