Quote:
Originally Posted by Patricia
I'm relatively lucky. I don't really like flying anymore (especially if Heathrow is involved). So I take the Eurostar or a ferry to the continent, then trains, if necessary.
Why does the USA have such a poor railway system? If the French SNCF were running it, you'd have fast trains, mostly on time.
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The US has poor rail and public transport systems for one simple reason - Population Density! (or the lack thereof.)
Consider, France has 64 million people in an area the size of Texas. Texas has 23 million or so. Much of the US has similar densities. In addition, Texas cities have no geographic limiting features, so they can sprawl to the populace's content. The result is too low of a population density to economically support mass transit. Certain US cities, New York, San Francisco, Boston, ect. have geographic limits which force building upwards, providing the density to support mass transit.
As to rails, well, LA to New York - over 5000 Kms. Dallas to NY - over 3000 Kms., NY to Miami, over 2000 Kms. Flying is so much
faster than rails over those kind of distances, that the result is poor rail service. It's a niche market.