• Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod
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    48 hours ago

    I’m not afraid of flying. I’m too big for the planes. Trains are much nicer for people more than two standard deviations taller than average.

  • Lemmilicious
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    14 hours ago

    Haha I’m scared of sounding like I don’t like high speed rail, which I do! I love trains in general, I’m interrailing right now! Buuut I felt this was a relevant place to link this fascinating article (slightly click-baity headline) about how high speed rail in Europe is actually not constructed in a very good way, because it ends up eliminating many of the positive sides with the European railway network: https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2013/12/high-speed-trains-are-killing-the-european-railway-network/

    Edit: fixed typo

    • AbsentBird
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      114 hours ago

      Is it really hurting the low speed networks? I would imagine there are many stations that high speed rail doesn’t go to. Let goods travel long distance low speed, let people go fast.

  • 56!
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    10 hours ago

    From my experience, environmentalists don’t like large construction projects of any kind.

    Edit: This comment is based on growing up with environmentalist parents who strongly dislike HS2.

    • @Phineaz@feddit.org
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      1217 hours ago

      It depends on the kind. There are groups that would prefer to see human presence reduced to a speck so nature can thrive. There are groups that somehow care for one single bog or meadow but fail to see the bigger picture. There are also those that simply want to protect everything and do support large projects provided they fulfill a lot of regulations. There are also people such as myself who have given themselves to Realpolitik: Local environmentalism is pointless if global protection fails (some drama added for effect)

      • 56!
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        19 hours ago

        There are groups that somehow care for one single bog or meadow but fail to see the bigger picture

        This is mainly what I was thinking about. People care a lot more about things local to them, rather than a railway which probably won’t have any nearby stations.

    • Track_ShovelOP
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      1518 hours ago

      Funny, as I’m a staunch environmentalist, and I’m fine with large projects if they have a few things:

      • a purpose that serves society (and not just shareholders)
      • a plan for mitigating environmental impacts (e.g., and environmental impact assessment --> environmental management plans)
      • A compensation and offsetting plan for impacts that can’t be mitigated
      • A plan for closure and reclamation