Login
or
Register
Home
»
Trains Magazine
»
Forums
»
General Discussion
»
Amtrak funding
Edit post
Edit your reply below.
Post Body
Enter your post below.
Alexander, <br /> <br />Yes I know that the current match is 80/20 but I believe it was 90/10 in the beginning and later scaled back to 80/20. Even now the 90/10 ratio is used on some projects. The problem I have is that it is a massive leverage from the Federal Government, but they are only giving us our own money back. If the ratio were changed to 50/50, it wouldn't cost the consumer any more because they would only have to change who gets the tax revenues at the pump. It all comes from gas taxes. The exact ratio of Fed/State appropriations is only a detail which may be negotiated. <br /> <br />The reason I used a tax per mile in my example is because if you tax the fuel per gallon you will either have to charge a super high rate per gallon by comparrison to the highway gas tax, or you will only raise a tiny sum of money and won't be able to build enough R/W to make progress. <br /> <br />I am pretty sure there are required standards for geometric design of railroads already, but I think new standards would be needed for the new Amtrak system since there is such support for the new highspeed corridors. <br /> <br />I would expect that a railroad could build anything they wanted but if they don't adhear to the standards the engineer would be liable for injuries to the public. No engineer is going to accept that liability so they are going to design to the standard. <br /> <br />You do realize that acceptance of the highway model I have outlined would mean the user accepts the full cost of the system? - Ed
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag
Update Reply
Join our Community!
Our community is
FREE
to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.
Login »
Register »
Search the Community
Newsletter Sign-Up
By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our
privacy policy
More great sites from Kalmbach Media
Terms Of Use
|
Privacy Policy
|
Copyright Policy