Posted on 12/09/2010 11:00:01 AM PST by ColdOne
The Obama administration will take away high-speed-rail stimulus money originally awarded to Wisconsin and Ohio after their incoming Republican governors indicated that they wouldn’t continue with the projects.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
“The 39 mph high-speed train is dead when I become governor,” Kasich said in August. “We don’t have the money to operate it; we don’t have the money long-term to fund it. ... I’m still trying to find somebody in Ohio that wants to get on that train.”
... the federal government would seek to “wind down” their funding so that the states don’t “waste taxpayers’ money.”
Money is allocated for a project. They don't want the project. Re-allocate the money for the rest of the project.
I hope incoming governor Rick Scott says the same thing. They’re pushing light rail in the Tampa Bay area something fierce, and NO ONE wants it.
Didn’t Scott say he was opposed to it?
IMO, reprogramming actions like this should go back to Congress and not stop at the agency head.
For a man who said he'd be a uniter, he sure doesn't like federal money going to "Red" states.
Fair enough. Either way, though, the problem is with the reallocation not with the taking back the funds which aren’t going to be used for the intended purpose.
New Jersey, Ohio and Wisconsin, all with Republican governors have done the right thing long term and nixed these wasteful rail projects. It is unfortunate the administration will recycle the money to wasteful projects in blue states to squander the money. Dems have a chronic disease that life is not worth living unless you are squandering money.
Kasich is 100% absolutely right. We have a nice but very expensive light rail system in Pittsburgh (getting even more expensive with the addition of a half-billion dollar tunnel under the Allegheny River), yet do not have the operating revenue to actually run it.
Of course that’s because you are paying pensions to 3 fifty- something retirees for every Ralph Kramden type who is actually behind the wheel...
There are two existing rail links which have problems in routing because sections of track needing to be repaired or relocated; The Chicago to Seattle Empire Route which has a section of track which floods out during the rainy season in Wisconsin and the Los Angelus to Daytona FL Sunset Lim ited which has a section afftected by hurricane Katrina.
The Fed didn’t address this when they started pushing “High Speed rail” checkout 2nd article What TO Do About High Speed Rail”
in
http://www.theusmat.com/
Good for LaHood! The best thing he could have done.
He said that there are more pressing issues on the minds of Floridians than light rail. However, I heard yesterday that since Ohio and Michigan(?) are relinquishing their Federal rail dollars, we’re getting them instead. However, funding for these projects gets near $100B, and we’ve only got around $20B. Not sure where the other $80B will come from, but Hillsborough county voters shot down a penny tax increase in last month’s election.
Nobody wants to ride the train no matter what it does.
I know there's a tremendous amount of upkeep on current rail lines due to the heavy freight carried. The problem for Amtrak riders is they use other railroad's tracks and they're often sidelined by freight trains with priority. (Amtrak trains also carry low priority freight besides passengers.)
That said, going by Amtrak is not a fast way to travel and it's boring unless you read our have a portable DVD player (then try and find an outlet to plug into). I've done the trip from Chicago to Seattle; Seattle to Los Angeles; LA to San Antonio; San Antonio to Chicago. Each leg of the trip amounted to 36 hour segments. The seats in coach were better than first Class on the airlines, but the low speeds, lack of priority, and interminable stops gets to be wearing on the traveler. Also Amtrak always runs an operating deficit, only serves certain cities, and is hopelessly archaic.
Looks like I will have to use interstates for the foreseeable future.
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