High-speed rail is dead in America. Should we mourn it?

The train fucking sucks. I traveled between DC and Boston regularly and wouldn't take a train if Miles was paying for the ticket. High speed rail is a boondoggle. The mismanagement fraud and waste that would accompany the project, not to mention the cost inflation driven by the unions around here, make it a welcome and refreshing change that the project was killed. Remember how efficient the Big Dig was $20 Billion dollars later?

How's that looking to you?
 
HSR creates jobs. Thousands of jobs. My printing company is in Sacramento. We worked with two large consulting firms this past summer printing the Environmental Impact Reports for the first leg between Fresno and Merced.

I don't give a rats ass how much the damn thing is projected to cost. All I know is this project has helped keep the doors open and I hope it continues for years!
Give it up, man, you're talking to the same crowd that says Government funded projects don't create jobs but a Government funded military does.
 
To each their own. I take the train from DC to NYC about once a month and if I had to drive or fly, I just wouldn't go.

And what would traffic be like if all those people got off the trains and drove?
 
The train fucking sucks. I traveled between DC and Boston regularly and wouldn't take a train if Miles was paying for the ticket. High speed rail is a boondoggle. The mismanagement fraud and waste that would accompany the project, not to mention the cost inflation driven by the unions around here, make it a welcome and refreshing change that the project was killed. Remember how efficient the Big Dig was $20 Billion dollars later?

How's that looking to you?

So HSR wouldn't be good because you personally don't like rail (no reason given), and because you don't like other things totally unrelated to HSR?
 
So HSR wouldn't be good because you personally don't like rail (no reason given), and because you don't like other things totally unrelated to HSR?

I'm not sure HSR would be practical in the Northeast Corridor. We have the Acela and the area is so congested, it rarely gets up to 100 mph.
 
I'm not sure HSR would be practical in the Northeast Corridor. We have the Acela and the area is so congested, it rarely gets up to 100 mph.

Another reason it can't is because it is on older tracks.

HSR would work here in FL.
 
HSR creates jobs. Thousands of jobs. My printing company is in Sacramento. We worked with two large consulting firms this past summer printing the Environmental Impact Reports for the first leg between Fresno and Merced.

I don't give a rats ass how much the damn thing is projected to cost. All I know is this project has helped keep the doors open and I hope it continues for years!

Ha Ha. Exactly. Your job was to print the EIS - a worthless waste of time demanded by the Sierra Club and other environmental groups. BTW, how many trees did you kill printing for two weeks straight. See the irony. This is why the capital side of these projects always takes twice as long as it should and they always go over budget.
 
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The train fucking sucks. I traveled between DC and Boston regularly and wouldn't take a train if Miles was paying for the ticket. High speed rail is a boondoggle. The mismanagement fraud and waste that would accompany the project, not to mention the cost inflation driven by the unions around here, make it a welcome and refreshing change that the project was killed. Remember how efficient the Big Dig was $20 Billion dollars later?

How's that looking to you?
The Big Dig was privatized. THAT is when it encountered massive cost overruns.
 
Travelling by High Speed Rail from London to Paris, including some trains direct to EuroDisney, is quicker and more comfortable than travelling by air, allowing for travel to and from the airports and check-in times.

It works in Europe because distances between major conurbations are shorter and road travel is expensive (gas taxation) and difficult in city centres.

It might have worked in the US IF the US government had started decades ago. Passenger train travel in the 1930s was comfortable but the investment in improving the track and trains never happened. If there had been an extensive network of high speed lines running at 200 mph then going by train and hiring a car at your destination city would have been attractive.
 
Driving from Sacramento to Los Angeles takes 7 to 8 hours. Flying is 90 minutes, plus the hassle before and after is a pain, and it's expensive.

I could take HSR with no hassle and be there in 2 1/2 hours. I could walk down the the bar and have a few drinks while traveling at 220mph:D
 
Driving from Sacramento to Los Angeles takes 7 to 8 hours. Flying is 90 minutes, plus the hassle before and after is a pain, and it's expensive.

I could take HSR with no hassle and be there in 2 1/2 hours. I could walk down the the bar and have a few drinks while traveling at 220mph:D

I go to NYC for a nice dinner and to visit the real Italian Deli's. I couldn't imagine trying to get on a plane with bags full of cured meat products.
 


Acela service is good. I took it up to Beantown and it was faster than flying ( when you add in the time to drive to and from the airport plus the necessity to go through TSA security) or driving— and it was relaxing. I could get up and stretch my legs, read a book and the seat was nice and roomy. Plus, I didn't have to worry about the lunatics with driver's licenses in places like Northern New Jersey or the Rotten Apple or Beantown.


It is more expensive but, in some ways (see above), it's worth it.



The Froggie TGV is almost scary; stuff outside the window is actually blurry.

 
I'm not sure HSR would be practical in the Northeast Corridor. We have the Acela and the area is so congested, it rarely gets up to 100 mph.


It's not the congestion that's the problem; it's the curves in the right-of-way that limits speed.

 
Ha Ha. Exactly. Your job was to print the EIS - a worthless waste of time demanded by the Sierra Club and other environmental groups. BTW, how many trees did you kill printing for two weeks straight. See the irony. This is why the capital side of these projects always takes twice as long as it should and they always go over budget.

You cannot possibly think that there is no good reason for an EIR, can you?
 
Ha Ha. Exactly. Your job was to print the EIS - a worthless waste of time demanded by the Sierra Club and other environmental groups. BTW, how many trees did you kill printing for two weeks straight. See the irony. This is why the capital side of these projects always takes twice as long as it should and they always go over budget.

I could care less how many tress went into these reports. For every one they cut down, 10 more are planted. And like I said, who gives a rats ass what the cost is. The checks are coming in and I don't have to lay off any staff.

What makes this any different than the freeway projects 50+ years ago?
 
I assumed we were talking about passenger rail. Forgive me for not making the distinction. Soooo, now that we've cleared that up. No passenger rail service is self supporting.

No, it isn't. However, if Congress would do away with the rules that forbid passenger cars to be attached to freight trains, the various rail companies could very well make a decent profit from offering passenger service.

But that is not going to lead into high-speed passenger rail.
 
It's not dead. Something has to exist before it can did and HSR never got off the ground in the states and likely won't until/unless gas goes through the rough and people literally can't afford to put gas in their cars anymore.
 


I'm fairly certain that Amtrak makes money in the Northeast Corridor.


Unfortunately, the Congresscritters force Amtrak to operate in the rest of the country where they lose more than they make in the Northeast.

 
To each their own. I take the train from DC to NYC about once a month and if I had to drive or fly, I just wouldn't go.

And what would traffic be like if all those people got off the trains and drove?

I believe the occupancy rate of passenger vehicles is about 1.1. So you can figure that every passenger you see on a bus or train is one lesss vehicle you have on the road.

Part of the rationale of funding public transit though it's value is hard to determine.
 
It's not dead. Something has to exist before it can did and HSR never got off the ground in the states and likely won't until/unless gas goes through the rough and people literally can't afford to put gas in their cars anymore.

I guess you're did.
 
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And that is relevant to what?

Ishmael
 
I could care less how many tress went into these reports. For every one they cut down, 10 more are planted. And like I said, who gives a rats ass what the cost is. The checks are coming in and I don't have to lay off any staff.

What makes this any different than the freeway projects 50+ years ago?

50 years ago, there were no EISs, EAs or CEs. Basically, there was no paperwork or environmental to deal with. Look, I actually support rail in principle. It's the implementation I have a problem with. The environmentalists and the beaurecrats hold the process hostage (see Keystone XL). Then, there are the DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise) goals and the union prevailing wage requirements. It's all just a big mess. I work in transportation, and I could build three local projects for the cost of one with federal funding and do it three times faster. The solution, however, is easy - block grants to the states. Unfortunately, the environmentalists, beaurecrats and politicians aren't going to give up that kind of power and largess without a fight.

Then you still have to deal with the ongoing operations and maintenance costs. Like I said before, there is not a single self supporting rail system anywhere in the U.S. today.

I'm glad businesses were able to survive, but it's not sustainable.
 
It adds to his post count.

I suppose.

Not one high speed rail system in the world is making money, not even breaking even.

Amtrak just received $450 million from congress to improve 24 miles of track that would increase the speed of the train from DC to NY to reduce the time of the trip by a little over a minute. Or to put it another way, it will cost the taxpayer approx. $4.5 million per second.

I'm wondering how much they'll be able to increase the fares, "We're now 1 1/2 minutes faster!!!!!" to offset the taxpayers investment on a system already losing money?

Ishmael
 
I suppose.

Not one high speed rail system in the world is making money, not even breaking even.

Amtrak just received $450 million from congress to improve 24 miles of track that would increase the speed of the train from DC to NY to reduce the time of the trip by a little over a minute. Or to put it another way, it will cost the taxpayer approx. $4.5 million per second.

I'm wondering how much they'll be able to increase the fares, "We're now 1 1/2 minutes faster!!!!!" to offset the taxpayers investment on a system already losing money?

Ishmael

Acela doesn't lose $. So much for facts.
 
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