The Hurry-er We Go, The Behind-er We Get.

There’s a group in Japan — sorry, I’ve lost the link with the specifics — that’s ready to take luxury train travel to a whole new level.  Here’s a look at the some of the ideas for fancy new rail cars the designer has recently presented.

I guess what bothers me is that Japan has an extensive system of rail transportation — both high-speed and conventional — that pretty much satisfies the transportation needs and the mobility requirements of the general population.  So they can now experiment with maglev and with exotic new luxury trains like the one depicted above.

When it comes to high-speed rail, the Japanese and the French have been traveling around their countries at 200 miles-per-hour for more than 30 years. Meanwhile, we’re bumping along in 40-year-old coaches and sleeping cars and arguing about whether or not high-speed trains are a good idea or not.