Discovery Tech explores how the U.S. is getting on the fast track
Watch out Europe, the United States is finally getting on board the high-speed train service. The federal stimulus package set aside $8 billion to jump-start rail projects around the country. And California has already approved a $10-billion bond toward a rail system that will move passengers between San Francisco and Los Angeles in just over two-and-a-half hours. Jobs, lower CO2 emissions and improved public transportation are just a few of the benefits. Find out what High Speed Rail will mean for the United States.
- Top 5: High-Speed Rail Jobs
Out of work? The development of high-speed rail in the United States will save or create about 150,000 jobs. Here are five that you might want to consider as part of your employment future.
- Top 10: Fastest Trains
Several trains in Europe and Asia would leave the United States's fastest train, the Acela Express, in the dust. Find out what they are.
- Poll: Do You Hear What I Hear?
Do you hear trains from where you live? What sound do you hear? The soulful moan of a horn? A whistle? The rattle of tracks? And what feelings do these sounds evoke? Nostalgia or annoyance? Take the poll and voice your experiences.
- Puzzle: On the Fast Track
How fast can you solve these puzzles featuring bullet trains?
- Podcast: Fast Trains Still Marvel Us
Once railroads were engineering marvels of the world. In France and Asian, high-speed bullet trains still are.
- TreeHugger: China's High Speed Rail Will Leave U.S. in the Dust
While it attempts to kick-start its struggling auto industry, the U.S. is talking about building a high-speed rail network with an initial $8 billion in stimulus funds. Meanwhile, China is investing over $300 billion in high-speed rail through 2020, in a bid to speed ahead of the rest of the world's train systems.
- Science Channel Blog: A Trans-Global Maglev Train System?
Blogger Patrick J. Kiger explores the idea of a worldwide system of magnetic levitation trains that would travel at speeds of thousands of miles an hour through gigantic vacuum tubes tethered to the ocean floor.
