Obama to call for $53B for high-speed rail

SFGate,com ^ | 2/8/11 | Julie Pace - AP

[NormsRevenge]

President Barack Obama is calling for a six-year, $53 billion investment in high-speed rail, as he seeks to use infrastructure spending to jumpstart job creation.

An initial $8 billion investment will be part of the budget plan Obama is set to release Monday. If Congress approves the plan, the money would go toward developing or improving trains that travel up to 250 miles per hour, and connecting existing rail lines to new projects. The White House wouldn't say where the money for the rest of the program would come from, though it's likely Obama would seek funding in future budgets or transportation bills.

[surfer]

Nuclear power plants, desalination plants...maybe? Gee lets not use common sense.

[FlipWilson]

But, but wait, Charles Krauthammer assured me that Obama is the comeback kid, getting things done, moving to the center.

[trebb]

Look for the real reason they want to increase the rails - make it possible to limit/deny the right to purchase/own evil, polluting, freedom-giving cars.

[12 Year Lurker]

There was an article recently on here that discussed the failure of the Chinese development of high speed rail. That it will never recover the expense. Wonder if the meeting the Chinese president and the recent developments with GE have anything to do with this decision? Will we fund a bailout for Chinese rail? 53 Billion is a drop in the bucket for a real national high speed system. It cost 2 billion just to run a light rail 17 miles through Houston and those were 2004 dollars.

A major scandal in the making?

The eight ball says “with all probability”.

[jacknhoo]

How’s that high speed rail you have in Massachusetts, workin’ out for ya! LOL!

[DarthVader]

Hey Zero how about zero?

[DarthVader]

Hey Zero how about zero?

[jacknhoo]

I have never heard Krauthammer say Obama is moving to the center...what I have heard him say is Obama is only putting on the “appearance” of moving to the center and not truly doing so.

[DaxtonBrown]

[An initial $8 billion investment ]

Investment? Hooohahaha

[jacknhoo]

Obama cannot confiscate all that land and isn't even planning to....hence, the RAIL WILL NOT BE HIGH SPEED!

High-speed rail in East? Not so fast.

(Everybody will be subsidizing a few wealthy elite, not be energy efficient, be extremely more expensive than ANY other form of transportation)

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dr-gridlock/2010/10/high-speed_rail_in_ne_not_so_f.html

And:

http://www.cato.org/dailypodcast/podcast-archive.php?podcast_id=852

[meyer]

It’s not the trains, it’s the tracks stupid.

It's not the trains or the tracks - it's the people. We don't want high-speed rail. And if we did, we'd voluntarily invest in it, not have the government STEAL our tax dollars to build it. If the government had any interest in allowing faster travel, they'd raise the speed limits. This has nothing to do with solving any problems, and EVERYTHING to do with controlling people.

[hosepipe]

As Sarah Palin said.. “Americas high speed rail to bankruptcy.”

[DManA]

Republicans need to follow the leadership of Ws. Governor Scott Walker on this.

[fantail 1952]

High Speed Rail

Ever hear of Pacific Electric? Los Angeles to San Bernardino (about 75 miles) in under two hours, with dozens of stops. LA to Long Beach in 40 minutes, dozens of stops. over 2,000 miles of electric railroads, finest interurban system in the world, built in the opening years of last century.

Built with private capital, ended up being a losing proposition.

During its 60 year lifespan, it showed a small profit....for about five years.

Similar stories throughout the entire country....

[outpostinmass2]

We don’t have high speed rail and never had it.

[outpostinmass2]

We don’t have high speed rail and never had it.

[longtermmemmory]

investment = waste of money = union bribe/corruption = boondoggle

This is no investment, it is just another word for tax increase.

(see “contribution”)

[jacknhoo]

"We don’t have high speed rail and never had it.

Exactly my point, you don't have (yet, supposedly one was built on the Northeast corridor) high speed rail.

Why don't you have high speed rail?!

Because the train has to run on OLD tracks that run through towns and road intersections, etc, where humans and livestock and cars come in proximity of the track or train and the tracks turn too sharp or are not strong enough for high speed.



They don't run on new ones built high above the ground...isolated and protected and strong and straight.



Why didn't they build new tracks?! Because they could not steal the property to do so and could not buy it...that would be huge lawsuits and legal battles and of course new costs.



Imminent domain is not the easy piece of pie you think it is. But, to socialists, it probably seems like nothing is out of the government's reach...you know those who have been raised in Massachusetts, Connecticut, California, etc. I sure am glad I left that atheistic socialist state of Massachusetts in 2008.

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Excerpt:

Acela Express (often simply Acela) is Amtrak's high-speed rail service along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) in the Northeast United States between Washington, D.C., and Boston via Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York.

Excerpt:

Acela Express trains are the only true high-speed trainsets in North America; the highest speed they attain is 150 mph (240 km/h), though they average less than half of that.

Excerpt:

FRA regulations do not permit any speeds above 150 mph (241 km/h) on tracks that are shared with freight and slower passenger trains regardless of circumstances; speeds above 150 mph (241 km/h) would require purpose-built dedicated track on a separate right of way.

The slowest section of the electrified NEC is the portion owned by Metro-North Railroad and the Connecticut Department of Transportation between New Haven, Connecticut and New Rochelle, New York. Trains here are limited to only 90 mph (145 km/h) on a 4-mile (6.4 km) stretch in New York State, and to 75 mph (121 km/h) between the New York state line and New Haven.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acela_Express

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High-Speed Rail Will Take Michigan Nowhere Fast http://www.mackinac.org/10890

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This is ALL about getting people "committed" to the Democratic (socialist) Party of America through their jobs...through their livelihood....who is going to be employed on these jobs? Union thugs!

[outpostinmass2]

Eminent not Imminent Never said it was easy just pointing out it used every day in this country to build highways. How much does that cost? The rail you refer to in the northeast was electrified from New Haven to Boston and then welded rail was implemented. Most of the restrictions on speed are because of the many old bridges the trains cross. The Acela actually handles curves quite nicely. Don't forget those same socialist are out building the interstate highway system. More union thug jobs.

[jacknhoo]

"Most of the restrictions on speed are because of the many old bridges the trains cross."

No, the restriction (even with completely rebuilt bridges and crossings would still be the law. High speed requires its own rail - unshared with other trains.

"Don't forget those same socialist are out building the interstate highway system. More union thug jobs."

We all witnessed just how well the public was served with the Big Dig unions, eh!

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The Mother of All Big Dig Boondoggles

http://michellemalkin.com/2010/09/08/the-mother-of-all-big-dig-boondoggles/



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UNION-ONLY BIG DIG PRICE TAG BALLOONS TO $22 BILLION ( originally budgeted cost = $2.8 billion )

http://www.abc.org/Newsroom2/News_Letters/2008_Archives/Issue_29/Union_Only_Big_Dig_Price_Tag_Balloons_to_22_Billion.aspx



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READ MORE ABOUT JUST HOW UNION THUGS WORK (And I used the term "work" loosely), here:

http://www.abc.org/search.aspx?search=Big+Dig&page=0