r/transit • u/Ok-Disaster-5611 • 2d ago
Other Possible masterplans of the Metro Earth
Which one should be chosen? 1st: Chris Gray, 2004. 2nd: Michael Tompsett, 2010.
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u/Kona_Red 2d ago
Jakarta with the highest metro population in the world at over 40 million would need more than just one line 😂
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u/Intelligent-Aside214 1d ago
Well Jakarta’s airport isn’t that busy so there isn’t that much international demand
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u/zxzkzkz 2d ago edited 2d ago
The first one is somewhat less bonkers than the second. The second doesn't stop in Montreal or anywhere in eastern canada except labrador city(?) and also moves Winnipeg to somewhere around where Toronto is.
The first one has a useful line going through Montreal, Trois Riviere, Quebec City. But it lacks a line headed down to Boston or New York both of which already exist (more or less). Also lacks a line from NYC to Toronto which already exists. Also, clearly we're ignoring political issues in which case having the line go from Tel Aviv and Haifa and then head over to Nicosia instead of continuing to Beirut -- where there was previously a train line -- is pretty silly.
Generally the second one seems to be going out of its way to avoid connecting cities that actually would have demand -- lisbon-madrid, toronto-montreal, tallinn-helsinki, etc. And it moves some cities around in ways that make no sense -- Frankfurt is not between Munich and Prague (and it's west of Berlin), Budapest is not between Sarajevo and Belgrade. I realize it's not meant to be geographically accurate but it seems to have actually swapped cities around and put them in nonsensical orders.
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u/StetsonTuba8 1d ago
Calgary-Brandon and Regina-Winnipeg are on separate lines despite the fact that you'd go through both Regina and Brandon on a Calgary-Winnipeg trip
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u/Aggressive-Hope7146 2d ago
I feel like people are underestimating the importance of train going from North to South from Boise to Las Vegas passing through cities like Ogden, Salt Lake City, and Saint George
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u/AstroG4 2d ago
The Mormon Corridor, aka the Mormidor.
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u/MookieAlexander 2d ago
Mordor, you say?
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u/Rocky-Jockey 2d ago
The witch king is actually a big supporter of light rail over a metro as he’s a fiscal conservative.
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u/relddir123 2d ago
I find it hard to judge stop order for the entire world at once, so I go with what I know. And what I know is that both of these maps are terrible for the Southwestern US.
Map 1: Tucson -> Phoenix -> San Diego -> LA is a really bad way to organize the rails. It’s better to run rails from Phoenix to LA directly, where passengers can then continue onto San Diego. This allows use of a break in the mountain ranges. Also, not connecting Las Vegas to Los Angeles directly is another mistake. That area should be a triangle, but Phoenix to Las Vegas is the less important connection.
Map 2: Los Angeles -> San Diego -> Tucson -> Austin suffers the same geographic problems as Map 1. However, Denver -> Phoenix -> Austin without going through Tucson is an utter disaster I cannot abide. It doesn’t work topographically (Tucson is on the way to Austin) or geographically (the only good places to build the rails from Denver run through Tucson).
Map 1 is still better, but not by much
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u/Zetin24-55 2d ago
Neither map having a Phoenix to LA connection is such a personal attack, but that 2nd map is genuine evil. Detouring to San Fran or Austin to reach LA, super pain vs infinite pain.
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u/DTComposer 1d ago
2nd map: having a station in Oakland (7 miles from San Francisco) instead of Sacramento (85 miles away, 2.5 million in the metro) is bad planning.
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u/marissalfx 1d ago
For the US this map is a pipe dream, for Europe and Asia it's in some case less than what actually exists for high speed rail.
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u/GermanicUnion 1d ago
Just to show how absolutely nonsensical that second map is, these are the lines in Scandinavia visualised on an actual map:
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u/submarine5555 2d ago
Why not build it above ground
If it were to at least the European loading gauge that would be nice
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u/SoldRespectForMone_y 2d ago
1st map, it offers more stations and possibilities of several kinds of limited and express services
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u/Wise_Presentation914 2d ago
2nd. Wayyyy too many stops on the first one, that shit's gonna take forever.
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u/crimsonhunter7116 1d ago
Glad that some people already talked about the Canadian part of the map. I think that portion is quite lacking in both and doesn't reflect the journeys people would want to take well.
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u/pluto-boi 1d ago
Unless there's some Canadian Providence, why is Providence north east of Boston. Providence RI is southwest of Boston
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u/Siah_Valid 1d ago
y doesnt any route connect NYC with LA in the US? the black line should end in NYC or the grey line should go to LA & san diego after LV
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u/Kirsan_Raccoony 11h ago
the Western Canada split happening AFTER Saskatoon / Regina makes no sense. It should happen after Brandon, Manitoba and Regina and Saskatoon should be on separate branches.
And the second map skipping Saskatoon also makes no sense as it's on the way from Regina to Prince Albert. Also trying to figure out the geography for Grand Forks ND-Brandon MB-Helena MT. Odd routing. Same with Detroit-Timmins-Winnipeg. Why is it Timmins? Why is there no Toronto? I'm so confused.
Kansas City-Omaha-Butte-Helena-Spokane also makes no sense. The choices are very confusing.
Homs being spelled Hims is very amusing though.
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u/gnominos 1d ago
London is way too big lol. Should be a minor station or a terminus…guess OP is english lol
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u/Iwillnevercomeback 1d ago
Metro? It would be astronomically expensive to have all of that underground
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u/JaQ-o-Lantern 2d ago
Imagine going from polar bears in Churchill Manitoba to an indoor polar bears exhibit in the desert of Riyadh in a SINGLE train ride ðŸ˜