China at heart of California's railway past and present

[dipsydoodle]

High up in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California, half hidden by a snow drift, a disused railway tunnel is a monument to the Chinese labourers who helped build modern America in the 1860s. Now, 150 years later, the Chinese could be returning to build the next generation of US railways, but in a very different role.

Between 10,000 and 20,000 Chinese workers took a year to cut the Summit Tunnel, a key section of the first trans-continental railroad, through solid rock near the town of Truckee.

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President Barack Obama has made high-speed rail a national priority, with the first line planned in California seeking to link the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco.

One of the favourite bids for the project has come from a Chinese consortium, and it is China which has built more high-tech, high-speed rail links than anyone else in the last year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13850575

[Journeyman]

1. Here's an interesting high-speed innovation from the Chinese - a train that never stops. . .

http://ebaumnation.com/2010/04/16/the-train-that-never-stops


I'm sure there are plenty of issues to work out, but on the face of it, a fascinating concept.

[Suich]

5. Wow! What a trip! n/t

[liberal N proud]

2. The Chinese copy the technology then capitalize on it

As Americans wait for projects to be approved, by 2012 Chinese rail travelers could begin to use the largest, most technologically sophisticated rail system in the world.

Much of the high-end rail technology, by the way, is coming from overseas. Canada's Bombardier is working on signaling systems and on 40 of the systems trains.



http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/08/china-high-speed-rail-leave-us-in-the-dust.php

[dipsydoodle]

3. Did you notice the last lne at the bottom of your link ?

The U.S. meanwhile is still looking for its shovel.

[liberal N proud]

4. Its all because we have the profiteers bidding for big oil in government

Other nations look at improving how people move around more efficiently, we just suck up the oil.