Posted on 07/15/2008 8:47:44 AM PDT by mowowie
U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry is taking aim at the Acela bullet train, saying the 8-year-old line meant to zip passengers between Boston and Washington is riddled with speed and safety issues that have thrown its swift mission off track.
“Are you kidding? That train can go 150 miles an hour, (but) it goes that for, what, a couple of miles?” Kerry scoffed. “I want America to have a first-rate high-speed rail system. A high-speed rail that really lives up to the name and gets people there in the time that we ought to be aiming for.”
Kerry plans to file in two weeks a $1 billion bill that will target out-of-date bridges, tunnels and tracks that prevent the train from hitting its 150-mile-per-hour maximum and getting commuters to their destinations faster.
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonherald.com ...
Har!!!
As long as the price of a ticket pays all the expenses, I have no problem with it. But when it is almost entirely subsidized by taxpayer funds, I have a problem with that. You want to travel from city to city, why should it be on my dime? Pay for your own dang travel.
What a fricken boondogle that would be. Seriously, how many people do you think would actually take a train from coast to coast? What do you think the cost of the ticket should be? Okay, how many stations should be along the route? Fine the total cost of such an animal would be in the trillions of dollars. But hey, as long as Virginia has a train to ride, we should break the bank of every taxpayer.
Such shortmindedness it baffles me - sorry to rant, but your comment was idiotic.
It isn’t as though the airlines don’t receive subsidies from the government as well - they just aren’t quite as overt.
People are not going to switch from flying or driving to the train just because the train time has gone from 3.5 hours to 2.5 hours.
Cost and not speed is the factor here.
Amtrak (dare to ride the rails) is a worthless. At least the Europeans take their transportation seriously. There is so much infighting/personal agendas in congress that nothing will ever get done. BL
John F***ing Kerry is a Total Moron, a Total Idiot, and an Absolute Traitor and Hanoi’s Premier War Hero! He also blew up his butt with rice kernals trying to take a coward’s route outa Nam:-( But he was the best the demorats had to offer in 04! How Pathetic!
The only ones who take the train that far want it to go 50 MPH so they can enjoy the view from domed cars.
They look upon it as a cheaper version of the American Orient Express.
I agree with everything he said in this article and it surprised me. There’s no arguing with these:
- Currently the Acela train takes about 3 hours to get to New York, while a bus ride takes about four hours.
- The train only hits its top speed of 150 miles an hour for about 18 miles in Massachusetts and Providence.
I’m happily surprised that Kerry has apprehended the details. However, since this train is under Amtrak’s control, then Kerry might as well not speak at all. If he really would like to see us have a super-train, he should encourage Amtrak to become private.
Maybe he’s trying to get off the Small Business Committee and get back on the committee that liberals think has cachet - the Foreign Relations Committee. Good luck, Johnboy.
You, sir, obviously do not know what you are ranting about.
There’s so much to criticize kerry for that I think it’s a waste to criticize him for not being at work more often. The less he votes, the better it is. That’s why I’m happy for our money to be abused so this twit can permit himself a trip to the World Finance Cmte. meeting in Davos, Switzerland or whatever other cmte. meeting in Durban, S. Africa.
Run it through the Boston Tunnel.
“Cost and not speed is the factor here.”
yep...plus being able to get up and walk to the snack car and get a cup of coffee is a lot better than being stuck on the Jersey Turnpike...btw I hear the NYC to Washington DC run is adding more cars and is approaching the break even point now....of course, that route has the advantage of being very high density and many Amtrak routes are not.
I think he was in Vietnam.
“Yep, I love riding the trains...”
there’s a lot of us that do...my wife and I went on a steam train day tripper a while back and it was packed....and it wasn’t even fall foliage season...
When I drive down to DC I leave at 4 am.
The Turnpike is empty and most workers in the sleepy little town of DC don't have to be at work until 9 am, so I don't have much trouble inside the Beltway at 7:30.
Key quote from article (and not from ketchup boy):
“Straightening the tracks along the heavily developed
eastern rail would trigger many eminent domain
takings, however.”
Train tech can do 300 mph, no problem.
But not on the NEC.
Attempting to straighten the ROW would provoke a
BANANA revolt. So what is Kerry on about, anyway.
_______
Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone
When my Grandfather was engineer of the Atlantic Coast Line's first diesel engine train "The Champion" in 1939, he used to run it at 105MPH from Richmond to Florence, SC. Before that he ran it on steam in an R-1, 4-8-4 and covered it in less than 3 and a half hours.
ACL had articulated rails and double track for most of the route.
The entire route from NY to Miami took 25 hours. In 1988, I took it from NYC to Jesup, GA and it took 35 hrs.
Why doesn’t he pony up some of his ole’ lady’s money for this deal? I guess it’s just so much easier to spend our money on these boon-doggels.
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