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Ideology doesn’t drive that train
Providence Journal ^ | 8-13-2014 | Froma Harrop

Posted on 08/13/2014 10:06:01 PM PDT by Citizen Zed

In Texas, a private company wants to build a bullet train joining Dallas and Houston. In California, the state is raising its own billions to create a very fast ride between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Two very different ways to fund high-speed rail, but they have one thing in common. They bypass the thousand-car pileup that is Washington politics.

Perhaps it’s time for fans of high-speed rail to let some air into their thought box. Perhaps they should stop looking to Washington for direction and money. There are several routes to this destination, and who cares which ideology drives the train?

The drawbacks in counting on federal help for this undertaking are several. One is that most Republicans in Congress remain philosophically opposed to writing checks for such infrastructure. Another snag has been the Obama administration’s failure to smartly guide the $11 billion already committed to the cause since 2009.

That money has reportedly been spent hither and yon, not focused on those densely populated regions where high-speed rail makes the most sense. In the Northeast corridor — where super-expensive Acela trains sell out, despite not being super-fast — scant high-speed money has arrived.

California Gov. Jerry Brown is now thinking, “The heck with Washington.” He says that obtaining additional money to build the rail line is “well within the capability of the state of California.”

(Excerpt) Read more at providencejournal.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: williegreen
Choo Choo!
1 posted on 08/13/2014 10:06:01 PM PDT by Citizen Zed
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To: Citizen Zed

It may not in Texas but it certainly does in ca.


2 posted on 08/13/2014 10:12:37 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
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To: Citizen Zed

From the article:
Yes, it is. In June, the Democratic Legislature agreed to fund the project out of the cap-and-trade program (for curbing carbon emissions). And in other good news, an appellate court recently overturned an earlier, lower court ruling forbidding California to sell $9 billion worth of state bonds for the project.


A few small things seem to have escaped the writer of idiotic article.

1. The project is now estimated to cost ~$100 Billion. So the $9B is a drop in the bucket. It’s only enough to build a train to nowhere between two tiny towns in the Central Valley.

2. The Appeal court ruling is being appealed to the CA Supremes. They can’t sell bonds with that appeal pending.

3. The Cap and tax program is also being challenged in court since it did not pass with the 2/3 majority required for a tax.

What is it about Leftists and trains?


3 posted on 08/13/2014 10:29:03 PM PDT by fifedom
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To: Citizen Zed
California Gov. Jerry Brown is now thinking, “The heck with Washington.” He says that obtaining additional money to build the rail line is “well within the capability of the state of California.”

He’s a liar.

California is BROKE!

But then so is Washington

4 posted on 08/13/2014 10:48:18 PM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: fifedom
What is it about Leftists and trains?

It is an excuse to spend lots of money and you can name train stations after big time politicians.

There is a train station in the middle of no where in West Virginia with Senator Robert Byrd’s name on it.

It is every petty politician’s dream to have a train station named after them.

5 posted on 08/13/2014 10:58:50 PM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: fifedom
If you just restrict it to running between SF and LA (less than 400 miles), then $9 billion is actually too much money, at about $24 million per mile.

Thanks to bizarre envirowacko rules, too, the centers of the two tracks are supposed to be 30 feet apart, which gives more than enough room to put two more tracks in between, even on normal “high speed rail” as built in Japan and elsewhere.

Leftists actually do not like trains. Back in the early 1960s, the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central compiled two graphics that compared government subsidy of airports and roads to how the government treated the railroads, who were trying to invest in increasing the speeds of intercity trains at the time. The railroads were still paying out of pocket for everything and were highly taxed and regulated at the time.
6 posted on 08/13/2014 11:54:22 PM PDT by Olog-hai
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