Transportation Infrastructure in 50 years

[wobs]

One for Travis, China has proposed to build a high speed rail link from Beijing to the US:
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/china-build-high-speed-railway-line-beijing-us-114118016.html

You can't say they're not ambitious.

 

[The Don]

Personally I think it depends on whether or not intercontinental travel is required for business purposes. If not, because people have got their heads around teleconferencing and teleworking then there may be no need at all for mass air travel.

Travelling intracontinentally could be done using electrically (generated through renewables or nuclear) powered trains that don't necessarily have to be any quicker than current 100-150mph trains. As in the days before cheap air travel, the day or so it will take to get from London to Madrid will be considered part of the holiday. If I lived in London I would take the snow train to go skiing.

Intercontinental travel would by by ship and again would be part of the holiday. The ships could be relatively slow and highly efficient.

Short distance travel could be by electric vehicle.

Over the past 3 years I have lived a lifestyle where I would not necessarily require a car at all (I have three, but for fun ) or at most an electric car. I can count on the fingers of a couple of hands, the number of journeys of more than 100 miles in a day I have made in that time. I used to have to drive 40,000 miles a year getting to clients, now working from home I hardly ever drive for work.

 

[Jrrarglblarg]

One problem I always see in relation to electric vehicles/trains and all becoming our salvation (perfectly feasible at a local level, btw, if we get our act together in time) is how the hell we'll replace those diesel trucks that haul monster loads into the wilderness, and the vast excavators and mining machines that we'll surely still need way beyoind 50 years from now. Because I can't picture that range and power coming from batteries.

Bio-diesel for reserved functions such as those?

IC engines running on liquid fuel will always be a practical solution for some machines. The stuff you list is a great example, and I would expect increasing numbers of those to be hybrid in 50 years so they get the best efficiency benefits of the various systems. In the meantime the majority of machines for transit are more significant players in both energy consumption and carbon output.

 

[Ladewig]

air transportation, nor airships are, as category 4 hurricanes will develop faster than those vessels can shun them.

I forgot about that aspect. That would mean trains (of any speed) might be a good investment because one can easily build earthen structures over existing rail lines.

The weather will also mean rather noticeable population migrations as people move away from more dangerous areas. The again, materials science might make weather extremes less inhospitable. So many factors - so many possibilities - so many unknowns.

 

[Corsair 115]

Wouldn't diesel trains still use far less fuel per person for city-to-city travel than airplanes?

Yes. Trains are incredibly fuel efficient in terms of moving a given weight of cargo, much more so than trucks. The only thing more fuel efficient than trains at moving cargo are ships. (Hence why inland waterways and canals can be very useful.)

 

[Bikewer]

Amazon drones pick you up from your driveway and deliver you to your place of work. There's a large, padded landing area in case the onboard altimeter is a bit off.

Service is free as long as you buy a minimum of 100k worth of Amazon products on Prime.