Posted on 08/08/2014 9:45:19 AM PDT by jalisco555
WASHINGTON — High-speed rail was supposed to be President Obama’s signature transportation project, but despite the administration spending nearly $11 billion since 2009 to develop faster passenger trains, the projects have gone mostly nowhere and the United States still lags far behind Europe and China.
While Republican opposition and community protests have slowed the projects here, transportation policy experts and members of both parties also place blame for the failures on missteps by the Obama administration — which in July asked Congress for nearly $10 billion more for high-speed initiatives.
Instead of putting the $11 billion directly into those projects, critics say, the administration made the mistake of parceling out the money to upgrade existing Amtrak service, which will allow trains to go no faster than 110 miles per hour. None of the money originally went to service in the Northeast Corridor, the most likely place for high-speed rail.
On a 30-mile stretch of railroad between Westerly and Cranston, R.I., Amtrak’s 150-m.p.h. Acela hits its top speed — for five or 10 minutes. On the crowded New York to Washington corridor, the Acela averages only 80 m.p.h., and a plan to bring it up to the speed of Japanese bullet-trains, which can top 220 m.p.h., will take $150 billion and 26 years, if it ever happens.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
This in the New York Times?
Funny how it’s usually the EPA hindering large projects.
The writer is not complaining that money was wasted, but that it wasn’t wasted in the right way.
ESAD, Willie Green. There are few places in America with sufficient population density to justify fixed rail transportation. A separate freeway for buses would be a better approach: more flexible, more reliable, more capable of serving an entire region, and less subject to terrorism, traffic fluctuation, or strikes.
I’ve taken the high speed Ave train in Spain on several occasions. It’s fast, efficient and a very comfortable way to travel that country. I know it can’t be duplicated here and I’m grateful to the generous European taxpayers who helped subsidize my tickets, but it sure would be nice if we could do this without bankrupting ourselves. Oh, well.
11 BILLION DOLLARS that went into the UNION SLUSH FUNDS so they could give part of it back to the Democrats!!!
Obama’s critics simply don’t get it!
Purpose of the High Speed Rail project is not to build a high speed rail system.
The purpose of the High Speed Rail project is to spend taxpayer money and make Obama’s supporters richer.
Sure the Obama administration are incompetent managers but that is no more than a side note.
It is nice to see that the NY Slimes has taken note that Obama is a boob. But it is much too late.
Toot Toot...All aboard the fail train.
High speed rail doesn’t work anywhere except pissy lil countries the size of a single state.
For it to be cost effective the population has to be packed in like rats in a corn crib.
11 billion of our tax-payer dollars has gone into crony pockets, period.
There is a story this week of the government losing 700 Billion without a trace, hardly anyone noticed. Guess it went into Obama's stash.
The money is funnelled to leftists, leftist orgs, friends and family.
Setting the stage for a new POTUS who "can get things done" in 2017.
It doesn’t really matter if it takes me 4 hours by plane or 4 hours by train or 10 hours by car, it does not justify billions and billions and billions of dollars just so a few favored passengers can get somewhere faster... unless it’s Mars.
Oh, I know. That's why I'm grateful to the Europeans for helping me buy my ticket. I'm not advocating it here, just saying that it was a very pleasant experience.
Bingo!
like getting a ride in a limo while hitchiking
Well said.
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