Posted on 04/23/2010 11:21:29 AM PDT by Willie Green
Like the gleam on the tracks from an oncoming locomotive, high-speed rail transportation in the United States may be finally coming into sight. Before the end of the decade, rail backers promise, Americans will be traveling on bullet trains, the way Europeans and Asians have been doing for half a century. At speeds of up to 220 mph, high-speed rail will make it possible to travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco in less than three hours, or half the time it takes to drive. Tampa to Orlando will take less than an hour, or 35 percent faster than by car. You'll be able to get from Chicago to St. Louis in less time than it takes to fly -- after you factor in the hours spent getting to and from distant airports and the hassle of getting through security 90 minutes before your flight.
The myriad benefits of high-speed rail have long been apparent to anyone who has ridden Japan's Shinkansen trains or France's TGV. These so-called bullet trains are faster than driving, more comfortable and convenient for short distances than flying and, because they run on electricity, don't rely on foreign oil imports. Trains arrive in downtown city centers and are usually linked to public transit.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
[Not that facts should ever be permitted to get into the way of an argument supporting greater socialization of the US economy, but the federal government didn’t build interstate highways in the 1950’s. Superhighways in the 50’s were built by the states. The construction cost was financed through the sale of bonds into the private marketplace.]
Really? They might have built them, but according to this the funding was 90% FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly called the Interstate Highway System (or simply the Interstate), is a network of limited-access highways (also called freeways or expressways) in the United States. It is named for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who championed its formation. As of 2006[update], the system has a total length of 46,876 miles (75,440 km),[1] making it both the largest highway system in the world and the largest public works project in history.[2] The Interstate Highway System is a subsystem of the National Highway System.
While Interstate Highways usually receive substantial federal funding (90% federal and 10% state) and comply with federal standards, they are owned, built, and operated by the states or toll authorities.
In order for this to work, business travelers need to use it instead of flight.
Business commuters would probably find passenger rail travel a LOT more relaxing and convenient than short-hop air travel on trips of 150~600 miles. Seating accomodations are much more spacious, and there are fewer restrictions on carry-on luggage and briefcases. And Amtrak has started offering free WiFi service (while the airlines make you turn-off your electronic gadgets for fear of electrical interference).
In order to be of use to the business traveler, multiple trains would be needed on a route, and that could be prohibitively expensive to maintain and man the crew.
That's a pretty silly labor analysis considering that a passenger train can carry far more passengers than an airplane. And unlike planes, the carrying capacity can easily be adjusted simply by adding/removing cars.
Furthermore, it requires far more sophisticate skills to train a jetliner pilot than a train engineer. And the trains have much greater potential to be totally automated, while few people will ever want to board a pilotless plane.
Moscow was also has train bombing very recently. I’d say the attacks on trains vs planes has been about equal in recent years.
That makes a lot of sense.
I gladly pay for certain things in the federal budget that I will never utilize.
The problem is we are spending too much on programs hardly anyone will utilize. The answer isn't to duplicate this effort tenfold....especially when there is no constitutional authorization for FEDGOV to do this.
A fool and his money soon parted. 535 fools with somone else's money is a sight to behold.
I see that honesty and logic are qualities that elude you.
People don’t live in Tampa and commute to Orlando, and vice-versa.
Well give them a better way to commute and maybe they will.
BTW, you still haven't told me who's in all those cars on the interstate. If they aren't commuters, who are they?
There already is a rail line between Tampa and Kissimmee (3 miles from downtown Orlando). IT ISN’T USED!!
Doh!
That's why it needs to be upgraded to provide high-speed capability!
What a suprise - the weasel qualified his statement to exclude that act of clear sabotage.
[So, because fedgov was allowed to spend money on roads where powerful congessmen were located, we should allow them to spend even more money on building “high speed” rail where powerful congressmen are located? Even though government can’t profitably run the passenger trains they have now, a postal service, a bus line, a whorehouse, or a forced monopoly gambling business?]
No, I would be willing to spend some money where current traffic patterns show a monorial system would make sense. I don’t live in Miami (about 60 miles north), but I can tell you first hand that expanding the link from downtown Miami to points southwest of Miami are completely necessary. the ONLY way to travel via road is on US 1, which is horribly congested most of the day. There is no room to build more roads.
On a previous post I also mentioned Long Island as needing some traffic congestion relief.
There are SOME PLACES where NO MORE ROAD CONSTRUCTION IS POSSIBLE, but existing train lines can be extended and make a big difference.
And it would be nice if you at least admitted your criticism of me was factually wrong about who funded the roads in the 50’s.
US Electric Power Industry Net Generation, 2008
Union built, hooked up contractors, ‘remediation’ payoffs to everyone, and of course union train staff, all funded off Goldman Sac’s bonds.
Yeah. It will be low cost.
Boston’s MBTA buys concrete ties at twice the price that last half as long, or less, then wood ties. Union workers, contractors make out again. No one fired. Public non riders of supposedly ideal mass transportation/high density pick up the tab, as usual.
How many hostage crises, hijackings, or massive acts of sabotage have been carried out against trains in the U.S. (or using trains as weapons against, e.g., buildings) over the last fifty years?
fool:
Over the last 50 years? Probably very few. But then plane hijackings were non-existent altogether 50 years ago.
Well, what period of time is it more reasonable to evaluate? How realistic is it to examine statistics about the frequency of airliner hijackings vs. train sabotage for, say, the 1920's?
I cited the "last 50 years" because that would be the most representative period of time on which to base an informed decision.
Regards,
[There already is a rail line between Tampa and Kissimmee (3 miles from downtown Orlando). IT ISN’T USED!!
Doh!
That’s why it needs to be upgraded to provide high-speed capability!]
Willie, save the Homer Simpson stuff for the Daily Kos site.
The system isn’t used because there is no demand for it.
Just like Tri-Rail down my way, WHICH WAS UPGRADED OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, is not being used in great numbers, because the work travel patterns down here between Palm Beach and Miami, are not convenient by train.
But Miami expanding its Metrorail is a smart idea, becasue it does get used a lot. It just needs to expand further to catch up to the growth of the suburban sprawl.
Wrong, again!
It was a subway station.
Regards,
Oh...my mistake. HUGE differnce. NOT!
You dismissed discussions of the contemporary non-US attacks so what is the point of bringing this up again?
What drives your love of high speed taxpayer funded rail?
Nothing like being in a closed metal tube when your local bomber sets his vest/back pack off. England, Italy, Russia.Traveling in a closed metal tube is still faster and more comfortable than the saddle sores you'll get riding on an ass.
Donkey bomb kills 3, wounds 5 in Taliban birthplace Kandahar in S. Afghanistan
And a subway is not a train because...
On a previous post I also mentioned Long Island as needing some traffic congestion relief.
There are SOME PLACES where NO MORE ROAD CONSTRUCTION IS POSSIBLE, but existing train lines can be extended and make a big difference.
And it would be nice if you at least admitted your criticism of me was factually wrong about who funded the roads in the 50’s.
I copied and pasted diretly from your post regarding the the roadways in the areas of powerful congressmen. further another poster referenced and linked that fedgov fronted 90% of the financing.
Secondly, if it is so needed and profitable, private industries sould be lining up to invest and pay for it. Since they are not, the interest does not seem to be as great as you suggest.
Where I live, I can only get satellite internet. Same as most of my neighbors. Much of my banking needs to be conducted online. I don't expect you to pay for my convenience. If one of the cable carriers felt it was profitable to lay the cable and infrastructure, they would do so.
All of these programs are great when someone else is paying for them. In case people on here haven't realized, we are rapidly running out of other people's money, but the bills are still coming due.
Why don't we cut unecassary spending in the government, reduce the deficit and debt and lower taxes on the private sector. Then maybe private companies would be more willing to risk capital on building these railways everyone is talking about. Or maybe, just maybe the private sector will develop omething even etter that a plane, car, or train; something we can't even imagine right now. Believing government was the answer for everything got us into the position we are in now.
Everyone is all for reducing spending until it is their pet project.
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