Rapid Rail Plans for the US, & Why Big Oil Has to Spread Rail Propaganda

June 15th, 2012 by Zachary Shahan

This is a great in-depth look at 4 rapid rail plans for 5 lines in the US, as well as a nice intro on why Big Oil is so threatened by 21st-century rail and works so hard to spread anti-rail propaganda. Check it out:

Express high-speed rail is sexy (via Red Green & Blue)

By Bruce McF Indeed, high-speed rail is sexy enough that when Big Oil propagandizes against it, they have to paint it as too expensive or something that America is too incompetent to handle, since the idea of sitting in an actually comfortable rail seat, watching a movie on a laptop or snacking on…

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Tags: high-speed trains, quickies, rapid rail

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.

http://neilblanchard.blogspot.com/ Neil Blanchard

The best way to power trains is with electricity, by far. With overhead wires, the regen can power another train on another part of the track.
irandom

Last I checked trains run on diesel. I used to ride the train, before I got a car. When I rode, not every place had double tracking, so you often had to wait for freight to pass.

http://ti.org/antiplanner/

http://seekingalpha.com/article/269679-oil-industry-profit-margin-ranks-fairly-low-there-are-bigger-fish
- http://cleantechnica.com/ Zachary Shahan
  
  depends on your location, but they run on electricity many places.
  
  and there also isn’t the ‘waiting for freight trains to pass’ issue many places. i’ve ridden trains countless times and don’t ever recall having that issue, but i do know that my mother and sister had it a couple times in the SE & SW US.
- Bob_Wallace
  
  The Trans-Siberian railway is just a few miles shorter than double the distance across the US.
  
  Trains run continuously, generally separated only by ten or less minutes.
  
  It’s all electric.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Stan-Stein/1756064509 Stan Stein

This is rediculous……we have oil companies brainwashing us? And just WHEN will the world’s largest sheep farm start rebelling?
- Bob_Wallace
  
  The fossil fuel industry has a large megaphone. They can bombard us with their message.
  
  Make a point of educating at least one other person this week, and each following week, about the advantages of fast trains running on electricity.
  - http://profiles.google.com/letsdienow Scott Goldberg
    
    I find myself trying to educate the ignorant ones too often.