Kenya launches flagship standard gauge railway set to transform nation

It's true. Amtrak has ordered new locomotives specifically to handle regional rail service around Illinois and California.
Siemens Charger - Wikipedia

 

I kind of have a problem with China using our Land and Factories for our workers or possibly their own imported here to work here building things that will assure a form of economic if not also a infrastrcuture victory over these United States.

Does that make any sense at all???

 

Amtrack is forever incapable of true high speed rail between our cities. We were running pullman and mail between virtually every town with a depot big enough to take em 24/7 back in the 50's until the mail contracts were stopped, the interstate built and so on. Some signs show slow to 90 on curves around the USA for that work with fast passenger service. I want it back again someday.

 

You can thank Congress for that issue. Every year they try to reduce Amtrak's budget so repairs to railroad infrastructure is "piece meal",at best. Congress knows that most of the infrastructure dates back to the 19th-20th century but when it comes to major upgrades and completely overhauling said infrastructure,they don't want to shell out the money.
The irony of it all is after World War II when we bombed the living daylights out of Europe(Germany and parts of France in particular) we enacted the Marshall Plan to help rebuild those countries and now they have trains running 200+ mph and a railroad infrastructure second to none. Meanwhile we still have trains struggling to get to 79 to 100 mph,not because the trains are deficient but because the tracks and switches can't handle the stresses on the rails from high speed trains.smh
Adding insult to injury, the one person that understood these issues and actually tried to turn things around was fired by Amtrak's board of directors. His name-David L. Gunn-former president of Amtrak.
During his administration Amtrak's MRO terminal in Beech Grove,Indiana was working overtime to get railcars repaired and back into service(they were adding extra shifts).

 

Hear hear.

I spent time on Intercity Rail in the UK for London - Suffolk Service daily. Dam engines deltic class takes us to 110 plus and holds it there most of the way down. I will never forget watching my coffee without a lid stay put on that second class table top....

 

As you probably are aware, I am a life long amature studying trains. When Im not playing with choo choo on the floor with model track etc. (Gross oversimplifcation, but you get the idea...)

If I remember my history, Gunzahou supplied chinese, about a few thousand booked passage on a steamer to San Fran which took about 6 weeks. They were divided into crews run by a papa who taught them what is what. Then sent to work with the Irish on the Line out west trying to build the railroads after the 1850's

The contract that the chinese signed specifically stated that should they be killed in the USA, the bones will be shipped back to the home village to be buried. Now I don't know if you are aware, but the Clinchfield railroad on the east coast, they used Prisoners for some of the work. There are about a few thousand people all told buried under the tracks on which the trains run on today. Anonymous and forgotten excepting by God.

America's Industry got stripped and then shipped out before and after NAFTA. I am trying to be diplomatic and nice about this subject but I feel that other Nations managed to essentially replicate at some level what we once were in industry for the half of the free world at one time not too long ago. Then ship the goods back to us to be paid in somethng other than American dollars.

I don't mind trade. We require trade on the ocean, we would not have been able to fight a revolution without Dutch and other traders coming with needful things in that time period. But I feel that it's time we need to get that back where possible. There is going to be parts of the world who will improve from living in a dirt village to something approaching what we were in the late 1800's within our life time. And then the growth curve will be vertical from there into modern industrial society.

I try my best to be rather simple and not get into over typing because everything I say could be a foot thick book or tome on additional thoughts both good and bad.

Railroads are good. But if you want a eyeful come to our Mississippi. (Your Dragon River would be the closest equivilant) and see the 16 to 20 barges tied to a tug. Each barge contains essentailly a train load of material. Or our Great Lakes. Once those lakers offload, you need many trains to haul it.