They finally found out when they tried to get a high speed train from LA to LV, that the govt set up a road block 10 years ago.
The federal govt mandated that they could only go ahead on a high speed train when they bought a high speed train made in the USA.
One problem. No one makes, or has ever made, a high speed train in the USA. It's not likely any company is going to do that any time soon.
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Deal-Build-High-Speed-Rail-LA-Las-Vegas-Called-Off-382342891.html
The federal govt mandated that they could only go ahead on a high speed train when they bought a high speed train made in the USA.
One problem. No one makes, or has ever made, a high speed train in the USA. It's not likely any company is going to do that any time soon.
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Deal-Build-High-Speed-Rail-LA-Las-Vegas-Called-Off-382342891.html
The reporter got the facts a bit wrong here. There is no government "mandate" that high speed trains must be made in America. The only mandate is that if federal government funding (our tax dollars) are sought for the project, then the trains must be built in America. See, for example, the Texas Central Railway HSR from Houston to Dallas, it is being built with private funds, and it's train sets will be essentially off-the-shelf Shinkansen units manufactured in Japan.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Siemens has a manufacturing plant in Sacramento, Bombardier has one in New York, and Nippon Sharyo has one in Illinois, all capable of building HSR train sets if there were orders. XpressWest's main problem is trying to do things on the cheap while sucking up maximum government funding.
Good points Marc! I had previously mentioned the topic last Sept, http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-us-govt-being-full-of-corrupt-self.html but hadn't learned about this aspect of home built vs govt funds.
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