……

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

The first to bear the brunt is the National Railroad Passenger Company, which is a rival.

Historically, railroads have played a very important role in the economic development of the United States. For example, the period of the Industrial Revolution from 1810 to 1850 and the period of neo-colonial development from 1850 to 1890 played an irreplaceable role.

The railroad era in the United States began with the establishment of the Baltimore and Ohio railroads in 1828, and then due to government support and other reasons, the railroad industry has developed vigorously, even if it has suffered several economic crises and faced industry-wide recession, but overall, it was in rapid development throughout the 19th century.

The development of railroads has brought about a seismic change in American transportation, and both freight and passenger transportation are undergoing a revolution.

In the early days, the main way of freight transportation was naturally waterways, but in the face of many overwhelming advantages of railways, such as fast transportation speed, cheaper freight, and can be kept unimpeded all year round, there will be no high-latitude water system because of the long freezing period in winter, resulting in the phenomenon of poor cargo transportation turnover, etc., which will inevitably be defeated.

In terms of passenger transport, it is no surprise that railways have also had a profound impact on people's mobility. In contrast to the hardships of primitive methods such as horseback riding and public carriages, the daily life, meals and sleep of passengers can be carried out in the comfort of a railway locomotive that runs at high speed on flat steel rails.

By 1860, nearly all cities in the central and northern United States had railroad stations, and in corn-growing areas, eighty percent of farms were located within five miles of railroad lines.

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

These private, for-profit railroad networks connect cities and villages across the United States, providing all intercity and long-distance passenger traffic.

This boom reached its peak in the 1910s, when the U.S. railroad network reached 254251 miles in 1916, the largest in the world, with an estimated 2.1 million railroad employees.

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

However, the inflection point of the downward trend of the entire industry has also begun at this time, especially passenger transport, which is in obvious decline.

The reasons for this were manifold, mainly the invention and popularization of the automobile, which led the federal government to change the direction of subsidies, the construction of the American national highway network, and the Great Depression that erupted in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Another point is that private railroad passenger companies have a monopoly on intercity passenger transportation in the United States, so the government has very strict regulation and control, resulting in the gradual loss of competitiveness in operation.

Fortunately, in the mid-1930s, thanks to a series of technological developments, facility updates, and speed increases, private passenger railway companies were given a respite. Diesel locomotives, luxury trains, and special express trains such as the Pioneer Breeze and the Aviator Yankee have been put into operation, and traffic has rebounded, but the overall trend is still declining. By 1940, passenger lines accounted for only 67 percent of the total length of railroad lines in the United States.

At this time, the private railway passenger company ushered in another turning point. The escalating Second World War required thousands of U.S. officers and soldiers to be mobilized by rail, and at the same time, gasoline was included in the war materials and strictly controlled.

As a result, U.S. rail passenger traffic bucked the trend and reached an all-time high.

Taking advantage of this wave of market, after the end of World War II, various railway companies have further updated their vehicles, and the ultra-luxury trains "Super Chief" and "California Zephyr" are equipped with luxurious decorations, comfortable travel facilities and viewing windows, and the American railroad passenger transport has maintained a period of prosperity.

Unfortunately, the high-speed process of railroads in the United States was disrupted by the Naperville railway accident in 1946 and a series of rail accidents in New York City in 1950, which coincided with the rise of the civil aviation industry and the Federal Funding Highway Act of 1956, promoted by major American automakers, which was supported by President Eisenhower to build the interstate highway system in the United States.

Compared to the previous U.S. national highway network, the U.S. interstate highway system is mostly a freeway, with at least four lanes on the entire route.

Under such brutal competitive pressure, U.S. rail passenger traffic declined further, and much faster than expected. Many stations are empty, train schedules are canceled, and more and more passenger lines are losing money for a long time. By 1965, there were only 10,000 passenger cars in operation in the United States, an 85 percent decrease from 1929.

To add insult to injury, the United States Postal Service (USPS) was originally operated by the Railroad Passenger Company, which was a good and stable subsidy for the addition of several postal cars to the back of passenger trains, but from the mid-1960s onwards, the United States Postal Service gradually reduced and terminated rail transportation contracts in favor of road and air transportation. As a result of this move, the railway company lost an important source of income.

In order to salvage the decline of rail passenger transport, in 1958 the U.S. Congress issued a decree granting the Interstate Commission on Commerce, the ICC, full authority to manage rail lines, and any additions, adjustments, and cancellations to existing passenger lines must be approved by the ICC.

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

At that time, many passenger lines needed to be adjusted to cope with changes in transportation patterns, but the ICC was inefficient and often took more than eight months to approve.

In addition, the ICC was reluctant to abandon the sparsely trafficked routes, insisting that the cancelled lines must be remade by other lines, resulting in overly lengthy lines, even more inefficient operations, and a rapid decline in passenger traffic.

The ICC also strictly controls mergers between railway companies. Many mergers and acquisitions take years or even more than a decade. For example, the New York Central Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the Delaware, Lakwana and Western Railroad and Erie Railroad.

When the ICC finally approved these acquisitions in the 1960s, years of government cutbacks, aging stations and rolling stock facilities, and competition from the airline and highway industries made such capital operations meaningless.

By the late 1960s, U.S. railroad passenger traffic was finally terminally ill. First, the lines applied for suspension of operation, and then the private railway passenger companies filed for bankruptcy.

In 1969, Pullman Company, a legendary bus manufacturer, declared bankruptcy.

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

All of a sudden, the entire railway industry was in turmoil, and the poor financial situation of the railway companies 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 rail passenger transport during his tenure, and thus infamy for the ages.

So in 1970, the National Passenger Railway Association proposed, Congress passed, President Nixon signed, and the Rail Passenger Service Act came into being as quickly as possible.

Under the bill, a semi-private, semi-state-owned "National Rail Passenger Corporation" would be established to receive government and taxpayer funding and continue to operate long-distance intercity trains.

The main mystery of this measure lies in the fact that as long as the private railway passenger company joins the national railway passenger company, then the passenger transport obligations that are pressed on it will be relieved and transferred to the national railway passenger company, and the railway freight is still a good business, and the private railway passenger company that has thrown off its burden does not need to cry out for bankruptcy with its pitiful financial reports.

In fact, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation is a stopgap measure made by American politicians in response to public concern about the decline of railroad passenger transport.

However, the world is so wonderful, in a tacit understanding of the decline, on May 1, 1971 officially announced the establishment and operation of the national railway passenger transport company, caught up with the 1970s two waves of world energy crisis, the biggest competitors civil aviation and road transport was hit hard, and then miraculously survived until now.

Today, the annual occupancy rate of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, which is stable at about 20 million passengers, has not been able to achieve financial independence and self-financing, but it has been successful in integrating resources in some areas, such as merging the original three trains on the West Coast into the Coastal Starlight, which became the first passenger train to cross the West Coast, between Los Angeles and Seattle.

But there is only such a little scrap left, and it will be robbed by California high-speed rail.

The distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the National Railroad Passenger Company operates in about 10 hours, while California high-speed rail can directly save half the time. The Coast Starlight was crippled in one fell swoop! How could the National Railway Passenger Transport Company not be in a hurry?

Realistically speaking, the National Railroad Passenger Company is still a small shrimp, and the most threatened by California's high-speed rail is the civil aviation industry and road transportation.

It is not difficult to see from the decline of the American railroad passenger transport that, in addition to some objective reasons, there is a covert contribution from the capital of the automobile industry and the aircraft industry.

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

That's all real money, how can a person with vested interests be willing to give it away?

The guy who made a big fuss at the Top Gun celebration was an investor in the transportation industry between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

After coming out of the police station, this person confidently threatened that he would continue to oppose California's high-speed rail, which caused huge job losses, and the key was to discourage Tang Huan, the largest private investor.

……

Tang Huan, who was in an unhappy mood, was watching a sample animated film produced by Steven Spielberg at this time, called "AnAmerican Tail" - "American Rat Tan".

This was Steven Spielberg's first foray into the field of animation, and with the high-tech support of Tang Huan, his artistic creativity was unleashed, and the result was that "American Rat Tale" was beautifully produced.

This is the proper meaning of the question, and Tang Huan can no longer be excited by the technical achievements. Therefore, his attention is focused on the story of the film itself, and he watches it with relish.

"American Rat Tale" tells the story of the little mouse Weifu who immigrated from Russia to the United States with his family, but was separated along the way, looking for a way to find his family.

……

In 1885, in the Russian town of Shostka, a family of rats, the Mousekewitze family, decided to emigrate to the United States because the Cossack army and their cats had destroyed their settlement, convinced that it was a new world without cats.

During the voyage, his young son, Wei Fu, fell from the ship into the sea due to a storm, and the rest of his family, who thought he had no health, arrived in the United States in gloom.

Separated from his family, Wai Fook did not die, but floated to the United States with the help of a bottle, and was encouraged by a French pigeon, Henry, to set out to find his family.

Unfortunately, Well-Fook meets Warren, a scammer rat who thought he could help him find his family, but was sold to a sweatshop.

Fortunately, Wei Fook escaped with Tony, an Italian rat with clever survival skills in the urban environment.

Then, together with the Irish mouse, Beech, he evokes his compatriots and stands up against the cat.

At this time, a group of cats called MottStreetMaulers attacked the mouse market. All the rats who emigrated learned that the rumor that there are no cats in the United States is false.

……

Seeing this, Tang Huan's tears almost burst out of laughter, "The rumor that there are no cats in the United States is false...... You're so creative! Perhaps, Stephen, you should give me a voiceover. ”

Spielberg shrugged, "Okay, I remember, if there's a next time." ”

……

While discussing the highlights of "American Rat Tan", the assistant brought a newspaper, and the first thing that caught his eye was the appearance of the banquet troublemaker, who made an impassioned declaration of battle in front of the reporter.

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

"Who made me the most visible target? Tang Huan laughed at himself in an American way.

There are many people who have received the favor of the richest man and have a good impression, and when the gloating "Washington Post" hyped up how Tang Huan was attacked at his celebration banquet, it caused a voice of contempt.

Of course, California high-speed rail has also become the focus of public opinion in the United States, and there has been a heated discussion around whether to build or not.

California's high-speed rail not only moves the cheese of powerful rivals in terms of commercial interests, but also makes it difficult for Californians to choose between $30 billion in construction funds.

? (To be continued.) )