Japan Railway to push bullet train tech for U.S. high-speed rail

Friday 19th June, 06:39 AM JST

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

› Login to comment

Latest 15 of 26 Total Comments Show All

Midnightpromise at 04:19 PM JST - 19th June

Yes Obama, write another check and give us some more nice things. hey Japan, wanna trade a few trains for a couple slightly used space shuttles? F22's maybe? How about a carrier? We might even throw in the secrets to Microsofts operating system.
pawatan at 04:38 PM JST - 19th June

Yes Obama, write another check and give us some more nice things.

Who's "us"? This is a Japanese website. I don't think Obama is giving "us" squat.
presto345 at 05:10 PM JST - 19th June

The UK has its Hitachi high speed rail now. About time the US gets something similar. Connecting large regional cities with this transport system makes perfect sense indeed. I think the term bullet train should be dropped however. These trains are a thing from the distant past now. Today's trains have an entirely different look. Just call them high speed trains, please.
inkjet at 06:40 PM JST - 19th June

Bottom line, the republicans keep saying "no" while the rest of the world finds ways to race ahead.

even when they control the white house, congress and the media the liberals just can't stop whining. get a grip, man. get a grip.
Badge213 at 12:48 AM JST - 20th June

Rail transportation funding takes up only a small fraction of the overall tranportation spending in the US. Highways and Aviation get huge, very huge government support compared to aviation, so if you think Amtrak is a waste of money, look at the billions spent on the aviation industry, commercial aviation has been loosing money for decades.
Badge213 at 12:52 AM JST - 20th June

Regional rail works, no one is talking about taking a train from Miami to Los Angeles the whole route, but let's assume such a route existed, such a route would cover many cities and destinations, so while a person might not be traveling from A to Z, they are going A-D or E-H, P-Q, get the point? Covering cities and communities that an airplane might not be able to cover. It's not about REPLACING cars or airplanes (why do people always think this) it is about providing ALTERNATE modes of transportation, and relieving the already crowded skies. Some airplane flights in the US are ridicious, pretty much you step on the plane take off then you're already preparing for landing again.
motytrah at 02:37 AM JST - 20th June

Commercial aviation can't make money because fuel costs are so dynamic. And even then, the reason the costs are so high have more to do with the fact that the largest holder of oil is not venture capitalists and investment banks, not oil companies. Of course, that's the very thing that make high speed rail actually profitable. As oil goes up it competes with short and medium haul commercial aviation.

That being said, the issue with the US isn't getting Japanese trains. There are plenty of federal projects where trains are made in Europe or Canada, Asia, etc. The issue is track. The gov't doesn't own most of track. Amtrack runs on tracks owned by dozens of freight companies, each with it's own unique set of quirks.

In addition the US would have to build large scale electric train infrastructure.
bdiego at 02:59 AM JST - 20th June

In Japan, High speed rail is much faster for a 1-600 mile trip. It's not even close. You can barely get to the airport, wait for security and boarding, and disembark from the airport to where you plan to go. In most cases with train you start and end up in central locations, not some converted farmland.
bdiego at 03:01 AM JST - 20th June

Republicans have no problem doubling the deficit or throwing soon to be a trillion at Iraq. Don't even get started there. Neither party is fiscally conservative, in fact most of the GOP presidents have been deficit spending fiscal liberals. This is why your party is so empty, because real conservatives have left long ago.
Obot2008 at 04:29 AM JST - 20th June

"nisegaijin-Commies are so stupid for not seeing this. It's disturbing"

Did anyone call Eisenhower a commie when he created the interstate highway system? You don't think that cost a pretty penny? Who's penny? Was there any private investors? No it was paid for with 90% federal money and 10% state funds. Did it bankrupt us? Did it fail miserably? You right wing whackos listen to so much Limpbough that your brains have turned to mush. You just instinctively want anything attributed to Obama to fail. the interstate system stands as the biggest public works project in history so I guess that screams of socialism.

I got 3 words for you Republicans YES WE CAN! We can build track from coast to coast, servicing every major city. We made 5 transcontinental railroads between 1869 and 1894. Who do you think footed the bill that time? Guess who, taxpayers. Oh noz it seems we have a long line of communists in our government. Americans can do anything they set their mind too. You should remember that and practice what you preached when you were defending GWB "if you don't support the president you don't support the troops, love it or leave it, God bless Amurrika" Now Bama is your president, and he is actually trying to use our money for things that have a purpose, so get on board or hit the communist provided highway. I just pray these trains get finished before we get another tard in the White House who causes gas to go back to $4 dollars a gallon.

"Kwaabish - With the antiquated freight centered rail networks in place now, high speed rail will undoubtedly fail if they just try to upgrade rolling stock."

Don't worry, I don't think they are planning to convert coal burning Chatanooga choo-choos into shinkansen.

"Midnightpromise - Yes Obama, write another check and give us some more nice things"

Yes please Mr. President write another check, We need nice things, Haliburton has enough already thanks to W.
mareo2 at 05:17 AM JST - 20th June

USA dont need to drill so many holes in mountains like J. So I think that they can build more kms of rail for less money. That can counter part of the cost of bigger distances. BTW, I dont see what is so bad with electric trains, buying less oil means less funds for the terrorists. Right?
JeffLee at 07:47 AM JST - 20th June

US rail system is currently dedicated to freight, which is no bad thing.
cabdriver at 03:53 PM JST - 20th June

High-speed rail is being "promoted for the US" by some folks for a couple reasons: The average jet burns a gallon of fuel every second. 3000 flights a day, do the math. Most major cities already have/had a rail station, its just s matter of rerunning the track for the higher speed. Major airlines & carriers are already crying for new radar & GPS systems & they want the US taxpayer to pay for them, what have they done for me lately? No more "hijackings"
cwhite at 12:32 AM JST - 22nd June

if the high speed trains hit the +500km mark then trains won't be too bad. Anything within a 1000km radius will be faster than catching a plane.
PepinGalarga at 02:25 PM JST - 24th June

There's no way the bullet trains will work in the US. The "too bad first time, better luck next time" approach wont cut it when it comes to bullet trains. There have been 3 accidents in 10 years in the slow speed Washington DC line, including one yesterday where 9 people died...

No major accidents in Shinkansen since they started 50 years ago...

The only way the trains would work is if they are built completely underground, away from any existing floodlands and faultlines.