mtuandrew wrote:... this rabbit hole, but I dream of the day we can have similar base tunnels through the Appalachians and Pacific Coast ranges (Tehachapi and Cajon.)
Fantasy time again: If we had the funds, where could we use base tunnels, or just tunnels?
Worcester-Springfield, Pittsfield-Albany. Nah, at this point in time, it's one train a day. LOL.
Harrisburg-Pittsburgh. Probably the #1 need east of the Mississippi.
Charlottesville-Charleston. There's bound to be tunneling opportunities on the
Cardinal's core route.
Roanoke-Bristol-Knoxville-Chattanooga-ATL/Birmingham. Twists and turns, but we need 110-mph to make it work.
ATL-Birmingham. Twisting its way thru the south end of the Appalachians, this route will need more and better tunnels to get 110-mph trains and heavy ridership.
Any route CHI-FL will encounter serious hills, or fair-sized mountains, where tunnels could be needed.
And then there's the West. California could use a handful of serious tunnels. But even if we tunnel under the Continental Divide in two or three places, or thru the Sierra Nevadas, nothing we could do could rival the costs of the European base tunnels.