Will Trump build high-speed railways?

Will Trump build high-speed railways?

  • Yes, he will build them using Japanese mag-lev technology

    Votes: 1 2.4%

  • Yes, he will build them using American only technology

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Yes, there will be an extensive nationwide network of these things

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No, he will try and fail.

    Votes: 2 4.8%

  • No, he will consider it not in the nation's interest.

    Votes: 25 59.5%

  • There will be a high speed railway to Planet X

    Votes: 14 33.3%
  • Total voters
    42

angrysoba

Philosophile
angrysoba
Joined
Dec 8, 2009
Messages
38,935
Location
Osaka, Japan
When Shinzo Abe met Donald Trump, one thing that made my ears prick up were Abe's references to mag-lev high-speed rail. Abe reminded me of the monorail salesman in the Simpsons urging a prestigious white elephant. It makes sense for Japan and it makes sense for Donald Trump and Abe pushed his buttons by pointing out how a one-hour train journey from Trump Tower to the White House would be totally awesome. Does anyone think that Trump will take the bait and decide to build some high speed railways across the country?

And if he did, would our resident proponent of US high speed rail be eager to cheer on Trump?

As an aside, does anyone not feel a slight concern that Trump and some world leaders such as Abe seem to be buying into the idea that the president of the United States sees his role as someone who doles out favours to people who can dole out favours to him? Abe seems to be happy enough with the arrangement of exchanging golden golf clubs for influence as though the principle idea of diplomacy is to butter each other up on a personal level rather than on the basis of what is good for their respective countries. Trump mentioned in the speech that he wants to bring back jobs for people who voted for him because they were nice to him so he wants to be nice to them. It may make sense to want to bring back jobs for the good of the country and for Americans, but stating that he's doing it because people voted for him sounds corrupt.
 
Where is the "Only insomuch as it benefits him personally" option?

Oh well off I ride to planet X!
 
I could totally see Trump making a push for high speed rail.

There would be a non-competitive bidding process, routes that happened to force the government to engage in eminent domain seizures of minority homes, massive cost overruns, and accusations of graft and corruption. The train would never actually be built, large numbers of people associated with the project would have to receive presidential pardons to avoid jail time, the seized land would be sold back to private developers at pennies on the dollar and Trump would somehow walk away with a seven or eight figure payout, which he wouldn't pay taxes on.
 
The Trump regime is firmly in the pocket of big oil. There is no way they would go for high-speed rail.
 
The Great Zaganza said:
Actually, he wants to resurrect Big Coal: expect your High-speed train to be steam powered.
Click to expand...

Or powered by coal-generated electricity ;)

But no, high speed rail doesn't sound like it would appeal to Trump, too long to reap the benefits - he wants instant gratification/adulation
 
Considering that one of his slogans is "buy American and hire American" I rather doubt that the Japanese would have a big involvement. Furthermore, he wants to punish sanctuary cities and there is talk about California becoming a sanctuary state. Los Angeles and San Francisco, the two cities that stand to benefit the most are both sanctuary cities. Finally, he wants to do tax cuts, healthcare reform, expand the military and build that wall, among others, which is already going to blow up the deficit. I just don't see high speed rail as being high on his list of priorities.
 
I support increasing passengers service in the US, but I am not convinced that High Speed Rail is the way to go.
 
He will direct federal money to build high speed monorail from NYC to Atlantic City so he can restart the casinos. ;)
 
The Northeast Corridor is the only part of the country that has high-speed rail, for sufficiently generous definitions of 'high-speed rail'.

So all he has to do is say he's going to do it, and then take credit for the fact that it already exists. Seems right up his alley.
 
He may or may not talk about building the greatest high speed railway in the history of history, but will never do much of anything.
 
No, but it would be fun watching him tied down on the tracks of one at rush hour!!!!!
 
The Great Zaganza said:
Actually, he wants to resurrect Big Coal: expect your High-speed train to be steam powered.
Click to expand...
I think you might be onto something. When Trump campaigned making America great again, he probably was talking about returning to America's Gilded Age, the age of the moguls, railroad tycoons, robber barons, steel kings and trusts.

Gilded Age

There are parallels to today. But I suspect where coal comes in isn't on the trains themselves, but rather coal fired electric power plants to run an electric train network.

And I suspect he believes the wall will be needed to avoid the mass influx of immigrants caused by the first gilded age.
 
Last edited:
No, he will consider it not in the nations best interest.

I actually have no clue as to his stance on HSR, so I guess I voted for how I feel about it. Then again, my views are tainted by the California "train to nowhere" money pit.
 
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