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Amtrak plans 37-minute train from New York to Philadelphia by 2040
Reuters ^
| Mon Jul 9, 2012 8:20pm EDT
| Dave Warner
Posted on 07/10/2012 10:32:59 AM PDT by Olog-hai
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Just two years ago, the same bogus plan was estimated to cost $117 billion. So its gone up from $260 million per mile (unheard of anywhere on the globe) to a whopping
$336 million per mile (thats assuming Washington to Boston), all for a duplicate of an existing railroad that is not doing badly as is (i.e. for minimal freight rail operations).
For comparison, back in the late 1960s when they were developing the Budd Metroliner cars, the
promise back then was to have 160-mph operation on the extant railroad (former Pennsylvania Railroad). They regurgitated similar promises with the Acela Express, albeit with a slower top speed (up to 150 mph, to use their stilted ambiguous language). Amazing how they made a lie extend over four decades (almost five) . . . and they weren't spending colossal amounts for upgrading the railroad back then either ($335 million in 2012 dollars for the 225-mile stretch between New York and Washington DC, and now they want multiple billions).
Oh yeah: White Plains?!? Why dont they just rebuild the old NY Central all the way to Chatham NY and run Amtrak there en route to Albany while theyre at it? (Oh sorry; another rail-trail conversion north of Wassaic.)
1
posted on
07/10/2012 10:33:08 AM PDT
by
Olog-hai
To: Olog-hai
Make New York and Pennsylvania PAY FOR THE G*DD***ED THING!!!!
2
posted on
07/10/2012 10:42:20 AM PDT
by
Huebolt
(It's not over until there is not ONE DEMOCRAT HOLDING OFFICE ANYWHERE. Not even a dog catcher!)
To: Olog-hai
The newest Amtrak improvement plan also calls for direct links to airports ...If you're going to an airport, why not fly ... at 600 mph?
3
posted on
07/10/2012 10:44:05 AM PDT
by
DuncanWaring
(The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
To: Huebolt
Pay for what? My point was that the planned new railroad ain’t necessary. Nobody should have to pay $336 million per mile for any railroad at all, even a subway line.
4
posted on
07/10/2012 10:45:13 AM PDT
by
Olog-hai
To: Huebolt
Amtrak plans 37-minute train from New York to Philadelphia by 2040The headline is misleading (it IS Reuters, after all!). 2040 is when Amtrak's version of a high-speed train is supposed to arrive in Philly!!
The train left NYC yesterday!
5
posted on
07/10/2012 10:45:56 AM PDT
by
DustyMoment
(Congress - another name for white collar criminals!!)
To: Olog-hai
If American travelers absolutely want, need, and are willing to pay for and support “high speed rail” on the “north east corridor” from Washington, D.C. to Boston (if it is economically legitimate) then it can best be achieved by selling Amtrak in an IPO, supporting it in government when it comes to trying to develop “rights of way” and letting private capital investment, technology and the “inter-modal” transportation market place decide how it will all work out.
In other words, get all the politics off the table and let the private sector try to work it out.
That is the only kind of “high speed rail” development that Conservatives should be supporting.
6
posted on
07/10/2012 10:46:29 AM PDT
by
Wuli
To: Olog-hai
Hmmm Let's see if anyone else is planning on doing something stupid like this.....
"PAGING CALIFORNIA, PAGING CALIFORNIA. PLEASE PICK UP THE WHITE PAGING PHONE!"
7
posted on
07/10/2012 10:46:53 AM PDT
by
China Clipper
( Animals? Sure I like animals. See? There they are, right next to the potatoes!)
To: Olog-hai
Not to worry. Doubt if we even have a country left by 2040.
8
posted on
07/10/2012 10:47:10 AM PDT
by
Grams A
(The Sun will rise in the East in the morning and God is still on his throne.)
To: DuncanWaring
They already have stops at EWR and BWI. That’s more than enough airports, really. The EWR station contributes to making average speeds slower (especially that of NJ Transit) and doesn’t pull in all that much revenue.
9
posted on
07/10/2012 10:48:23 AM PDT
by
Olog-hai
To: Wuli
Maybe they should have left the railroad in question in the hands of the Pennsylvania Railroad and New Haven Railroad companies, and removed the tangle of taxation and ICC regulation that they were strangling them with?
10
posted on
07/10/2012 10:51:12 AM PDT
by
Olog-hai
To: Olog-hai
I’m confused by this articles assumption that Amtrak will be around in 2040.
11
posted on
07/10/2012 10:51:17 AM PDT
by
Psycho_Bunny
(Future generations will curse what we've done to them.)
To: Psycho_Bunny
Of course it will be, unless the DNC disappears. It’s one of the DNC’s favorite political footballs after all, even though they didn’t make it law (Nixon did).
12
posted on
07/10/2012 10:53:10 AM PDT
by
Olog-hai
To: China Clipper
At least NYC to Philly makes more sense than Bakersfield to Madera lol...
13
posted on
07/10/2012 10:54:35 AM PDT
by
neodad
(USS Vincennes (CG-49) Freedom's Fortress)
To: Olog-hai
$336 million per mile
For that amount you could Design it, Build it and run the thing for the next 10 years.
Call in the Japs,French or Germans for a quote.
14
posted on
07/10/2012 10:55:23 AM PDT
by
moose07
(The truth will out, one day.)
To: Olog-hai
It isn't about value, it isn't about efficiency, need or return-on-investment. It is precisely about Union Jobs, and all the stealing that is concomitant with it.
Politicians will get paid, Unions will get paid, Government will get paid; taxpayers will get raped.
Just what the hell is it for? So the typical welfare recipient can shuttle quickly between two states to apply for, administer and arrange for doubled-dipped welfare checks....
Don't think I'm joking; this has been done before - a lot!
15
posted on
07/10/2012 10:57:05 AM PDT
by
Gaffer
(NOVEMBER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
To: Olog-hai
Just believe really, really, really, really hard that you will be in Philly from NYC and it will happen! They teach us that in school! You can do anything you believe you can!
16
posted on
07/10/2012 10:58:06 AM PDT
by
WKUHilltopper
(And yet...we continue to tolerate this crap...)
To: Olog-hai
Nobody should have to pay $336 million per mile for any railroad at all, even a subway line. I only meant that a train service should be financed by the people who benefit from it.
A federally funded train is unfair to the other 98% who have to pay but don't ride. AMTRAK is a federal welfare program for the East coast.
17
posted on
07/10/2012 10:58:09 AM PDT
by
Huebolt
(It's not over until there is not ONE DEMOCRAT HOLDING OFFICE ANYWHERE. Not even a dog catcher!)
To: moose07
Probably longer than that. France builds LGVs for a lot less than $20 million per mile. But we don’t even need a duplicate railroad; if the costs were kept under control (yeah, imagine that), it ought to cost a minuscule fraction in order to get average speeds into the triple digit range like they were talking back in the 1960s. Of course, nothing “out of the box” in Europe will be permitted to run in the USA thanks to the Federal Railroad Administration’s regulations regarding crashworthiness and other things . . .
18
posted on
07/10/2012 10:58:40 AM PDT
by
Olog-hai
To: Gaffer
Well, consider that the present-day Acela fare one-way between New York and Washington costs between $136 and $145 one-way. Not exactly geared towards lower-class welfare recipients, but more likely a different breed of recipient of federal welfare. (The highest fare on the old Metroliner from 1969, in 2012 dollars, works out to $79.84 one way.) The Acela fare between New York and Philadelphia is actually higher than between New York and Washington (checking Amtrak.com, I got a whopping $156 one-way).
19
posted on
07/10/2012 11:06:58 AM PDT
by
Olog-hai
To: Olog-hai
Cripes, if our gov’t wasn’t doing everything in its power to kill innovation and capitalism, by 2040 we ought to have the technology to BEAM someone from NY to Philadelphia in 37 milliseconds!
20
posted on
07/10/2012 11:08:29 AM PDT
by
bigbob
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