Random Tangent: How I Would Redesign Amtrak
Because I am currently in the process of waiting for a few final parts for my hot wire bow to arrive so that I can connect the nichrome wire and copper wire together, I got distracted and ended up starting to redesign the entire Amtrak network on Google Earth as it might if they ever had a multi-trillion dollar budget. I started with interstate high speed lines and built out a network connecting most major cities, from which I plan to develop smaller multi-county level lines that branch off the main high speed stations. So far, I have just planned the HSR (high-speed rail) lines and labeled the cities that they would have stations in. I, however, have yet to actually go through and plan out local lines and stations, or even get a rough analysis of how much this network would cost, so there is a long way to go.
-9/3/2026
After having designed an entire network of high-speed lines across the US, totaling to well over a $1T, I decided to pivot on my idea and instead try to make something more cost-effective and reduce the line down to just one simpler one that uses existing rail that has been modified for higher speeds, mainly using superelevation on turns to allow for higher speeds without redesigning paths to be straighter. In order to find existing tracks to use, I also had to find the federal database of rail lines, process it in a python script to import it into Google Earth, and then import it in chunks. The new line itself is highlighted in blue. For the trainsets themselves, I have not put too much thought into it, except for the fact that they should use standard economy-style seating but replace the private rooms with seats more similar to airline business class to save space while still being very comfortable. The trains would also include food cars and showers, but meals would be served at seats, free to first class passengers, but an additional charge for economy passengers. Wifi is also included, using one starlink antenna array per carriage. Below is the path that the train will take, highlighted in blue, with the stations also marked.
-9/20/2026
