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Comment by Anon4Now | Hacker News Reader

In Ben Franklin's autobiography, he described his journey from Philadelphia to Boston. It took two weeks by boat, traveling down the Delaware River and up the Atlantic coast. The shipped wrecked off the coast of Massachusetts, and he had to swim to shore. I guess the TSA lines don't seem so bad in comparison.

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The distance from Philadelphia to Boston is not much greater than Paris to Lyon which takes two hours by train today.

If the US had reasonable train service, you’d get from central Philly to central Boston in the time it today takes just to get to the airport, go through security and board the plane.

s/reasonable/world-class

Any particular reason why the country which prides itself as the world's largest economy, largest democracy, and a technological leader shouldn't reasonably have a world-class transportation system?

Because "we ain't number 1 by catering to poor people"

High-speed rail tends to be a premium service.

In Europe, routes often cost more than equivalent air routes. Though for some, comfort, convenience, and environmental considerations trump costs.

Not as premium as a private jet.

Because everybody has a world class vehicle of their own? It's a different and reasonable system of transportation.

I'm sure others may disagree. They can cry all they want. Reality has demonstrated that this is a reasonable system, even if it isn't rational by their standards.

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