Rebirth of the Tech Madman

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Since California's high-speed rail can be used as a target, it naturally involves many interests. Whose cheese did it move? The answer is: many, many!

The first to bear the brunt is the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, whose peers are enemies.

Historically, railways have played a very important role in the economic development of the United States. For example, during the industrial revolution from 1810 to 1850 and the new colonial development from 1850 to 1890, it played an irreplaceable role.

The railroad era in the United States began with the creation of the Baltimore and Ohio railroads in 1828. Afterwards, due to government support and other reasons, the railroad industry has developed vigorously. Even after encountering several economic crises and facing industry-wide recession, in general, the entire In the 19th century, they were all in rapid development.

The great development of railroads has brought about earth-shaking changes in American transportation, and both freight and passenger transportation are undergoing a revolution.

In the early days, the main method of freight transportation was naturally water. However, in the face of many overwhelming advantages of railways, such as fast transportation, cheaper freight, and can be kept unimpeded throughout the year, there will be no high-latitude water systems because of the long winter. The freeze period, the phenomenon of poor turnover of cargo transportation, etc., will inevitably be defeated.

In terms of passenger transportation, railways naturally have a profound impact on people's travel. Compared with the hardships of primitive methods such as horse riding and public carriages, passengers' daily life, dining and sleep can all be completed in comfortable carriages that are pulled by railway locomotives and run on flat steel rails at high speed.

By 1860, almost all cities in central and northern America had railroad stations; in corn-producing areas, 80% of farms and nearby railroad lines were no more than 5 miles.

By the end of the 19th century, the United States already had 20 large national railway companies, as well as countless small regional railway companies.

The railway network composed of such for-profit private railway companies connects cities and villages across the United States and undertakes all intercity and long-distance passenger transportation.

This development boom reached its peak in the 1910s. The length of the American railroad network reached 254,251 miles in 1916, ranking first in the world, with approximately 2.1 million railroad employees.

By 1929. There are 65,000 passenger cars in operation in the United States alone.

But the turning point of the downturn of the entire industry has also begun at this time, especially for passenger transport, which is even more declining.

There are many reasons, mainly the invention and popularization of automobiles, which led the federal government to change the direction of subsidies, build a national highway network in the United States, and the Great Depression that broke out in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Another point is that private railway passenger transport companies monopolize the nation's intercity passenger transport, so the government has imposed very strict controls, which has led to the gradual loss of competitiveness in operations.

Fortunately, in the mid-1930s, thanks to a series of railway technology development, facility renewal and speed improvement, private railway passenger transport companies got a respite. Diesel locomotives, luxury trains, and Xifachao to express trains such as "Pioneer Breeze" and "Aviator Yankee" have been put into operation one after another, and the transportation volume has rebounded, but the overall trend is still declining. By 1940, passenger transport lines accounted for only 67% of the total length of American railway lines.

At this time, the private railway passenger transport company ushered in another turning point. The fierce World War II required tens of thousands of US military officers and soldiers to be mobilized by rail. At the same time, gasoline was included in war materials and strictly controlled.

As a result, U.S. rail passenger traffic rose against the trend and reached the highest point in history.

Based on this market, after the end of World War II, various railway companies have further updated their vehicles. The ultra-luxury trains "Super Chief" and "California Hefeng" are all equipped with luxurious decorations, comfortable travel facilities and viewing windows. U.S. rail passenger transportation has maintained a prosperous period for a period of time.

It’s a pity that the good times didn’t last long. The high-speed railroads in the United States were disrupted by the Naperville railroad accident in 1946 and a series of railroad accidents in New York City in 1950. This period coincided with the rise of the civil aviation industry and the promotion of major U.S. automakers. The "Federal Funding of Highways Act of 1956" received the support of US President Eisenhower to build the US interstate highway system.

Compared with the previous US national highway network, the US interstate highway system is mostly expressways, with at least four lanes across the line.

Under the pressure of such cruel competition, passenger rail transportation in the United States has further declined, and the speed has exceeded expectations. Many people at stations go to empty buildings, train schedules are also cancelled, and more and more passenger lines are losing money for a long time. By 1965, there were only 10,000 passenger carriages in operation in the United States, which was 85% less than in 1929.

To make matters worse, the original U.S. postal system business was undertaken by the railway passenger transport company-passenger trains were often equipped with several postal carriages, which was considered a good stable subsidy, but starting in the mid-1960s, the U.S. Postal Service gradually reduced and terminated it. The railway transportation contract is changed to road and air transportation. This action caused the railway company to lose an important source of income.

In order to save the decline of railway passenger transportation, in 1958, the U.S. Congress issued a decree granting the Interstate Commerce Commission-full power to manage railway lines. Any addition, adjustment, and cancellation of existing passenger lines must be approved.

However, this unilateral move did not have a favorable impact on railway passenger transport.

At that time, many passenger transport lines needed urgent adjustments to cope with changes in transportation modes, but their work efficiency was low, and it often took more than eight months to approve them.

In addition, they are unwilling to abandon the lines with sparse passenger flow, and insist that the cancelled lines must be compensated by other line adjustments, resulting in excessively long lines, lower operating speed and efficiency, and rapid reduction in passenger traffic.

The mergers between railway companies are also strictly controlled. Many mergers and acquisitions often last for several years or even more than ten years. For example, the New York Central Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad mergers and acquisitions, Delaware, Lakwana and Western Railroad and the Erie Railroad mergers and acquisitions.

When these mergers and acquisitions were finally approved in the 1960s, years of government cuts in investment, aging of stations and vehicle facilities, and competition in the aviation and highway industries made such capital operations lose their practical significance.

By the end of the 1960s, U.S. railroad passenger transportation was finally dying. First, various lines applied for suspension, and then various private railway passenger transport companies filed for bankruptcy.

In 1969, a generation of legendary passenger car manufacturers, Pullman, declared bankruptcy.

In 1970, the largest railroad operator in the northeastern United States-Pennsylvania Central Railway declared bankruptcy.

Suddenly, the entire railway industry was turbulent, and the poor financial situation of the railway company seemed to be about to completely destroy the world’s largest railway network.

Obviously, no one in the federal government wants to see the extinction of railway passenger transport during his tenure, so as to put himself on the back of eternal infamy.

So in 1970, the National Railway Passenger Transport Association proposed, passed by Congress, signed by President Nixon, and the "Rail Passenger Transport Service Act" came into being at the fastest speed.

According to this bill, a semi-private and semi-state-owned "National Railway Passenger Transport Company" will be established to receive funding from the government and taxpayers and continue to operate long-distance intercity trains.

The mystery of this measure is mainly that as long as the private railway passenger transport company joins the National Railway Passenger Transport Company, then the passenger transportation obligations that are placed on it will be exempted and transferred to the National Railway Passenger Transport Company. Railway freight is still a good business. , The private railway passenger transport company that has shed its burden will not have to shout for bankruptcy with a poor financial report.

In fact, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation is a stopgap measure made by the collective American politicians to respond to the public's concern about the decline of rail passenger transportation. When the three minutes of blood is exhausted and public attention shifts, American railroad passenger transportation will be dead.

However, the changes in the world are so wonderful. In the midst of tacit decay, the National Railway Passenger Transport Company, which was formally established and put into operation on May 1, 1971, caught up with the two waves of world energy crises in the 1970s. The civil aviation industry and road transportation were hit hard, and then miraculously lingered until now.

Today, the annual attendance rate of the National Railway Passenger Transport Company has stabilized at about 20 million passengers. It has not been able to achieve financial independence and self-financing. However, it has been successful in resource integration in some areas, such as the original three trips on the West Coast. The train, merged into the Coast Starlight, became the first passenger train across the West Coast between Los Angeles and Seattle.

But there is only so little leftovers left to be robbed by the California High Speed ​​Rail.

The distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the national railway passenger company's operating time is about 10 hours, while the California high-speed rail can directly save half of the time. The Coast Starlight was crippled all at once! How can the National Railway Passenger Transport Company not be in a hurry?

Speaking from facts, the National Railway Passenger Transport Company belongs to Xiao Xiami. The civil aviation industry and road transportation are most threatened by California's high-speed rail.

It is not difficult to see from the decline of U.S. rail passenger transportation that, apart from some objective reasons, there are secretly fueling the flames of the automobile industry and aircraft industry capital.

Once the California high-speed rail is put into operation, California's transportation industry will inevitably change the rules of the game. The huge profits currently enjoyed by the civil aviation industry and road transportation will inevitably be lost.

That's all real money, how could those with vested interests be willing to let others go?

The guy who got involved in the "Rising Clouds" celebration party was an investor in the transportation industry between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

After this person came out of the police station, he confidently threatened that he would continue to oppose the California high-speed rail that caused huge unemployment, and the key is to let Tang Huan, the largest private investor, dispel his thoughts.

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Tang Huan, who was in a bad mood, was watching a sample animated film produced by Steven Spielberg, called "anamericantail"-"American Rat Tan".

This is the first time Steven Spielberg has dabbled in the field of cartoons. With Tang Huan's high-tech support, his artistic creativity has been fully utilized. As a result, the production of "American Rat Tan" is very exquisite and meticulous.

This is the intended meaning of the question, and Tang Huan can no longer be excited by the technical achievements. Therefore, he focused on the movie story itself and watched it with gusto.

"The American Rat" describes the story of the little mouse Weifu who followed his family and immigrated to the United States from Russia, but was separated on the way, looking for a way to find someone who returned home.

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In 1885, in the town of Shostka, Russia, a mouse family, the mousekewitze family, decided to immigrate to the United States because the Cossack army and the cats they raised destroyed their settlements, and they believed that there was no cat there. New world.

During the voyage, the young son, Weifu, fell from the boat due to the storm. Other family members who thought they had no physiology arrived in the United States sadly.

Weifu, who was separated from his family, did not die. Instead, he floated to the United States with the help of a bottle. Encouraged by a French pigeon, Henry, he set out to find his family.

What's bad is that Weifu met Warren the liar mouse. He originally thought that he could help him find his family, but he was sold to a sweatshop.

Fortunately, Weifu escaped with Tony, an Italian mouse with clever survivability in an urban environment.

Then, Weifu and the Irish mouse, Biqi, awakened their compatriots and stood up against the cat.

At this time, a group of cats named mottstreetmaulers attacked the mouse market. All the immigrant rats learned that the rumor that there are no cats in the United States is wrong.

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Seeing this, Tang Huan almost laughed, "The rumor that there are no cats in the United States is wrong... You are so creative! Maybe, Stephen, you should give me a voice-over opportunity."

Spielberg shrugged, "Well, I will remember, if there is another time."

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Discussing the wonderful aspects of "American Rat Tan"~www.readwn.com~ The assistant sent a newspaper, and the first thing that caught my eye was the banquet troublemaker who made a declaration of battle generously in front of the reporter. appearance.

Spielberg glanced at the newspaper and sighed, "Opponents of the California high-speed rail, turn their attention to you, you shouldn't!"

"Who made me the most conspicuous target?" Tang Huan ridiculed himself in an American manner.

There are many people who have received favor from the richest man, and have good feelings. When the gleeful "Washington Post" exaggerated how Tang Huan was attacked at his celebration banquet, it evoked a voice of spurning.

Of course, the California high-speed rail has subsequently become the focus of public opinion in the United States, and lively discussions have been launched around whether it will be built or not.

The California high-speed rail has not only mobilized the cheese of a strong opponent in terms of commercial interests, but also made it difficult for Californians to choose between the US$30 billion in construction funds.

? (To be continued.)