You might find this clip interesting and quite phenomenal?
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjA3MTE0MTAw.html
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjA3MTE0MTAw.html
Install the app
How to install the app on iOS
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Chinese Rail clip
- Thread starter rjhowie
- Start date
cascaderailroad
New member
Makes the US railroads look delapidated.
Don't get me wrong ... only RR's can handle the billions of tons of coal, COFC, TOFC, Grain, high wide heavy loads, and general merchandise shipped per year. If our freight RR's suddenly stopped hauling, (such as in a lengthly RR strike), the govenment would have to step in inside of 3 days and take over the RR's, as per day there would be hundereds of thousands of more trucks clogging the roads. It would totally gridlock the US highway system, and cripple the economy inside of 2 weeks.
But the US passenger rail service is totally inept, a pathetic joke, that only a small percentage of commuters actually use. Some cities are trying to provide modern passenger rail service, while places like Pennsylvania are doing nothing more than failing patch jobs to a broken system.
Don't get me wrong ... only RR's can handle the billions of tons of coal, COFC, TOFC, Grain, high wide heavy loads, and general merchandise shipped per year. If our freight RR's suddenly stopped hauling, (such as in a lengthly RR strike), the govenment would have to step in inside of 3 days and take over the RR's, as per day there would be hundereds of thousands of more trucks clogging the roads. It would totally gridlock the US highway system, and cripple the economy inside of 2 weeks.
But the US passenger rail service is totally inept, a pathetic joke, that only a small percentage of commuters actually use. Some cities are trying to provide modern passenger rail service, while places like Pennsylvania are doing nothing more than failing patch jobs to a broken system.
Last edited:
Unfortunately there is some truth in that comment. With the great decline in the US it lost the whole knack of producing modern rolling stock, etc and moving with the times. When you consider that size is often given as the standard excuse (with planes as the alternative) it shows what can be done in a big country? Here and in Europe rail travel is big and supported.
@ teddytoot - My thoughts exactly.
@ rjhowie - I used to go from Embra to London quite often. It takes around 6-8 hours to drive, just over an hour to fly and 4 1/2 hours by train. It's a bit over 400 miles by road.
I used all three methods and my favourite by far, was train. With an Apex ticket, I could get a 1st class return for £59 and I left central Embra (I stayed within walking distance of Waverly) at 7.30am and arrived in central London around midday feeling relaxed and had a short tube ride to my friends.
If you take into account the commute to the airport, check-in time, hangning around, waiting for luggage, commute from airport to London, there was actually about a half hour difference in total journey time when comparing train to plane.
@ rjhowie - I used to go from Embra to London quite often. It takes around 6-8 hours to drive, just over an hour to fly and 4 1/2 hours by train. It's a bit over 400 miles by road.
I used all three methods and my favourite by far, was train. With an Apex ticket, I could get a 1st class return for £59 and I left central Embra (I stayed within walking distance of Waverly) at 7.30am and arrived in central London around midday feeling relaxed and had a short tube ride to my friends.
If you take into account the commute to the airport, check-in time, hangning around, waiting for luggage, commute from airport to London, there was actually about a half hour difference in total journey time when comparing train to plane.
Of course it is a propaganda film teddyfoot! But trying to suggest it is basically non-existant? This was sent to me by a European living for the moment in China and it DOES exist and the speeding up thing sounds like a wee bit of envy?!. Sometimes people can do things bigger and better than the US! So this may be a localised opinion in view of where the railway is?
You do have a problem over there Stemwinder in that the government had to step in decades ago and be responsible for what is left of national US passenger rail travel- hence Atrak. What is left of what pupates to be national is sadly a pale shadow of once was. The then companies years ago had started a long process of closing in favour of lucrative freight. I have travelled on rail in the US (NE corridor) but outside of that there it's sparse and isn't much to go on about unfortunately.
Here things are totally reversed and most of our network is passenger, run by private companies in competition and numbers the highest for decades. The matter of the size of the US and planes etc being more convenient, etc has been aired but as I have pointed out Europe has an excellent rail system and very well used. All the US can hope for is holding on to what is left and maybe if fortunate an odd catch up on the rest of the West with an occasional upgrade?
Like pfx, I use rail wherever I can and much to be preferred to the bus bus. The 2 main cities of Scotland for example have a modern, express service running every 15 minutes during the large part of the day. Inter-City national services are not odd trains but a whole group of them daily and so on.
You do have a problem over there Stemwinder in that the government had to step in decades ago and be responsible for what is left of national US passenger rail travel- hence Atrak. What is left of what pupates to be national is sadly a pale shadow of once was. The then companies years ago had started a long process of closing in favour of lucrative freight. I have travelled on rail in the US (NE corridor) but outside of that there it's sparse and isn't much to go on about unfortunately.
Here things are totally reversed and most of our network is passenger, run by private companies in competition and numbers the highest for decades. The matter of the size of the US and planes etc being more convenient, etc has been aired but as I have pointed out Europe has an excellent rail system and very well used. All the US can hope for is holding on to what is left and maybe if fortunate an odd catch up on the rest of the West with an occasional upgrade?
Like pfx, I use rail wherever I can and much to be preferred to the bus bus. The 2 main cities of Scotland for example have a modern, express service running every 15 minutes during the large part of the day. Inter-City national services are not odd trains but a whole group of them daily and so on.
RJHowie2, where did I suggest it was non-existant? Read my post again. I merely queried how much of Chineses Railways is like this. What impression of British railways would shots of Eurostar convey? I think a lot of the shots are of the new railway to Tibet. Perhaps a Chinese speaker can tell us more about the video and whether I was missing the point of it.
As regards the speeding up, what do you mean by envy when all I expressed was my personal dislike? I like to see such things in real time and I hate the modern trend of producers to speed things up and have jump shots where either they mix speeded up with normal motion or have somebody walking towards you and they instantaneously move forwards a considerable distance.
As regards the speeding up, what do you mean by envy when all I expressed was my personal dislike? I like to see such things in real time and I hate the modern trend of producers to speed things up and have jump shots where either they mix speeded up with normal motion or have somebody walking towards you and they instantaneously move forwards a considerable distance.
As regards the speeding up, what do you mean by envy when all I expressed was my personal dislike? I like to see such things in real time and I hate the modern trend of producers to speed things up and have jump shots where either they mix speeded up with normal motion or have somebody walking towards you and they instantaneously move forwards a considerable distance.
I wish I could speed up my working days...
That's one interesting video!
There is nothing propaganda about this. It's just a promotional video showing the commitment the Chinese government has to building a decent rail infrastructure. The Chinese don't have NIMBYs. They want to build a line. They do it. Move they people out of the way, put in the bridge, build the stations, etc.
The US had such an infrastructure at one time, but due to politics and shortsightedness, the country has lost much of what it had. Sadly today we still have a negative attitude towards rail in favor of highways. NIMBYs play a big part in this too. They buy the houses along a closed rail line then complain when the local government wants to reopen the line for commuter traffic. They fight the good for the majority with selfish motives. They'd rather sit in traffic in their gas-guzzling SUVs than have a swift commute back and forth to work.
The airline industry is doing pretty much what the rail companies did years ago. Last year I travelled by air to Oklahoma City. I felt like they are doing whatever they can to discourage people from flying by charging extra for little things, canceling flights randomly, etc.
The thing is people cost the airlines extra money because of our needs. This means they need extra support staff, on-ground baggage handling, etc. Packages and freight don't need this. The airline simply squeeze the packages as tight as possible into the hold and take off. Boxes of electronic parts don't complain if they're uncomfortable and need a pillow.
John
There is nothing propaganda about this. It's just a promotional video showing the commitment the Chinese government has to building a decent rail infrastructure. The Chinese don't have NIMBYs. They want to build a line. They do it. Move they people out of the way, put in the bridge, build the stations, etc.
The US had such an infrastructure at one time, but due to politics and shortsightedness, the country has lost much of what it had. Sadly today we still have a negative attitude towards rail in favor of highways. NIMBYs play a big part in this too. They buy the houses along a closed rail line then complain when the local government wants to reopen the line for commuter traffic. They fight the good for the majority with selfish motives. They'd rather sit in traffic in their gas-guzzling SUVs than have a swift commute back and forth to work.
The airline industry is doing pretty much what the rail companies did years ago. Last year I travelled by air to Oklahoma City. I felt like they are doing whatever they can to discourage people from flying by charging extra for little things, canceling flights randomly, etc.
The thing is people cost the airlines extra money because of our needs. This means they need extra support staff, on-ground baggage handling, etc. Packages and freight don't need this. The airline simply squeeze the packages as tight as possible into the hold and take off. Boxes of electronic parts don't complain if they're uncomfortable and need a pillow.
John
Similar threads
- Replies
- 13
- Views
- 405