If you haven’t heard yet, in the recent elections California passed an initiative to fund a high-speed railway stretching all the way from San Francisco to San Diego. The construction will cost $10 billion and take several years, but when it’s completed it will reduce commute times dramatically and create a feasible alternative to the pollution-intensive aviation industry. Sure, it’s a lot of money, but nearly everyone thinks it’s a good idea.

Here’s why

Currently in California it takes 6 hours to drive between major cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco. If you want to take the train, the commute time jumps up to 12 hours. The plane trip is only an hour long, but you have to show up to the airport early, deal with security, and wonder if your luggage is going to get lost. You might also end up sitting on the runway for several hours due to weather or air traffic.

Though I’ve never been to California, I know these things because I’ve recently planned a trip that will take me into LA, up to SF, and then back to New Hampshire. I spent a short period living in Japan and using exclusively public transportation, so my first thought was “oh, I’ll take the train up to San Fran, get some work done, take in some nice views, and nap.”

Boy, was I wrong about that. When I logged on to the Amtrak site and searched for a trip between LA and SF I was in disbelief: Did it seriously take 11 hours? I asked my friend and got an affirmative response. To make the story less profane, I was livid. There’s absolutely no reason for a long distance train trip to take any longer than a similar drive. In fact, considering the time that you have to show up at the airport by, it should be comparable to flying for that distance.

The solution

Now, that’s more like it, California. With this rail system in place the LA to SF trip should only take 2 hours and 40 minutes. I would change in my plane ticket for a ride on that in a heartbeat. Perhaps in the future we’ll see something like this on the East Coast connecting major cities like Boston, NYC, and Philadelphia.

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One of the many places where Japan leads and the rest of the world follows is in high speed rail. Japan has had its shinkansen for over 40 years, and California is about to get the first in the US in a few years. China and Europe are a little further ahead, but Japan has the most comprehensive and smoothest running system in the world. And once again, a Japanese company is coming out with a “bullet train” that will beat speed records.

Yesterday, EcoGeek reported that Kawasaki is going to be building the next, fastest shinkansen. The train will be able to go 217 mph using lighter materials and aerodynamics to boost the top speed. The last time I was on a shinkansen, it could belt down the tracks at up to 180 mph. This wasn’t the fatest shinkansen out there, but I believe they currently top out just shy of 200 mph.

The interesting thing, however, is not that this train can go faster, it’s that it will. Most shinkansen can go well beyond their max speeds, but create too much noise and would break local laws limiting noise pollution from trains. This new train has obviously been designed to be more neighborhood friendly, and hopefully it will be able to get more Japanese of the roads and out of the skies to give the environment a break.

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While reading Hank’s post on EcoGeek about his first train ride, I was reminded of many of my own impressions when I started riding the train daily in Japan. I’m not really up on my US train system, but from what I hear it’s nothing compared to Japan’s (obviously). Here’s my list of impressions from daily commuting on the Japanese train.

1. No security and no lines. One time I got on a late train and was planning on catching the 11:35 shinkansen to Kyoto, but when I got to Tokyo Station I noticed there was a Kyoto-bound shinkansen leaving in 3 minutes. I sprinted to the platform and jumped in before the doors closed and off the train went.
2. Everything is on time. In Japan, trains run on time. If you’re late the train leaves you or closes you in the doors. It doesn’t matter where you are or what time of day it is, but the train will leave when it is supposed to and get to where it’s going when it’s supposed to. One time there was a power outage in the city I was travelling through on the shinkansen and we had to sit on the tracks for 30 minutes…but we still got to our destination on time!
3. You can do whatever you want. You can drink, sleep, play games, read, do work, or even hang out in the smoking car and light up.
4. The train can be wonderfully social. On the train you don’t have to worry about the relationship between paying attention and staying alive. Chatting, gaming, sleeping, and texting are all A-OK. Some trains even have seats that flip around so you can face your companions booth style.
5. Peace. Japanese trains are great because you don’t need to do anything besides what you want. No one talks on their cell phone and no one is obnoxiously loud or sexually inappropriate.
6. You can stretch out. On the plane or in your car you can’t really get up and move around too much, but on the train you have plenty of legroom, and don’t ever need to be in your seat.
7. Speed at rush hour. Even when it’s rush hour, the train is never late. In fact, it will be quicker during rush hour because more trains run. You might be a little crammed in if you’re commuting out of the city, but hey, learn to love your neighbor.
8. You don’t need to buy tickets. You can use your cell phone, JR Suica pass, or commute ticket to ensure that you never need to buy another ticket.

Well, that concludes my impressions of trains in Japan (and I think much of this is the same in Europe). Here’s hoping that one day we’ll have the same in the US.

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