It was a political decision back than. German stopped being great long time ago and the Transrapid cancellation was just the beginning of German downturn. The energy crisis will be the last episode of Germany's long depression.
So you would rather have built completely new tracks, stations and other infrastrusture, which can only be used with in-system trainsets and will most likely be completely incompatible with anything running on other european rails for decades? No possibility of dual-use with older sleeper trains, regional trains or freight trains?
I would argue the decision was not as bad as you make it out to be.
That argument is the root cause why we stopped investing in innovation and infrastructure.
The same
could have been said about airports, highways, trains, electricity, the internet.
Current train travel is a joke in germany, the infrastructure is failing, the prices and shedules are an international meme.
One of the main reason it sucks so much is having shared cargo and passenger rail. The successfull high speed trains are using their tracks exclusively.
If we had started investing 40 years ago we would all be cruising silently at 460kmh with tickets half the price, because of the maintenance free solid state tech.
Transrapid is also more wheelchair accessible because it is level with the platform and the cabin is much wider.
Also remember that stupid solar roadways idea? Guess where that actually works, in between the transrapid rails.
By covering the center of the pylons in solar a route from bremen to hamburg would produce enough energy to replace 1 1/2 coal power plants.
mqus|3 years ago
I would argue the decision was not as bad as you make it out to be.
j-pb|3 years ago
The same could have been said about airports, highways, trains, electricity, the internet.
Current train travel is a joke in germany, the infrastructure is failing, the prices and shedules are an international meme.
One of the main reason it sucks so much is having shared cargo and passenger rail. The successfull high speed trains are using their tracks exclusively.
If we had started investing 40 years ago we would all be cruising silently at 460kmh with tickets half the price, because of the maintenance free solid state tech.
Transrapid is also more wheelchair accessible because it is level with the platform and the cabin is much wider.
Also remember that stupid solar roadways idea? Guess where that actually works, in between the transrapid rails. By covering the center of the pylons in solar a route from bremen to hamburg would produce enough energy to replace 1 1/2 coal power plants.
tremon|3 years ago
Last or latest? Calling it the last makes it sound hopeful, but your post doesn't exactly read like that.
DuskStar|3 years ago