Comment by brightball
16 hours ago
The US can’t build bullet trains because property rights and local regulations make it prohibitively expensive. Not due to capability.
16 hours ago
The US can’t build bullet trains because property rights and local regulations make it prohibitively expensive. Not due to capability.
I don't know where people get this idea.
America has several sets of eminent domain laws depending on the jurisdiction. The most coercive is federal eminent domain law specifically as it relates to building infrastructure like railways and highways.
It's set up so that you can take the land first and eventually go back around and decide on what the right price should have been.
Not only does it superscede state and local law, federal infrastructure projects are also not bound by state laws like CEQA.
You can even apply federal eminent domain law by e.g. transferring a state-level project to the Army Corps of Engineers.
What America is lacking in these projects is will, not means. The federal government could take your house and run a train through it by the end of the week if they wanted, doesn't matter where you live.
[edit] In fact some states even ceded their eminent domain rights to private railways.
https://ij.org/press-release/appeals-court-sides-with-railro...
> property rights
The Australian federal government is planning to build a high-speed rail line from Sydney to Newcastle (medium-sized city two hours drive north). Their solution to property rights, is >50% of the line will be underground. It will cost >US$50 billion, but if the Australian federal government wants to spend that, it can afford it. The US federal government could too, but it isn’t a priority for them
> local regulations make it prohibitively expensive
Local regulations can be pre-empted by state or federal legislation. The real problem is lack of political will to do it.
Surely there are existing rails right now that could be transformed into a bullet train line.
Like properties and regulations are a true problem, but it's not like trains don't exist at all in America.
My understanding is that existing rail lines aren't flat/straight enough for high speed rail. There's no point to a bullet train if it has to constantly slow down for corners/hills.
the US can't build bullet trains because they'd serve the average person and there's no money in serving the average person
Property rights, regulations and price are precisely the part of the American system that takes away that capability.