macadian

I guess 'Bah humbug'...and I doubt he's disappointed....

Alberta_Rose

We've been invited to a Braai tomorrow ... I think it's something similar with a South African name ....... something about a football game too .....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq2SOmwzjUU

Oink

I'd eat before you go.

Miss Clinique

Ahhh havent heard that for years

CanadaJimmy

Well, I was renting a room in their basement suite, though the grandfather was down their in another room and him being bothered by it seemed to make the entire family bothered which I can understand. But my point is it was an entirely separate kitchen.

They did suggest before I came that I could eat with them but sadly they ate a lot of meat and I'm a vegetarian so it was easier for both parties just to have separate meals.

Thats a fair point, but it would use a lot less energy than flying, and something like maglev could theoretically reach incredibly high speeds that would be competitive with aircraft, and still use much less energy.

Oink

But it wouldn't be too bad if they put in a high speed railway from Vancouver, to Seattle, Portland, SF and LA.

Aviator

Per passenger mile it would not be a lot different, so long as it ran full. Reduce the number of traveling pax and the consumption could even be higher for a train.

This of course does not take into account the environmental mayhem and destruction it would cause during construction of a rail link and the astronomical cost of building it and acquiring the land to do so.

CanadaJimmy

Well if we take the Transrapid maglev, that uses about 50-100kW per track section[1] and each section is 12-60metres[2]. The distance of vancouver to toronto is 3354.71km, so even in the worst case of 100kW per 12meters of track, that is just 27.95591 Mega Watts for the whole trip.

I'm not sure specifically how much aircraft use but seeing as the average power output of a jet engine is apparently somewhere in the realms of 100MW I'm finding it hard to believe they are comparable, but I'm not an expert.

Well thats true, but the alternative is still environmental destruction in the form of air pollution instead. The visible environmental destruction would be pretty bad though so I can't really argue against that.

Anyway the point I was originally trying to get at wasn't the practicality of a link but more an example of some showmanship and accomplishment that Canada could benefit from, like that massive bridge in France or the many things like that Japan has done.

Anyway, sorry oink for hijacking your thread about picnics :P

JonboyE

There is a pipe dream of a high speed link between Eugene and Vancouver but not a hint of funding to make it happen. To get south from Eugene the line would have to go through a mountain range or along the coast. The grade through the mountains or the twistiness (word?) of the coast would reduce the train to normal speeds and I think the cost of either option is going to be prohibitive.

That said, the Tokyo to Nigata Shinkansen is built through a mountain range - but there was a different approach to public finance in Japan then to the USA now.

KarenJoy

I read in the Province today that the mayors of Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland are thinking of doing just that ... or something like it. Wouldn't that be great? A fast train to Portland?

Novocastrian

I went to a couple of Braais in South Africa.

I was offered a crocodile sandwich.

OK, but make it snappy.

The4BellsLondon

Boom boom . .. .

Souvy

A Toronto-Vancouver Maglev? That would probably be the most expensive construction project in world history. Not to mention the fact the the mining industry probably is not capable of supplying the vast quantities of metals that would be needed to make the high-temperature superconducting magnets.

Folk have been playing with Maglev for a long time. The systems built so far have been short-distance and bleedin' pricey.

dbd33

Bit silly, innit? Hardly anyone travels between Toronto and Vancouver. If there were to be a cross-country fast train it should go from New York to Los Angeles with connections to Albany, Toronto, Vancouver, Boston and similar places.

Souvy

I just did a back-of the-fag-packet calculation. A proposed Washington-Baltimore Maglev was costed out at some $111 million per mile. There are lots of miles in North America.