The people in the meme are at about Seattle and NYC, which is a little over 3k miles apart (by car). You’d need to be going 250mph for the entire 12 hours to make that distance. A quick google search says that the maximum operating speed of a bullet train is 200mph, but tests have been conducted at 275mph.
So, you’d need to go non-stop at 125% max speed to make the trip in 12 hours. Even if you went at 275mph, realistically you’d make a lot of stops along the way, which is going to make the average speed a lot lower. Trains are great, but the US is really big.
Bonus fact: a non-stop flight from Seattle to NYC takes about 5.5 hours.
continuing to have a habitable planet should maybe be worth more to you than saving max. ~10 hours of journey time getting from one side of a continent to another.
Chinese high speed train network operates at 120–240 mph, and their maglev (very short, very expensive, very fast train route from Shanghai airport to the city centre) had the record at 268 mph. Plus, railroad may be slightly shorter due to how it is designed if the road isn’t near straight already.
But yes, 3000 miles is a lot and maybe 12 hours will not be achievable for a long time yet
Unfortunately, all the electric train startups were bought up and closed down by diesel train companies decades ago, and the majority of the rail lines are owned by freight companies as well. This is partly why public train transit is so bad: the government has to lease the tracks from the freight companies, who get priority on the lines over public trains, meaning that if there’s freight traffic the commuter rail has to wait for the freight lines to go through first.
I think for people who have had long distance relationships it kinda is. Like I would say something like that to my ex, but we both knew it was impossible. Sort of a dark humor but you do what you have to do in those situations
My thought was that it’s an obscure joke about the two Washingtons in the USA. Like, the state in the north-west corner is called “Washington” and then there’s the capital city of the USA on the east coast, called “Washington, D.C.”.
But Washington, D.C., is further south from where the person is placed, so I’m guessing not…
You realize that distance is 4,700km, the distance between Lisbon and Moscow. It takes 3 days by train without a stopover. Public transportation doesn’t make meetings any easier.
Yes, and I’ve personally taken three-day same-country trains before, back when it was the cheaper option. And guess what, non-private planes are also public transport.
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No, it’s just about 4,700 km.
Yeah, living in a country you can travel from border to border on a train in 12 hours has some benefits to it
This would be possible in the US also if the government was willing to put money into bullet trains but like whatever I guess.
The people in the meme are at about Seattle and NYC, which is a little over 3k miles apart (by car). You’d need to be going 250mph for the entire 12 hours to make that distance. A quick google search says that the maximum operating speed of a bullet train is 200mph, but tests have been conducted at 275mph.
So, you’d need to go non-stop at 125% max speed to make the trip in 12 hours. Even if you went at 275mph, realistically you’d make a lot of stops along the way, which is going to make the average speed a lot lower. Trains are great, but the US is really big.
Bonus fact: a non-stop flight from Seattle to NYC takes about 5.5 hours.
I love me some bullet trains, but there is a certain distance that makes planes way more viable.
There should be a lot more (and higher quality) high speed rail between cities of moderate distance, however.
“planes … viable”
continuing to have a habitable planet should maybe be worth more to you than saving max. ~10 hours of journey time getting from one side of a continent to another.
Chinese high speed train network operates at 120–240 mph, and their maglev (very short, very expensive, very fast train route from Shanghai airport to the city centre) had the record at 268 mph. Plus, railroad may be slightly shorter due to how it is designed if the road isn’t near straight already.
But yes, 3000 miles is a lot and maybe 12 hours will not be achievable for a long time yet
3k.miles by car? Are miles by train different?
Yes, it depends on where the roads and rails are built and how direct their paths are.
Unfortunately, all the electric train startups were bought up and closed down by diesel train companies decades ago, and the majority of the rail lines are owned by freight companies as well. This is partly why public train transit is so bad: the government has to lease the tracks from the freight companies, who get priority on the lines over public trains, meaning that if there’s freight traffic the commuter rail has to wait for the freight lines to go through first.
decades ago? those people are all dead now. let’s try again.
If it’s germany, if one of you lives in the north and the other in the south, it’s cheaper to fly to Mallorca and meet there.
If it’s the UK it’s cheaper to meet in a random ass village in Lapland. (Or Mallorca).
Yeah, I tried trains in Germany and Italy, the prices were crazy 🤣
Queer folks have a bad habit of falling in love with people on the other side of the country.
I think this is a problem for people of every sexuality.
It’s often especially bad in queer/minority communities because the dating pool is much smaller.
That makes sense. Anybody who has less compatible dating options than average for whatever reason is more likely to run into this.
Or planet.
[Sighs in time zone ten hours out of sync with crush]
Ah. Thank you.
No, it’s about 2 people talking online, and there’s some 5 billion dish machines distance between them making the travel difficult or expensive
anything but the metric system
exactly
Two people met online and live on opposite sides of the country.
Right, but that’s not humorous.
I think for people who have had long distance relationships it kinda is. Like I would say something like that to my ex, but we both knew it was impossible. Sort of a dark humor but you do what you have to do in those situations
My thought was that it’s an obscure joke about the two Washingtons in the USA. Like, the state in the north-west corner is called “Washington” and then there’s the capital city of the USA on the east coast, called “Washington, D.C.”.
But Washington, D.C., is further south from where the person is placed, so I’m guessing not…
I thought it was a u haul lesbian joke
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-Haul_lesbian
This has been an informative 5 minutes
I’m an American and also don’t see the humor in it.
I think the joke is your public transport.
What does that have to do with anything? Or is it just a “haha America bad”?
See context
Cool, question remains
If there was a functioning public transport, they could just, you know, meet.
You realize that distance is 4,700km, the distance between Lisbon and Moscow. It takes 3 days by train without a stopover. Public transportation doesn’t make meetings any easier.
Yes, and I’ve personally taken three-day same-country trains before, back when it was the cheaper option. And guess what, non-private planes are also public transport.
No country on Earth has public transportation that would make a cross-continent relationship feasible.
No single country sure, but uh…
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They’re both in coastal states that aren’t in the southeast, so odds are they’re both blue.
Coming out next fall: RvB: Politics