Now Obama Wants To Build A $5 Billion Bullet Train From Las Vegas To Nowhere

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11. High speed rail is roughly as energy efficient as airplanes

Steel wheel on steel rail is extremely efficient at low speeds when measured in energy/ton-miles.

However, the actual efficiency of high-speed rail in energy / passenger-miles is not outstanding.

High-speed rail tends to run by schedule for convenience with relatively low load factors on non-peak runs. On runs with multiple intermediate stops, passengers embark and debark midway, also reducing load factor. This, plus the high ratio of vehicle weight / passenger eats up a lot of the presumed efficiency.

Also, high-speed rail requires very high power motors and there is considerable aerodynamic drag on the train sets. The train sets are generally only several cars long, unlike freights that can be over a mile long. Freights also run about 45 mph, so aerodynamic drag is low.