Home
»
Trains Magazine
»
Forums
»
General Discussion
»
Who cares if passenger rail disappears ?

Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
Frankly, I am not that much of a supporter for Amtrak. I would prefer to have private industry build the high speed railroad tracks, and operate them. But I do know this, the government will have to get involved to remove the obstacles: such as the nimby organizations, to force people to sell real estate at a reasonable price, and sell and back the bonds. Ten years ago, TGV wanted to build the Texas triangle high speed trains, but they needed the help of the state government to back and sell the bonds. NO ONE HAS FIVE BILLION DOLLARS BURNING A HOLE IN THEIR POCKETS! Approximately 400 miles of double track electrified high speed rail would have been built at $12 million a mile is 4.8 billion dollars. The route was Dallas to San Antonio alongside I-35, with a branch from Temple to Houston alongside State Highway 6. The only problem is by Texas law the selling of bonds must be approved by the electorate. At that time the state DOT was prohibited to sell bonds. Texas' turnpikes at that time were built by the North Texas Turnpike Authority, a commission brought about by a state constitutional amendment, which was passed by the voters in the early 1950s. Even today it is limited to selling only $1 billon worth of bonds, or debt. As we speak, the North Texas Turnpike Authority is building the new George Bu***urnpike around the northern suburbs of Dallas. However, since it is limited to a certain amount of debt, it has taken over 10 years just to get from State Highway 78 to I-35E. It is being built several miles at a time, which generate revenue to pay off some bonds, so that they can sell more bonds to build more of the turnpike. Eventually, in thirty years time, this turnpike might surround Dallas. It is the same with DART. DART after selling its limit of bonds, again $1billion, was able to build a short starter line. As a few years went by, DART was able to build some more of the line to Plano. With federal appropriations the line to Garland was extended. SO IF THE FEDS CAN FUND INTRACITY LINES, WHY NOT INTERCITY LINES TOO? So, do you see the picture? Either Amtrak or some other federal government funds the construction through appropriations, or the state sells and backs bonds to fund the construction. NO NEW CORPORATION WILL BE ABLE TO SELL THE BONDS BECAUSE NOBODY WILL BUY THEM! A year ago you could purchase a airline ticket from Paris to Marsailles, but not today. TGV has finally reached Marsailles, and the airlines have abandoned the Paris to Marsailles fllights. Why? PEOPLE ENJOY RIDING TRAINS, ESPECIALLY FAST TRAINS! The seats are wider, with much more leg room. One can get up and buy a snack or a drink at the time when one is hungry or thirsty, not when the airlline stewardess gets to you. And what is best about the train is the large number of doors, usually two per car in each both directions, the getting on and getting off of a train is so much faster than an airliner, which have only one door. Unless you are flying first class, it can take up to 20 minutes to embard and disembark a jet. Not so with a train, you will be off in less than a minute. On top of this luxury, one can stand up on a train and walk the train at any given time to stretch their legs and sit without seat belts. Unfortunately, airlines still have the stay seated and seat belt signs. Oh yes, when the fast trains are here, you will have to make a decision whether to fly to Chicago from Dallas one day, or somewhere else of 900 miles. Six train hours will look good in the future when the airlines expect you to arrive three hours early to get through security instead of the two hours today. AND JUST WHO DO YOU THINK IS PAYING FOR THE AIRPORT SECURITY? Yep, the feds. The feds took this service over after the airlines FAILED to do the job properly. The problem with fast trains is there comes a point of no return, long distances. Yes, the airllines will always win the long distances wars with trains. But trains easily win the 300 mile distances, compete well with the airlines at 500 miles, and lately, with the increased time at airports screening through security, in the future trains can compete well with the airllines up to 1000 miles. And it is easy to catch the train. Carry your one piece of luggage and catch a commuter train or bus to the station, and catch a train. No need to park a car. If the bus isn't handy, call a cab. The price will be far less to take a cab to the station for most people than to ride a cab to the airport in the hicks. However, I will agree with you on one thing. Slow trains are a thing of the past, and no one really wants to support the slow trains much more. We want to go fast, just like they do in Europe. And we don't like to fly, the airlines have treated us so poorly in the past packing us in their airlines like sardines...not to mention that a rain storm often leads to delays and other missed flights. It takes a flood or a mountain of snow to stop the train.
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