| track location — will it be sunken, at grade level, or elevated? — are among the issues
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Posted on 03/09/2011 6:53:08 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The writer of this is delusional. If ever there was a state that was on the leading edge of worshiping government and increasing government "authority" it's Kalifornia.
And increasingly, they appear to be questioning the High-Speed Rail Authority, which voters empowered in 2008 to issue $9.95 billion in bonds and build the nation’s largest such system.
Well didn't the same morons "empower" the state to borrow $10 bil that the taxpayers will have to pay back? This hardly seems "questioning" to me.
Opposition hasn’t reached critical mass — not yet
Kongress wouldn't kill Amtrak. 0 wants to push high speed rail, and Kali is spending $10 billion on this nonsense. And the author says opposition hasn't reached critical mass. wow. Such insightful analysis is not easy to come by.
They voted for it.
Impossible to feel a lick of sympathy for them.
As should all democrats.
| track location — will it be sunken, at grade level, or elevated? — are among the issues
|
Top 10 Reasons to Defund California High Speed Rail
http://againstcaliforniahsr.com/top-10-reasons-to-defund-california-high-speed-rail/
“Even the Amtrak Acela in the Northeast Corridor has no grade crossings. A train going 150mph would turn a school bus into a pancake if there were ever an accident. If they don’t have money for overpasses and underpasses at every crossing, the cost estimates are junk.”
You’re wrong on this one, Nick.
Between New Haven and Westerly (Rhode Island) there remain several grade crossings on Amtrak’s “Shore Line”, on which the Acela and other passenger trains run.
The areas in which the crossings exist, however, are not “high-speed” areas — we’re talking track speeds of, say, 75mph, tops. But the crossings ARE there.
In fact, on some of these crossings, the Amtrak operating instructions specify that the train’s horn is NOT to be used, except in an emergency. These crossings are equipped with special technologies that can detect the presence of obstructions and will set the train’s cab signals to a restrictive indication if the crossings are fouled.
But again, the crossings DO exist.
You are correct that there are no grade crossings on the Corridor between New York and Washington. They’ve all been removed.
That portion of the line between New York and New Haven had the crossings eliminated when it was constructed 1890-1915.
First, it’s nice to see a critical article about high speed rail that doesn’t ignorantly cite the first phase of construction as a ‘train to nowhere’.
Second, while there are serious questions about the financial viability of California’s high speed rail plans it needs to be noted that Southwest Airlines is behind much of the irrational hype against high speed rail because it threatens their profits. In Texas SWA ran a PR war against Texas’ high speed rail plan.
http://austinist.com/2006/08/01/mystery_train_the_texas_highspeed_rail_that_wasnt.php
I am pointing this out so some of you here on FR are aware of this and I admonish you to make sure you’re getting the facts, not a pile of spin from yet another SWA PR war.
I was unaware of the SWA/Texas thing, but I don't think SWA or any other airline is out of bounds for objecting to publicly funded rail projects that they must compete with. Of course, airlines have had their share of government support over the years, but when was the last time the feds or a state created a new airline out of whole cloth?
Don't get me wrong: I despise flying (irrational fear has increased with age; I really don't mind the inconveniences all that much) and would much prefer a ground based alternative. But I believe viable HSR is profitable HSR, and therefore the market should make that determination.
SWA certainly had an impact, but again, that's fair game. If you're Dunkin Donuts you don't just sit idly by while Starbucks plans to loot your business across the street.
I don’t believe the much deserved criticism of California’s HSR to be “a pile of spin”, based on “irrational hype” nor “ignorant.” The first phase of construction is indeed a train from nowhere to nowhere. The project is not financially sound and I welcome all opposition, whether from SWA or other sources. In fact, I encourage more of it. Simply put, Prop1A should be repealed and the HSRA abolished.
The thing is that SWA is not openly advocating against high speed rail, they hired a PR firm to run a spin (read: misinformation) campaign against it.
These days that means the likelyhood of a poster on this site being a shill for a PR firm is pretty high.
While I am all for addressing legitimate issues with high speed rail funding I am rather irritated by some of the BS like on that ‘ten reasons not to like hsr’ site. The notion that the first phase of construction “will lose money” is a non-sequitor. It’s like saying that no one should build a skyscraper because the first phase, the foundation, won’t house anything and it’ll just cost money.
No sh*t, really?
On line with this, without SWA spending millions to shut down a privately financed system in Texas they made it damn near impossible to get a privately funded system anywhere else. So then they turn around and say only privately funded systems should be built when they also work hard to shut those down, too.
I don’t like being lied to. Even when the lies come from a firm I like.
BUMP! What you said.
The diversion of funds allocated for a specific project for individual states which would be administered by those individual governors but after consideration refused by those governors in states such as Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida ,shoukd be returned to reduce the national debt unless that diversion is approved by those individual governors. Not diverted to Illinois and Califoenia,
In fact these allocations do not appear to address AMTRAK existing problems in right of way allocation and track improvements to existing routes used by AMTRAK. Namely the Sunset Limited in Florida whcih has washed out sections due to hurricane Katrina, and the Empire Limited where low lying sections of track that are subject to floodding in Wisconsin.
For a lighter look at the subject checkout
http://www.theusmat.com/natldesksatire.htm
Not sure if it is Florida or Mississippi/Alabama missing sections. If not replaced, the train would have move inland and compete with CSX freight.
As far at the Empire Builder, the track subject to flooding is a rising inland lake in North Dakota. If it goes another 1 or 2 feet higher, the train will be routed on a BNSF freight route.
There are a lot of things that Amtrak could do to decrease operating subsidies. Unfortunately, they require decisions by the Amtrak board which seems paralyzed and are subject to the usual government delays and in some cases union intransigence. As a quasi-government agency the bureaucracy often wins. And Amtrak has it's share of scandals as the inspector general's departure and payoff, and recent departure of Lorraine Green to the Washington DC mayor's office shows.
The washed out Sunset Limited sections are probably in Bama and as far as I know it’s still not scheduled to take the route you suggested. The section for the Empire Builder I mentioned is where the Wisconsin river about every two years floods the track and the nearby X-way. Thats roughly between Portage and Mauston WI.
AMTRAK undser those conditions re-reoutes the Seattle run to Milwaukee/Chicago at Winnona MN and visa versa and passesnger are bussed to those missing stops along the route at a greater expence and a 5 hr (25mph) timeline.
Point is these problems weren’t addressed when they made these allocations. All these were, were whistled stops on the incompetent high speed express.
It makes no sense. California is broke. For a fraction of the money, California can build new freeways and upgrade its existing road network which promises an immediate return to almost everyone who uses it. High Speed Rail won’t ever deliver on that and political projects are always a disaster. This thing is not going to be built, not in CA, not in FL or elsewhere in this country. Other transportation users shouldn’t be forced to subsidize a transportation system that at best will serve only a small market segment. HSR is not going to be economically viable to build and operate in the United States, period.
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What kind of nonsense is this? You mean they don't know? No country builds high speed trains with grade crossings. Even the Amtrak Acela in the Northeast Corridor has no grade crossings. A train going 150mph would turn a school bus into a pancake if there were ever an accident. If they don't have money for overpasses and underpasses at every crossing, the cost estimates are junk.