TimofeyWriter, editor, presenter and researcher IntroductionAmerica has always had a weird rail system and in today's post, I will tell you about the start of American Railway, how it declined and how it is now improving. How it all started.America had one of the largest train systems in the world back around in the 1940's. They had huge lines of streetcars and trams. American car companies that had started to promote their new diesel cars wanted to get more money and train and trams were preventing them to do this. Eventually, companies like General Motors, Firestone Tyres and Standard Oil started to buy up all these lines of track and all these amazing streetcars. This made American's who needed to get to work or other places buy cars. In 1956, the federal government announced that they were going to allocate $25 billion dollars to build 74,000 kilometres of highways around the country. What happened next.Trains were obviously still present in America but there was really only one option. Amtrak. Amtrak is a for profit company even though it is owned by the government just like Australia Post. If you have ever seen an Amtrak train , you would say they look really bad. They are fully metal and look like ugly freight trains. Amtrak has one line of track that can be considered as high speed. The Acela line operates from Washington D.C. to Boston through New York City. Out of its 650 km track only 54 km's of it is operated at 150 mph or 240 kmh. The rest goes at around 60 mph or 96 kmh. To give you some perspective a normal Sydney train goes 100 kmh and China's High Speed Rail averages at 321 kmh. What's happening next.More than half the population wanted to have high speed rail and some 12 years ago, California decided to build a true high speed rail. The first stage of the line was to be between Bakersfield and Merced and then to extend to San Fransisco to Anaheim which is where Disneyland is! The government then found out that it was $50 billion dollars over budget and president at the time, Donald Trump tweeted his thoughts of shutting of the project. Hopefully, the project will receive more funds from the federal government so the rail project can continue.
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AuthorI'd love to share my knowledge about trains with the world. Archives
May 2022
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Photo used under Creative Commons from Tutenkhamun Sleeping