Posted on 06/07/2015 5:43:05 PM PDT by BradtotheBone
While debating proposed cuts to Amtraks budget, Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) argued that the government subsidized train system is necessary, especially during disasters.
What is it - that we dont support transportation infrastructure? Brown said on the House floor Thursday. When we had 9/11 Amtrak was the only entity that was moving people. When we had Katrina Amtrak. We had over 3,000 people to die because they couldnt move around the area.
According to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 1,833 people died in relation to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Amtrak had stopped service to New Orleans prior to Katrina reaching the area.
We need a train that leaves New Orleans to go to Orlando and on down to Miami that is the future, Brown continued.
Amtrak offered passenger service on The Sunset Limited line from New Orleans to Orlando until 2005, when Katrina damaged the rail lines. The tracks have since been repaired but service to Orlando has not been restored.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
Nagin is in prison, where he belongs.
He did not have more advanced warning than anyone else about Katrina. and I’m not sure when his family evacuated, but I see no reason why his family should not have evacuated.
Even though I sit on some of the highest land in the city, I evacuated two days before the storm when there was a 33% chance Katrina would hit the city.
I made the right bet, but far too many people trusted the Corps of Engineers’ levees and did not evacuate.
They lost.
No need to: You set up platforms at each town where passengers want to board the train.
In the small towns, leave the platforms mostly unmanned, save for a ticket booth and a guard.
Since the train does NOT stop at this particular platform, one can signal the train in an electronic manner, using a wireless network (public cel phone, private wireless network, &c.).
One can even put data services along the third rail of the track—”Power line data carrier” is what the eggheads (like me) call it.
With repeaters placed along the side of the tracks, this method can also be used to provide Internet services to passengers on the train.
The train is signalled either a) when the ticket is issued/paid for, or b) when the departure time is reached.
Furthermore, there may not be a need to place a ticket booth at each platform; a display showing the current path of the train, and a small electronic signalling buzzer could suffice.
Passengers buy their tickets on the train.
See? A high-speed train may yet be possible—if no one is signalling the train, the engineer can skip over the towns at full speed.
While I do NOT support such a waste of money in the first place, when I got around to this article, my engineering brain set off—once started, it does not stop until a solution is reached :-)
Trains are, in most cases, a 19th Century solution to 21st Century problem.Exactly what problem would that be?
Would somebody remind Dumba$$ that we allegedly spent almost a trillion dollars on infrastructure.
“New Orleans was built below sea level prior to American Revolution.”
IIRC, New Orleans was originally built on the high ground, which was/is in the shape of a crescent, hence “Crescent City.”
In the context of this thread, moving people around.
While there are certain areas of high population density in the US where they might make sense, NOLA to Orlando is not one of them.
There was sufficient warning. I specifically recall President Bush waiting and waiting for the incompetent governor to declare an emergency so he could act with additional resources. As a Florida resident, we know several days before when we’re in the cone of probable landing. They had that. As you said, many bet against the warnings. The political infrastructure in the state and city also fell well short of acceptable preparation. Warnings were given, but it was later than it should have been and all hands were not on deck to support the evacuations.
While there are certain areas of high population density in the US where they might make sense,Yea, that's why every profit making RR has passenger trains "moving people around". < /sarcasm >
The hit Monday morning and on Friday, Katrina was in the middle of the Gulf with 110 mph winds. We we watching it, but not too concerned.
Saturday morning Katrina was 150 mph.
In all 90% of the city did evacuate before the storm, and those 10% made the wrong bet.
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