Posted on 10/07/2019 5:25:12 AM PDT by Gamecock
Moving west. Mainly Wyoming and Montana Powder River Basin sub bituminous coal on its way to China. The greenies are going crazy over this.
They can and sometimes do, but for our system, it's not the best solution.
Many Class 1 and most Class 2 rail line systems in this country are privately owned. Most passenger lines are publicly owned (to a majority extent). In addition, our freight line systems are very active. Japan has a much smaller active system -- similar to Europe. The vast majority of Japanese systems are -- again like Europe -- passenger focused.
We do have systems that share lines, but very few. Positive Train Control (PTC) was envisioned to prevent accidents like the 2008 Chatsworth train collision, but while it has been authorized by congress, it has not been implemented in any real way system-wide. The Chatsworth collision involved a Union Pacific freight train colliding with a Metrolink passenger train and caused the death of 25 people and 135 injuries. The cause was due to an engineer texting and ignoring a red signal. The result of this collision was the Rail Safety Improvement Act -- legislation I was heavily involved in.
We have a long ways to go before we are ready for shared lines between passenger and freight, and a long ways to go before we see real movement in passenger rail overall.
The cause was due to an engineer texting and ignoring a red signal.
Which has nothing to do with wether it is a freight railroad or not.
Freight and passenger vehicles share the interstate all the time. Rail can do the same. The problem today with freight and passenger rail is that the private railroads abandonded many lines making them single track where they use to be double and triple tracked. The congestion is all self induced. By the way many of these lines are now re-building their single tracks into double tracks again.
You need to brush up on what PTC is and what it does...
Because we cannot police civil servant behavior while driving, until such systems are implemented our freight and passenger systems cannot share the same lines safely.
You are advocating public takeover of privately owned systems? Sounds awfully Venezuelan...
Another big differential are the speed limits of the two systems. Freight systems are typically much slower than passenger lines, and high-speed systems use entirely different track designs and configurations altogether.
Again, we are a long way away from sharing systems on the same lines.
I know what PTC is and what it does.
The Union Pacific crashes in Goodwell and Arkansas were freight trains only. There have been many passenger train collisions involving only passenger trains.
PTC is being implemented and mainlines will be 100% done by the end of next year.
Freight and passenger vehicles share the interstate all the time. Rail can do the same.
You are advocating public takeover of privately owned systems? Sounds awfully Venezuelan...
Another big differential are the speed limits of the two systems. Freight systems are typically much slower than passenger lines, and high-speed systems use entirely different track designs and configurations altogether.
Again, we are a long way away from sharing systems on the same lines.
No, I am not advocationg for government take over of private rail but you seem to be advocationg for public rail.
High speed rail lines are very expensive to build and work well in high density population corridors in distances less than 300 miles. See Europe and Japan for example.
Slower local trains share tracks with faster regional trains share on most of the rails however.
The populations of the Northeastern United States and California could support high speed rail. The Northeast corridor would need extensive upgrades (bridge and tunnel replacements) to make it true high speed rail.
The current travel time between Washington and New York is 2 hours and 53 minutes (compared to 2 hours and 30 minutes for PRR’s nonstop Metroliner in 1969), or an average speed of 79 mph (127 km/h). Schedule between New York and Boston is 3 hours 34 minutes, an average speed of only 63 mph (101 km/h).
High speed rail could cut that time in half but I have seen estimates of $200 Billion to $500 Billion.
My thoughts are to sell the Northeast Corridor to a private railroad and let them decide how to spend the money and run the trains. If true high speed rail is profitable then it will be implemented. California high speed rail appears to be a boondoggle, I would sell the road as well.
Full disclosure I am a frequent Amtrak guest customer and I travel on Amtrak over 20 times a year. I have taken the train cross country for vacation. I also take my parents down to Florida every year on Amtrak’s Auto Train every year.
Passenger rail service only works in heavily populated areas for short distances.
If there were a financial reason for high speed rail travel, it would have been done.
Much like 'wind power', without tax payer cash, passenger rail service in the US, will not exist.
Railroads move goods long distances and make a profit because it makes business sense. Capitalism kills the weak and rewards the strong.
bump
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.