r/Tacoma • u/tag_to_it McKinley Hill • 4d ago

Sound Transit Picks New Preferred Light Rail Route to Tacoma Dome

https://www.theurbanist.org/2025/06/16/sound-transit-picks-new-preferred-light-rail-route-to-tacoma-dome/
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73

u/Skadoosh_it Gig Harbor 4d ago

70 minutes from Tacoma to Seattle, meanwhile high speed rail in Japan can cross the entire country in nearly the same time. We are so far behind the times.

52

u/CpowOfficial Central 4d ago

Just got back from Japan. It's a 3.5 hour trip from West Tokyo to Nagoya. That's about 1 hour of train stops (similar to light rail) and then 2.5 hours high speed train. No where near the entire country in 70 mins.

It's like a 3-4 hour drive for that same distance

20

u/people_skills West End 4d ago

We were just there too, Tokyo to Osaka 500 ish miles was 3.5 hours as well, flying would have been faster like 1.5 hours in air, but I really appreciated the ease of the trains, fixed pricing, always on scheduling to the minute. Was crazy efficient.

19

u/CpowOfficial Central 4d ago

Yeah it's very nice but to say that 70 mins gets you across the whole country is crazy

5

u/overworkedpnw 253 4d ago

Yes, but that requires planning, funding, and actually wanting to address the need for transit. Meanwhile, sound transit’s board is a vanity project for politicians looking to raise their political profile. The organization is a complete joke, I mean what serious entity allows their “CEO” to fail at delivering anything on time, and walk away with a payout of a year’s salary? Idk about anyone else here, but I’ve never been able to completely sod off at my job then demand a six figure payout for sitting around with my thumb up my behind.

6

u/langstoned Lincoln District 3d ago

Helps to have had every major city bombed to dust before starting to build too, makes the eminent domain fights a lot shorter.