OBAMA TO ANNOUNCE $8 BILLION HIGH-SPEED RAIL PLAN AFTER STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH

(AP) via CNS NEWS ^ | January 27, 2010 | Julie Pace, AP

[Cindy]

"Obama to Announce $8 Billion High-Speed Rail Plan After State of the Union Speech" Wednesday, January 27, 2010 By Julie Pace, Associated Press

SNIPPET: "Washington (AP) - A day after delivering a State of the Union address aimed at showing recession-weary Americans he understands their struggles, President Barack Obama intends to award $8 billion in stimulus funds to develop high-speed rail corridors and sell the program as a jobs creator.

Obama and Vice President Joe Biden plan to announce grants for 13 major corridors during a town hall meeting in Tampa, Fla., Thursday..."

[taildragger]

The song from "The Talking Heads" "road to nowhere" can be re-written to the "train to nowhere"....

http://www.elyrics.net/read/t/talking-heads-lyrics/road-to-nowhere-lyrics.html

[kinsman redeemer]

It would be worth it.

IF the train runs to Nigeria AND he’s the only passenger.

[An.American.Expatriate]

I don’t know how he does it

But he lives like a king

And he dallies

And he gathers

And he plucks

And he shines

And when the man dances

Certainly, boys

What else?

The piper pays him!

Yes sir, yes sir

Yes sir, yes sir

When the man dances

Certainly, boys

What else?

The piper pays him!

Yessssir, Yessssir

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

probably run them from dem city to dem city with no stops in republican land.

They will want some of the pork to go to swing states too.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

You’re probably right. However, ALL I see on this forum is a lot of talk and no action. So many seem to disagree with government policty (that includes all government, not just 0) but little will to take decisive action to do something about it.

[tanknetter]

Oh great, another rail system that we can subsidize for the next hundred years.

Word.

I live in DC, and our tinkertoy Metro system is pretty much collapsing around us. Poorly designed (non-standardized components like the railcars, two sets of parallel tracks instead of three, etc) and maintained (but the union employees have one of the best sweetheart contracts in the country), they're now in the process of building a 23-mile extension onto a system they can't even maintain that will result in a longer and more costly commute for people that actually use it.

[facedown]

WPA

[concerned about politics]

"Obama to Announce $8 Billion High-Speed Rail Plan After State of the Union Speech"

After he lies to the nation about a spending freeze, he's going to throw an $8 billion dollar bone to his buddy at GE.
Be careful what you vote for, America. Ignorance got you .....Oboma.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Well, that should get us dissenters to the ovens neatly and efficiently. *Rolleyes*

[Lazamataz]

I actually like this idea.

Shout out to Willie.

[Locomotive Breath]

I recently took the TGV in France from Dijon to Paris. It was a heck of a lot easier than flying. High speed rail in the crowded northeast makes sense in comparison to serving those areas by airplane. The problem is that you’ll never obtain the needed corridor in which to run it. The time for that was 50 years ago. Today you’d have environmental and other NIMBYs tying it up for another 50 years. Whose land to they think they’re going to condemn for that corridor anyway? You can’t run high-speed trains on the existing rights of way. You’ve also got to get rid of all the at-grade crossings.

[cmj328]

If $timulus wasn’t a total prefabricated lie, we could have had 100 of these projects. Where did the money go?

[cbkaty]

ALL I see on this forum is a lot of talk and no action

Apparently you are not in the Houston area...we have waged a fierce battle to stop rail and it's tentacles....unfortunately, the democrat supporters control the local government (elections have consequences).

....In this bizarro World where profit/loss is irrelevant....only feelings count and visions of grandure...along with "follow the money" contracts..

[eeevil conservative]

Is this part of the spending freeze?

[GeronL]

A bbig white elephant... waste of taxdollars...

this is a fake spending freeze

[SoFloFreeper]

This is great news. So MANY PEOPLE in Florida were DEMANDING a high speed rail from Tampa to Orlando. Finally, thank GOD, it will be built, thanks to our glorious Lord and Savior BHO.

(off sarcasm)

[GeronL]

The economy isn’t bad because of talk, its going down because this government is punishing investment and spending us into a debt load that can never be repaid.

[CedarDave]

Comments by me made on an earlier thread:

Billions that we don't have to spend. The taxpayers are catching on, even in Massachusetts. They understand that deficit spending doesn't create jobs but threatens them.

BTW, in NM Governor Richardson's half-billion dollar Rail Runner commuter train is 3/4 million dollars in the red and the local agency has appealed to the state for help or will sharply curtail service. Fat chance of the former as the state faces a big budget deficit itself due to Richardson increasing state employees by 40% during his term and at the same time his environmental employees are doing their best to shut down the oil and gas industry, which produces the lions share of the revenues.

As for the Rail Runner, the fares are absurdly low -- round trip FULL fare (200 miles) is only $9 while other comparable transit systems would charge at least twice that. But since the train is not that well patronized (except for non-commuter weekend service) they are unlikely to raise the price as it would drive away the few that actually ride.

And hardly anyone pays FULL fare — discounts for the usual (students, seniors, handicapped) plus if you buy tickets on line or travel on weekends it’s down to $6 round trip.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2436717/posts

[CedarDave]

These trains never pay for themselves. They are always boondoggles and make work projects for construction unions. Then the people who eventually run the trains are ALWAYS GUBBERMINT WORKERS! More stooges on the government payroll for taxpayers to support because like I said -—these trains never pay for themselves

In New Mexico Richardson and the Rats paid a half-billion dollars of state funds (diverted from necessary road projects) to building the commuter train from ABQ to Santa Fe FOR state workers. That's right, the cost of living in Santa Fe is so high that they live in ABQ and the train was built for their convenience. Last legislative session one legislator introduced a bill that would require all state workers to ride the damn thing -- didn't pass.

See my comments above on the problems it has paying for itself (farebox recovery is tagged at 14% of O&M and it isn't even making that).

[massgopguy]

NO, next stop “Willowby”.