Mag Lev to Atlanta

[atlrvr]

No it's not. Your one anecdotal experience and self imposed myopic "logic" does not trump years of empirical evidence and statistical fact.

Good for you and the proximity of your job to the train station. Does the entire city of Boston work and live where you do? What happens if your company folds and you no longer work there. Are you going to choose your next job based on its proximity to a rail stop? Are you going to move your residence so as to be closer to a rail that stop that is close to another office? If I was your boss I'd cut your salary if I knew you were limited in your employment opportunities by the fact that you have to work close to a commuter rail line.

Please don't misrepresent my logic. If a train goes from Lebanon to Nashville and more people drive than ride the train then I say that the driving is the more popular option and very few (in comparison to drivers) want to ride the train.

Oh, and don't just take my word as evidence. If you really want to read some contemporary planning thought read read this http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId...FTOKEN=27675222 nad just about anything else you care to read on that site.

[G-townTN]

Maybe we do not understand black and white clearly. He could be trying to say that it might not work in nashville since he keeps mentioning the music city star. Maybe he feels the whole city is not dense enough, the downtown area is not a large enough business destination, and the streets are not congested enough to warrant an extensive rail line (which are logical arguments) because we all know it works well in other cities, countries, and continents for that matter (aka. europe).

[Kheldane]

Socialist plan from the top down. Capitalist plan from the bottom up. In other words - capitalist see a need and fill and need. Socialist create a need and fill the need they create.

Individual transportation is the perfect example. First of all the highway system is not "subsidize" through tax revenue. It is "funded" through tax revenue.

[eastsider]

Oh, and don't just take my word as evidence. If you really want to read some contemporary planning thought read read this http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId...FTOKEN=27675222 nad just about anything else you care to read on that site.

[Hankster]

Pardon me, but could you be so kind as to show some evidence on how high speed rail lines cause sprawl-like growth? Your argument involving "streetcar suburbs" or subways can't possibly apply to this type of thing. There is a huge difference: streetcars, buses, and subways/light rails are for local commuter traffic and they have many stops within a community. A MagLev or high speed rail is for regional transportation and would only have a few stops along the whole line. A handful of stations between Nashville and Atlanta won't cause sprawl growth. If there were stations every 5-10 miles, wouldn't it kind of defeat the purpose of having a high speed connection to Atlanta?

On the subject of the rail connection: Although I think it would be really nice to have a high speed rail line to Chattanooga and Atlanta, I don't see this as being feasible at all. It will cost far too much (especially to build over Monteagle Mountain) and I don't know if it would really catch on with travelers that well. I think that it would be a very positive thing for business, but the amount it would cost to build and maintain would most likely eclipse the economic impact.

[Kheldane]

They would almost certainly have to tunnel through Monteagle Mountain. Trains just do not handle grades very well, and I have a very hard time imagining a maglev train climbing up and down Monteagle.

[Rural King]

Speaking of geographical issues in East Tennessee, would a comparison to Japanese Mag-Lev routes be a similar comparison to look into? I'm not sure if any of their high-speed or mag-lev trains actually tranverse any of their mountainous terrain (which is the majority of their land mass) or simply hug the coastal plains, but if they do have routes tranversing similar terrian features, those routes might be a good set in comparison to look into.

[monsoon]

They do as all of the urban areas there are surrounded by rather high mountains and they tend to tunnel though the mountains. The shinkanzen trip from Tokyo to Kyoto for example seems to be mostly in tunnels.