MIT proposes to Reinvent the 737 for 70% greater fuel efficiency

Re:MIT proposes to Reinvent the 737 for 70% greater fuel eff... by ryana on Thursday October 07, 2010 @10:54AM (#1768021)

"2. A lot more convenient. No taking off shoes, check points and lines. Plus the chances are a train station would be a lot closer to the center of the city, rather than an airport."

I would imagine that the first part would change as rail became a more traveled medium, thus making it a more attractive target for terror attacks.

However, having train stations closer to the city centers than out in the suburbs would be great.

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Re:MIT proposes to Reinvent the 737 for 70% greater fuel eff... by cstross on Thursday October 07, 2010 @12:49PM (#1768426)

There have already been terrorist bombing attacks on high speed rail: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TGV_accidents

It turns out that high speed trains are a lot more robust than planes: the failure mode is usually "soft", i.e. the train comes to a halt safely and damage is confined to one carriage (unlike an airliner). To inflict mass casualties (e.g. 7/7, Madrid) attackers target either busy subway systems at rush hour (7/7) or busy transport terminals with lots of people (Madrid). It's worth noting that both 7/7 and the Madrid bombings involved large suicide teams and multiple bombs -- but killed fewer people than a typical airliner bombing.

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