US high-speed trains on track again?

[lpetrich]

I'll work out where an Australian high-speed line would go.  List of cities in Australia by population - nearly all of them are near the coast, with most of them on the east and eastern south coasts. That is because Australia's interior is mostly desert.

Adelaide SA - 729 km - Melbourne VIC - 662 km - Canberra ACT - 285 km - Sydney NSW - 917 km - Brisbane QLD - 1,363 km - Townsville QLD - 347 km - Cairns QLD

A linear topology, but with desert instead of water on one side.

Turning to the contiguous United States (CONUS), the Atlantic Axis is linear, because it goes through lowland with mountains instead of water on one side for most of it. Greater Chicagoland has a star topology, because of Chicago's much greater population than its neighbors.

 File:US population map.png and  ile:USA 2000 population density.png show that CONUS is much more populous east of I-35 than west of that freeway. I-35 extends between Minnesota and Texas. That means that one may feasibly connect the Atlantic Axis, Greater Chicagoland, and the Texas Triangle to make a network topology.

West of I-35, urban areas are much more isolated until one reaches the west coast, where HSR plans have a linear topology from the mountains and deserts on the inland side and often mountains on the coastal side.

 

[bilby]

bilby, where did you get that from?

My memory, and various histories.

That seems like description of ca. 1900 rail lines in general, not recent high-speed-rail lines.

Yes; But much of the European high speed rail is laid in existing rail corridors, at least for part of the route, if only because the land already belongs to the railway and is therefore dramatically less expensive.

My commentary is based on historical patterns, but those patterns guide modern planners - much as the decision about the Californian high speed rail route happens to map to the existing transportation corridor of the I-15 highway.

Following extant railroad or highway easements is a LOT cheaper than developing a brand new corridor across privately owned land. Particularly in Europe, where land prices can be astronomical.

 

[bilby]

I'll work out where an Australian high-speed line would go.

Good luck with that, it's been massively contentious for well over a century.

Our states couldn't even agree on a single track gauge. Getting agreement on a high speed route has proven impossible, even in the obvious and (relatively) short trip from Melbourne to Sydney (maybe via Canberra; Maybe not - note that the main road link, the Hume Highway, passes a long way north of Canberra).

MEL-SYD remains one of the busiest air corridors in the world, largely for lack of a high speed rail link. Although the topography is against us too - there's a lot of mountainous ground to get through, and it reaches all the way to the coast in many places. It's not good terrain for trains.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I'll work out where an Australian high-speed line would go.

Good luck with that, it's been massively contentious for well over a century.

Our states couldn't even agree on a single track gauge. Getting agreement on a high speed route has proven impossible, even in the obvious and (relatively) short trip from Melbourne to Sydney (maybe via Canberra; Maybe not - note that the main road link, the Hume Highway, passes a long way north of Canberra).

MEL-SYD remains one of the busiest air corridors in the world, largely for lack of a high speed rail link. Although the topography is against us too - there's a lot of mountainous ground to get through, and it reaches all the way to the coast in many places. It's not good terrain for trains.

Meanwhile Japan is like... "What is good terrain for trains"?