Good afternoon here's your daily reminder to STOP CALLING RAILWAYS WITH SUB-200KMH TOP SPEEDS "HIGH SPEED RAIL"https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-05-29/ethiopia-already-is-the-china-of-africa …
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This is why I am outraged by constant American references to any railway that manages to clear 70mph as "high speed rail." Japan's CONVENTIONAL narrow-gauge express trains manage a top speed of 130kmh, or 80mph. They are NOT high speed rail!!
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It is maliciously deceptive advertising, it SABOTAGES the mental image of "high speed rail" for millions of Americans. Disgraceful! Journalists must learn to do their homework or they must cease and desist. A Chinese railway topping out at 75mph in Ethiopia is not HSR!
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The Chinese built a railway in Ethiopia. Not a high-speed railway, just a railway. Most rail travel occurs on railways: not high speed railways. But Americans have been so fucked by poor rail service for so long that they need a new word to refer to "modern and functional" trains
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By applying the new word too broadly, prematurely, and inaccurately (usually to trains not much different than the ones we've BEEN stuck with for decades now), we're only guaranteeing that a few decades down the line, this new word will be as worthless as the old one
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