Why can't the USA have maglev trains

[Mr.Darcy]

I for one hate driving and having to deal with redneck trucks driving on the road like it is a competition. I do not care to live in Suburbia and have to live with groupthink individuals obsessed with private property and good ole boy politics.

[zboy1]

Even in China, the train system is miles ahead of the decrepit U.S. system (which is an embarrassment). The metro here in Shenzhen is clean and efficient. Plus, there are guard doors so you don't have the types of accidents you see in the States. Also it's very cheap too. And China is expanding it's high-speed train system throughout the country.

And when you compare China's airports (or most of Asia for that matter) to the U.S., it's like the U.S. is the Third-World country, not the Asian countries. ...

[Cornfed]

The train system up and down coastal China is light years ahead of what the West can offer.

[Taco]

There's going to be a war in the US soon that's why no one is investing in American infrastructure projects.

[S_Parc]

This is a bit of a old story, though conveniently forgotten for the current generation.

The whole trolley tram thing was burgeoning in cities across America since the early 20th century until GM decided that we needed an automobile based society.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Mo ... Conspiracy

In fact, the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" was based upon the above story but told in cartoon land.

When I was an infant, the very last bus/trams were being phased out, in place of the diesel (or petrol) powered buses. I vaguely recall those bus depots with the overhead wirings to connect the power to the bus/tram. You can't even find any of those depots anymore. The streets back then, had these metallic groves/tracks for those types of trams. Most of them are asphalted over now.

Senior citizens used to tell me how ppl got around in the greater Boston area with those trams, ages ago. They were far reaching, in the prior decades before my birth.

So from a dynamical p.o.v., the age of the everyday railroad was actually America's past, neither its present, nor its future. So what China and the rest of Asia is doing is simply catching up to a pre-1950s America & then, advancing those transport applications into the 60s & 70s, which didn't occur stateside.

[SilverEnergy]

Before most of us were born, there was a lot of mass transit in America.

But the automobile industry bought up much of the public transit in America and that's why there is mass transit in only a few cities.

[Teal Lantern]

Even in China, the train system is miles ahead of the decrepit U.S. system (which is an embarrassment). The metro here in Shenzhen is clean and efficient. Plus, there are guard doors so you don't have the types of accidents you see in the States. Also it's very cheap too. And China is expanding it's high-speed train system throughout the country.

And when you compare China's airports (or most of Asia for that matter) to the U.S., it's like the U.S. is the Third-World country, not the Asian countries. ...

No doubt built with all the money they don't spend on smog & water pollution controls, reliable food inspections, and safe work conditions.

[Cornfed]

Before most of us were born, there was a lot of mass transit in America.

But the automobile industry bought up much of the public transit in America and that's why there is mass transit in only a few cities.

That is one reason. The other is the need to enforce the segregation of feral blacks from the human population now that more direct means of enforcement is against public policy. If hoodrats could just jump a turnstile and go anywhere they wanted then they could spread their wave of destruction all over the place. That is why retailers invariably oppose any proposed upgrades to public transport. It is because of blacks that the rest of America can't have nice things.

[zboy1]

Cornfed, can you please tone down your anti-Black racism please? I already banned another poster for calling Blacks the N word, "groids" and "inferior." I don't have a problem with racial talk, but do it in a way that doesn't involve racial slurs or racial putdowns.

[MattHanson1990]

Here in Mexico, there is virtually no intercity train system, except for a handful that cater to tourists. But it has an intercity bus system that is light years ahead of Greyhound. In particular, the first-class and executive buses are clean, efficient, offer more legroom, and even provide on-board entertainment (other than WiFi). Some even have personal TV's at every seat.

And Mexico has many different options for transportation, especially in the big cities. Mexico City and Guadalajara have a metro, BRT, and even a trolley-bus in addition to taxis and regular city buses. And Guadalajara is now expanding the metro to cover more places. One disadvantage of the normal city buses is that they're usually old, often dating back to the 1970s. However, despite that, they still cover enough region such that you don't need a car. The only time when you actually need a car in Mexico is if you're in upper-class neighborhoods, which are always isolated from the city proper.

[Nailer]

Cornfed, can you please tone down your anti-Black racism please? I already banned another poster for calling Blacks the N word, "groids" and "inferior." I don't have a problem with racial talk, but do it in a way that doesn't involve racial slurs or racial putdowns.

He's 100% right. No one wants to take public transportation in the U.S. (or do anything in public for free or cheap) because you risk being robbed or murdered by Mexicans and blacks. You can't have first-world conditions with a third-world population. I have spent plenty of time around the inner cities and know this rationale to be a sound one.