8 Replies to “World’s Most Impressive Subways”

  1. I’ve been on 3 of those lines, but the most impressive one I’ve been on wasn’t listed.

    Imagine you’re on the dirt roads of old Delhi. You walk by a burning pile of garbage, past a cow in the middle of the road, next to a street jam-packed with busses, and up… an escallator? Seconds later you pay your $0.25 fare and are in a modern rail system.

    Also, they should have mentioned Shanghai’s maglev along with their metro. It’s a seperate system, but it goes 270 mph and you’re escorted to the train by women in cute blue uniforms.

  2. Seoul also has an impressive subway system, I think better than Hong Kong’s.

  3. I so want to ride that maglev train after seeing this video of the view from the train.:) And I thought TGV’s were fast..:)

  4. The Maglev is a cool ride … but is expensive. While I will always be partial to NYC’s subway (and Path too) … I really think that Hong Kong did a fantastic job with theirs. Especially the airport train.

    Coolest part … you can check your bags and yourself in for your flights at the Hong Kong and Kowloon stations

  5. Hmm, would having a train that fast increase sprawl in general or decrease it? I mean, if you could go from Tacoma to Seattle in less than 20 min at more than 250 mph or to Portland in about an hour or less with all the same amtrak stops (Centralia, Olympia,etc) wouldn’t this basically make these towns close suburbs of either Seattle and Portland?
    I guess the number one consideration would be the price of the fares involved and whether on not anyone could afford them.

  6. Plus the number of stops. Sprawl happens because of cars – there will be a, say, 30 mile circle around each stop that would be commutable by car. If we only stop the thing every few hundred miles (it takes a while to get up to speed), then you’d only have that circle at those stops.

    If Europe is any guide, this form of transportation would spur development at those spots. Parking near stations would become expensive, so people would either take a bus to the station or move close enough to walk.

  7. “[Shanghai Metro] plans to add 180 miles of track in the next 5 years” are you kidding me!!! What might we get by 2012? 2 to 3 miles? If only we had a strong, money-bloated, communist government. Sigh…

  8. So there were tow that really amazed me… Berlin’s subway with its ghost stations, and the train pushers in Toyko.

    I think we need both in Seattle. ;-)

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