> so High Speed Rail would be a slower and costlier substitute for long-distance flights, and a maybe-faster but drastically less flexible alternative to <300 mile travel.
Lots of people in the US fly distances in the 300-800km range cited in the article. So equating long-distance and flight doesn't seem right. Trains are no less flexible than flights (or busses) over any distance (obviously they can be slower); they only lose flexibility when compared with cars.
> One example: in truth intercity buses are very widespread in Europe, and not only do they fill in gaps left by the rail system, but thanks to expressways on some routes they be as fast as "moderate-speed trains" too.
The article's author says more or less precisely the same thing as you've said here. In addition, the flexibility of busses is not the same as the flexibility of a bus. Yes, bus services can range from inter-city routes moving at 80mph to local ones servicing small villages. But these are never the same busses.
Lots of people in the US fly distances in the 300-800km range cited in the article. So equating long-distance and flight doesn't seem right. Trains are no less flexible than flights (or busses) over any distance (obviously they can be slower); they only lose flexibility when compared with cars.
> One example: in truth intercity buses are very widespread in Europe, and not only do they fill in gaps left by the rail system, but thanks to expressways on some routes they be as fast as "moderate-speed trains" too.
The article's author says more or less precisely the same thing as you've said here. In addition, the flexibility of busses is not the same as the flexibility of a bus. Yes, bus services can range from inter-city routes moving at 80mph to local ones servicing small villages. But these are never the same busses.