Posted on 11/09/2022 7:23:56 PM PST by ChicagoConservative27
President Joe Biden pledged to build a high-speed railway between Scranton, Pennsylvania, and New York City on Wednesday.
The president made his bold (and likely unrealistic) pronouncement during his post-midterm election press conference on Wednesday when recalling how a congressman in the state of Pennsylvania asked if his infrastructure plan would include a high-speed rail between the two cities.
“We can. First of all, it will make it a lot easier to take a lot of vehicles off the road, and we have more money in the pot now already out there that we voted for than the entire money that we spend on Amtrak, to begin with,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Bow much more has California spent on its high speed train from LA to SF compared to the budget of NASA from 1960-1970?First there's a little problem of "high speed trains" flying over mountains.
LA is in a valley.
If you want to take high speed rail the coastal infrastructure won't handle it.
The central valley is their chosen route.
SF to LA? You can only go as far as The Streets Of Bakersfield, then you have to take a bus over the Grape Vine/Ridgeroute to LA. Reverse that for going the opposite way.
They are doing the Andover line and refurbishing the tunnel
Are they going to be electric trains? Not Lionel ones like Biden played with; the ones that can go 225 miles like cars and then sit there overnight. The trip will be two days each way including recharging waits.
I think that is the tunnel with the ice in the middle year round
i believe that there is (at least) a plan to extend HSR from Bakersfield to Palmdale to Burbank...
The phrase “electric trains” usually refers to trains that run on electrified infrastructure, whether overhead wires or third rail.
There are no high-speed battery-electric trains, to be sure. Not to mention that’s a very old technology that has existed since the turn of the last century, like electric automobiles.
I know what you mean and old time interurbans, street cars and current style trains as in Pennsylvania and other Northeast states run on wires overhead.
There will have to be a forced transition to battery electric trains just as the new airplanes in the planning stage and semis and cars.
Once you quote the price of $300 for a one-way ticket...the enthusiasm usually drops like a rock.
Unless the state or fed folks throw some yearly cash into this....the ticket price will be so outrageous that it makes little sense to accomplish this.
Why? No on commutes or vacations in Scranton. Biden is insane.
That is a really cool and modern looking train for 1954!
As my son likes to say “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”
The Erie Lackawanna stopped that ferry service back on 11/22/1967. Another victim of punitive taxation and overregulation, never mind the government ordering railroads to keep firemen employed at full pay. NY Waterway started operating between Hoboken and Manhattan back in 1989, although not from the original ferry slips until 2011.
The electric trains that were used on the Lackawanna lines beginning in 1930 lasted in service through operation by Conrail and NJ Transit in 1984, which means they operated as electric trains for 54 years; however, they were originally built as steam-hauled cars, between 1912 and 1925, so the oldest of these cars could have been in service as long as 72 years, certainly on the rails for 59 years in the case of the newest. These days, electric railcars are designed to last a mere 20 years in service maximum.
ACF/Talgo IIs ran between New York and Boston on the New Haven RR’s John Quincy Adams and on the Boston and Maine’s Speed Merchant train (Boston to Portland ME) between the late 1950s to the early 1960s. A combination of undermaintained tracks and deviation from the original Talgo design (splitting the train cars into three sections joined by conventional wheel trucks) contributed to rough riding.
Similar trains ran in Spain for many decades, at speeds of 100 mph and faster. The Talgo III and later models are capable of changing track gauge, to run on both Spanish wide-gauge tracks and standard-gauge tracks. The Talgo 350 is capable of running at 220 mph.
With crime so bad this is another death trap. No Thanks.
Well, high speed rail worked in California... /s
There is an existing rail line that could be restored for service from Scranton to NYC. It would take billions and would not be high speed.
The problem has been that all the towns along the way want the train to stop in their town. If that happens, then the commute from Scranton to NYC would by 3+ hours and not attractive for commuters and it would compete with direct bus service as instead.
The second reason the Dems push this is if they can cater to NY commuters, many will move to Pennsylvania for lower cost of living than NY or NJ, turning the commonwealth more blue.
All aboard the Biden Express, non stop to Scranton PA.
I said all aboard. Oh well, the damn thing runs faster with no passengers anyway.
I’m in no hurry to get to Scranton.
This is a stupid idea which would be expensive and only serve a small number of customers. They are proposing using the abandoned Lackawanna cutoff which passes through rural towns in NW New Jersey and they will fight it tooth and nail due to noise, pollution and overdevelopment issues. The train line also goes right through Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and expect a fight about high speed trains going there. High speed rail is not really practical in these areas since they are hilly, the track makes numerous bends and has to travel through many small towns at grade. Once the train gets into the congested NE NJ rail network it will not be able to run at true high speed for at least the last 10-15 miles of the trip.
People and businesses are moving out of NYC and as remote work becomes more the norm, that trend will continue. What a waste of money.
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