Posted on 07/27/2010 6:33:59 AM PDT by MichCapCon
Michigan leaders who are enamored with building new light-rail passenger lines should look to Greece's experience with its railway system. The New York Times reports that Greece's Hellenic Railways is bleeding red ink at a rate of $3.8 million per day. The total debt of the Greek railway system has increased to $13 billion, or roughly 5 percent of Greece's gross domestic product. Greek government officials who are interested in selling a stake in the state railway system may have difficulty finding a buyer - the Greek rail system pays three times as much for interest payments on its debt as it takes in on revenues.
Light passenger rail systems are a darling of urban planners and environmentalists who share a utopian dream of separating people from their cars. Never mind that light rail systems lose money almost everywhere they are built, requiring taxpayer subsidies to keep them operating. Michigan taxpayers are subsidizing Amtrak at a rate of $7.3 million dollars a year to provide daily service on lines linking Grand Rapids to Chicago and Port Huron to Chicago...
(Excerpt) Read more at michigancapitolconfidential.com ...
MI ping
The Agenda 21 new light-rail passenger line is bleeding red ink at a rate of $3.8 million per day. That’s not good Willie!
And anyone who opposes it is a RACIST!
Yeah, but they’re cool, and guys with model railroads in their basements like ‘em.
GREEN WILLIE are you listening? It has not worked yet.
Light rail only works in large cities like NY, Chicago, and Boston, where you have a centralized work location, and well defined ‘bedroom communities.’
Michigan doesn’t have such a community layout, so there is no real demand for light rail that busses cannot serve more efficiently.
The only argument for a light rail system I’ve heard that made any sense was an East Lansing-Ann Arbor corridor train that would allow students at U-M and MSU to take classes at each other’s universities, but distance education has made even that use of rail obsolete.
I have to say Willie, you do come across as a one-FReeper assault on capitalism through the dialectic of Light Rail.
A rail link centered in Grand Rapids, that had stops in Muskegon, Grand Haven, Allendale, Holland/Zeeland, Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor, and Lansing might actually get some use.
But I don’t want the government, especially the one running Michigan, to have anything to do with it.
guys with model railroads in their basements like ‘em....
HEY...I got a model railroad in my basement yet still loathe the whole light rail movement!!!!
But, I get your point. :)
Sorry, I did not meant to paint with a broad brush.
It’s just that when I picture Willie, that’s where I see him. He’s way to obssesed with the train thing.
The other problem is that there need to be jobs to which people can commute back and forth.
Well, I used to have one in my basement. Now it is in my spare bedroom.
Basements in Central Florida are extremely rare.
At any rate, two of the six trains I run are passengers and they are mostly empty too.
As a train lover whose roots go back to my grandfather being one of the first engineers for the ACL's "The Champion" streamliner from NYC to Miami, High Speed Rail is not something I would ever choose as a form of "have-to" transport. And certainly not as a form of "want-to" transport.
Passenger trains now are used by people who have the time and money to ride them.
And that is the point. People "ride" passenger trains. They do not "use" them.
They are inherently inefficient modes of transport.
That is why the first 5 things on my Bucket List are all train trips. I have never had the time to do them. And when I finally do have the time, I do not wish to zoom past the countryside in a "Wham, Bam, Thank you Tram" fashion.
I would sure like to see a detailed map of where they plan for this rail system to go. I’m sure they’ll want to run a dedicated light rail line along the line that runs down the I-94 corridor.
I don’t think many people will get on board with the fantasy when they see that a couple dozen small towns will have to be wiped off the map to do it. Little towns like Grass Lake grew around the track and the whole downtown area is within a couple hundred feet of the railway. Also there’s the fact that nearly every little town along the track has spent big bucks preserving historic rail depots and other buildings that are closer to the track than could ever be built today.
We had light rail in Michigan. Back in the 1800’s. The old grade is still visible by my house. Why do people think we need to regress.
I have to say Willie, you do come across as a one-FReeper assault on capitalism through the dialectic of Light Rail.
As a conservative Christian, I consider it my moral obligation to oppose the malicious, predatory avarice of market libertarianism.
Unbridled capitalism is just as abusive of the human spirit as communist totalitarianism.
My house sits right on top of an old railroad bed and the street I live on is called railroad street.
If they want me to move they’ll have to kill me to do it.
Who would you suggest be put in charge of putting the bridle on capitalism?
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