• Pipoca@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Correction:

    the first world-class high-speed rail projects in our country’s history

    The US already has high speed rail: the Acela express. According to Wikipedia, though,

    The maximum speed limit on the Northeast Corridor is 150 mph (240 km/h) on 49.9 miles (80.3 km) of the 457-mile (735 km) route, in four sections of track in Rhode Island, Massachusetts,[6] and New Jersey. The Acela achieves an average speed (including stops) of 90 mph (140 km/h) between Washington and New York,[3][9] and an average speed of 66 mph (106 km/h) from New York to Boston.[2][11] The average speed over the entire route is 70.3 mph (113 km/h).

    That is to say, the US has HSR, but mediocre HSR.

      • Pipoca@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Looking at the definitions section of the Wikipedia article on HSR, the Acela is around the bare minimum of several definitions, such as

        Existing tracks specially upgraded for high speeds, allowing a maximum running speed of at least 200 km/h (124 mph).

        Or

        Average running speed across the corridor in excess of 150 km/h (93 mph)

        The Acela is either great MSR, or about half of it is bare minimum HSR, depending on definitions.