A discussion on HackerNews
I would love to see a parallel universe, where collective transportation obtained the upper hand. Where countryside railroads are still operating, and where roads/highways haven’t consistently led to the expropriation of millions of people worldwide, and to the current car-oriented urban nightmare. See Ivan Illich for a demonstration that car-oriented urbanization is hostile and counter-productive, as opposed to what he calls “convivial tools” (empowering technologies).
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I think Japan used to be the world leader in high speed rail, but now its down to #5, behind China, Spain, Germany and France.
This wiki chart is pretty sick
China’s highspeed rail progress is wild:
Any idea what kind of fuel these trains use?
I can’t find numbers on percentages of diesel vs electric ones, but I did find this:
China has over 100,000 kilometres (62,000 mi) of electrified railway.[42] With most trunk line heavy freight and long-distance passenger trains operated using high power electric locomotives, typically in excess of 7,200 kilowatts (9,700 hp) of power output.
Nice. Thanks very much.
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They have some public transport infrastructure but car is still king. I don’t think that’s what OP is talking about.
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Yeah I agree it is much better than mosy places but it is still a far cry from an infrastructure that is designed around public means of transportation. It’s more like public transport had to be adapted to a cities that were built for on-road vehicles. I don’t dislike it but public transport has more room to be efficient, comfortable and extensive especially if it is given priority over cars.
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Never thought of it that way, but it definitely makes sense! :)
