Quote:
Originally Posted by wdfifteen
Our need for transportation is increasing. Instead of adding another 2 lanes to an interstate, use the land for a set of tracks.
That is where autonomous cars and the fact that cars are becoming more like appliances rather than cherished personal possessions or some kind of extension of who we are is making rail more viable. You could take a train to within a few tens of miles of your destination, swipe a credit card in a slot and drive away in some four wheeled appliance to get you to your final destination. You can bypass the gridlock and the expense of owning a car, and for increasing numbers of people that is an attractive alternative.
They are still subject to gridlock and will still require more lanes of pavement to accommodate late 21st century transportation loads.
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I think we have two different situations here.
One is long distance travel vis high speed rail that wouldn't do much for local congestion.
The second is local lower speed rail that would help with congestion.
Personally, I see autonomous vehicles eventually being a big part of the local congestion solution. You type in your destination and your vehicle locates other vehicles with the same destination and they link up in a high speed bumper to bumper train.
The article speaks of 350 mph trains when we have one that can manage 150 over a short stretch and it only avgs about 70 mph over it's entire run.