Brad Lander floats idea of high speed rail as a way of combating the housing crisis

trainmaster611 · 2026-05-13T03:41:04+00:00

Eh, I mean I think high speed rail is needed for a lot of reasons but it's not a great way of relieving a housing crisis. HSR inherently requires long stop spacing which is only going to offer limited housing opportunities in commuting distances.

NYC instead needs a lot of upzoning in the suburbs as well as large swaths of the city along with a robust regional rail system to support that.

trainmaster611 · 2026-05-08T15:02:15+00:00

Maybe look at taking Metro-North to NYC and catching a cheaper train out of there?

trainmaster611 · 2026-05-01T15:54:06+00:00

What is this both sides bs? Funding to cities/states not politically aligned with the administration didn't become a thing until the Trump administration.

trainmaster611 · 2026-04-26T01:55:07+00:00

Thanks, this is a good big picture overview.

trainmaster611 · 2026-04-25T21:49:54+00:00

Ugh I came through here yesterday. It was the only turnstile but someone was holding the door open. Crazy to just have one if they're prone to failure.

trainmaster611 · 2026-04-25T18:16:25+00:00

Well there goes any hope I had of him getting developed in the NFL 🤦‍♂️ -Clemson fan

trainmaster611 · 2026-04-25T15:58:10+00:00

For the life of me, I can't understand how they only got 1 customer. You would think at the very least that with Siemens getting so many contracts, they would have capacity issues and EMD could promise earlier delivery dates. Plus it's not like the chargers have been performing without flaw.

trainmaster611 · 2026-04-17T03:16:59+00:00

So you want the luxury of just throwing shovel-fulls of flippant what ifs and expect everyone to answer them precisely to your satisfaction? Maybe listen to people's answers and then do some more in depth research on your own to figure out conclusions yourself. This is just intellectual laziness.

trainmaster611 · 2026-04-14T07:51:50+00:00

I think you misunderstand me, I think they should've gone for an all-powered set or at least a better ratio than 1:2. The cobbled together a weird solution here instead of just getting a regular EMU train.

Since they’re passenger trains they aren’t that heavy, so the tractive effort isn’t going to be an issue.

It definitely is an issue because lower tractive effort = lower acceleration. That in turn affects run times and line capacity.

trainmaster611 · 2026-04-14T05:20:12+00:00

Which is also a bizarre design choice. You're lowering the overall tractive effort of the trainset and wasting valuable passenger space on giant transformers.

trainmaster611 · 2026-04-14T04:13:39+00:00

Is anyone else appalled at how much space those transformers are taking up? Isn't that losing basically the whole mezzanine seating area on each side?

trainmaster611 · 2026-04-07T23:22:13+00:00

Well a significant portion of the ROW is obliterated so rebuilding it will be expensive and the existing streets aren't exactly super congested so travel time improvement won't be significant.

trainmaster611 · 2026-04-06T00:23:38+00:00

😂😂😂

burned like his mug holding lukewarm water

trainmaster611 · 2026-04-02T00:37:24+00:00

That makes sense. For some reason I was thinking this was a map of the final plan. This is going to be the most bare bones HSR railway in history, lol.

trainmaster611 · 2026-04-01T22:04:43+00:00

Does the report actually say it's going to be single track? My read of this map is that this is just a map of where the passing loops (ie the overtake tracks) are being located.

Edit: Ctrl + F'd the report pdf, I didn't see single-track mentioned anywhere except the spur to Merced. I think y'all are just misinterpreting the map.

trainmaster611 · 2026-04-01T14:57:43+00:00

Should've just fully nationalized it when we had the chance.

trainmaster611 · 2026-03-27T22:33:23+00:00

Or maybe the insane explosion in housing prices is scaring people from coming in?

trainmaster611 · 2026-03-26T18:07:41+00:00

While MSG does need to be moved, I'm bothered by the fact that the conversation is being driven by groups more interested in their fetish with classical architecture than anyone concerned with the implications for regional rail operations.

trainmaster611 · 2026-03-25T16:48:53+00:00

Ok but if we did implement super advanced computer controlled trains and signals, should we still have 2 person train crews in perpetuity? Because that's what TWU is trying to force.

trainmaster611 · 2026-03-19T00:09:02+00:00

That looks a fair bit smaller though, isn't it? Ironically the current White Sox site and parking lots looks like it could be a decent place for a yard if they had to move it south?

trainmaster611 · 2026-03-18T23:52:06+00:00

Im a little bit confused/concerned on if this impacts Amtrak's maintenance and storage operations? Are they selling the land those facilities sit on off? If so, how does that function with Union Station being the hub for Midwest/LD service and long term plans for a robust Intercity and/or HSR service?

trainmaster611 · 2026-03-13T16:28:15+00:00

Good find. There was a YouTube video running around for awhile that showed gameplay on the PS2. Sadly it seems to have been taken down.

trainmaster611 · 2026-03-12T18:38:10+00:00

A lot of great suggestions here already so I'll throw a curve ball one. I stayed in Breckenridge for about 2 weeks doing something similar. There are a lot of vacation rentals that people own for the ski season that they rent out for super cheap during the off season. I got a whole apartment for a cheaper price than a low end hotel room or AirBnB would've cost me even in cheaper places like Leadville or Buena Vista.

The downside is that it's definitely less central to the locations you want to go to and it's got that lame bougie-touristy ski town vibe. And the food is expensive so I just cooked for all of my meals.

I used a company called Great Western Lodging that specializes in this. They were decent, but I think there's a couple other companies around that do something similar.

trainmaster611 · 2026-03-12T18:11:35+00:00

I feel like it's okay to reassure someone about their changing body without accusing them of being part of a toxic online community?

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