Barack Obama Quote; Feb. 16, 2011
Posted on 02/11/2017 4:53:52 PM PST by repentant_pundit
Could Donald Trump be the president who brings high-speed rail to America?
The Obama administration spent nearly $10 billion to improve passenger rail service across the country. While it accomplished that goal to some degree, it did not build the faster trains passengers can ride in Europe, Japan and China.
Trains in other countries can travel 200 mph or more, but no train in the United States as yet travels faster than 150 mph. Most go much more slowly than that.
Trump has proposed a $1 trillion investment in U.S. infrastructure, and he has expressed interest in improving roads, bridges, airports and passenger trains.
The subject came up in a White House news conference Friday with Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe.
Through a translator, Abe said Trump would make “major-scale investments” in infrastructure, including high-speed rail.
He said Japanese technology could cut the travel time between Washington and New York to one hour from the current three.
Before a meeting with airline executives on Thursday, Trump had openly lamented the lack of high-speed rail in the United States.
“I don’t want to compete with your business,” Trump said, “but we don’t have one fast train.”
(Excerpt) Read more at mcclatchydc.com ...
Where is Willie Green?
Think he might resurface here on FR?
Hehe.
Barack Obama Quote; Feb. 16, 2011
That’s funny cuz he sure knows what trans means.
Exactly.
So many of my friends don’t even have to leave their home for work anymore-—they work remote, so having mass daily movement systems seems a real waste and just means government subsidy and control.
Of course, the trains are always efficient ways of corralling and collectivizing and controlling movements of the masses and great method of bringing people to FEMA camps or whatever.
The automobile and roads in America created the most freedom for the individual in the history of man and led to autonomy/agency like in no other country. Freedom for the Individual is such an America concept that is being wiped out of the Minds of little children who are controlled and programmed every minute of their day in ways that wasn’t possible prior to the 50s.
This “control” over the masses is a really psychopathic wet dream. The automobile and Henry Ford were so hated by the elites (Jews actually LOL) because it reinforced freedom and created a huge middle class and made collectivism (Jewish created concepts of communism/communes) seem boring and evil which they are, since those systems (worldview) destroy agency, thinking outside the box, and all Natural instincts.
One of the most dangerous times for a train is when braking just as a rain shower starts. The light sprinkling of water on the head of the rail mixes with the oil and grease resulting from passing trains, atmospheric pollution and flange greasing and it produces a lethal surface similar to that of an ice rink. As soon as the driver touches the brakes, the wheels lock and slide along the rails. The speedometer in the cab suddenly drops from 50 mph to 0 and you know there is nothing you can do. If you apply the emergency brake, more wheels lock further along the train and the slide just damages more wheels. If you release the brake, you won’t stop where you are supposed to. If you let things stay as they are, you won’t stop where you are supposed to anyway. You might just as well “drop the lot” and let the train stop where it will. At least everyone will hear all the air escaping from the brake pipe and see that at least you tried. The fact that the whole train set of wheels will have developed flats is not your concern at the moment (so sue me!).
Another bad time for sliding is early in the morning when the first train has to run through all the dew which has collected on the rail head overnight. Great care is needed to get the train from one end of the line to the other without overrunning at least one station. The same applies during the leaf fall season (as railways call autumn nowadays), when the slush of squashed leaves mixes with rain and oil to form a nice sliding mess on the rail. Of course, if there is heavy rain, the conditions are better because the water washes the rail head to some extent and reduces the risk of a slide.
Why do we get all these problems now? We never heard of “leaves on the line” in the 1950s and 60s. The answer is progress. As modern trains have got lighter, the reduced weight has reduced the adhesion available, so a slide becomes easier. Another reason is the change from cast iron brake blocks to composition blocks. Cast iron is heavy (they used 28 pounders when I had to change them) and it produces an inflammable dust which plays havoc on electrical equipment on the train and inside signalling equipment cabinets. A third reason is the shift from tread brakes to disc brakes. Tread brakes provide a nice scrubbing action on the wheel surfaces. Disc brakes don’t touch the wheel so the tread gets dirty and oily and slippery - first class slide material.
How can the problem be solved? A good question which has not yet been answered. There have been many attempts to give slide protection by automatically (i.e. without any action by the driver) releasing the brake on any wheel which starts to slide - not much better than letting the train slide, except that it does reduce flats. However, it does nothing to help the driver approaching closed level crossing gates as one discovered one night in south west London a few years ago. He demolished a Volkswagen minibus, if I remember correctly. Fortunately, no one was killed.
Another solution is - just that, a solution - of gunge put on the rails to clean them. Sandite is a popular brand in the UK, but it requires a special train to do it and a crew to crew it and it cannot be everywhere at once. Of course it is never there when you need it - first thing on a November morning between Rickmansworth and Chalfont, for example.
One final point - how do automatically operated trains cope with bad rail conditions? Well, most introduce a lower speed during wet or icy weather (e.g Singapore Mass Rapid Transit in a rain storm), some increase the braking distances on open sections of the line (London, Central Line) and some even turn over the driving to the drivers so that they can use their judgement to ensure that the train stops in the right places. It was the removal of such a procedure by a new manager which caused an accident a few years ago on the Washington DC metro (WMATA), in which a driver was killed.
“Willie Green left us too soon.”
ROFLMAO! He was a PITA, wasn’t he?
Willie Green hi-speed choo-choo memorial ping!
Uh...no thanks! I read them all in Real Time! ;)
There is a real push for a high speed rail between Houston and Dallas. We are told it’s private funded.
It will split many farms. They say that the cost is the same as flying. There seems to be no benefit and lots of people hurt.
We are told it’s not a done deal.....yet. But I have heard several times on TV that Trump is for the high speed rail between Houston and Dallas.
Say it isn’t so.
Pres. Trump should point to Jerry Brown’s high speed rail and say...ah..nevermind.
the greenies don't seem to understand air travel uses less fossil fuel per person per mile than the choochoo
No, fool, a bridge does not equate to high speed rail.
Easy fix....no maniacal murdering mozlems allowed. Vet them with Mohammed jokes.
D.on't
E.ven
L.et
T.hem
A.board
Sorry RATs (not) IT'S NOT A RELIGION!
there are very few places where high-speed rail makes sense. the government should only be involved as far as making it so private companies can do it with out subsidies. if it makes sense you don’t need government money. I live in California and the high speed rail here is one big con job so the political aleate can steal tax money.
Continents are just social constructs. Continental identity is fluid. Geography has nothing to do with it. Therefore: Transcontinental = (e.g.) N. America transitioning to S. America.
Did I get that right?
now yer talking... pebble bed train
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.
