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Inadequate Funding=Broken Bridges

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Posted by RudyRockvilleMD on Thursday, January 20, 2005 10:25 PM
The Thames River is a navigable river so the money to fix the draw bridge will be found. Having the Thames River bridge's moveable span in reliable operating condition is especially crucial since the Coast Guard Academy's training ship the Eagle has to get out to sea, but I don't know if a submarine can clear that bridge if its moveable span is closed.

The Thames River Bridge is one of several bridges on the Northeast Corridor that will have to either be repaired or replaced. The Northeast Corridor is essential. The Susquehanna River Bridge is another bridge that is older than the Thames River Bridge and needs to be replaced. The Susquehanna River Bridge has a swing moveable span. If at all possible the Thames River Bridge should be rebuilt that it is high enough to clear the masts of any river craft

I read an article in the Washington Post last November that The Department of Transportation's Inspector General criticized Amtrak for spending money on repairing sleepers instead of spending money on maintaining and repairing its infrastructure.

According to all reports about the FY 06 budget it will even be more austere than the FY 05 budget what with more tax cuts and the war in Iraq and Afghanistan so like it or not Amtrak not get every thing it asks for in its FY 2006.budget request It will have to make some hard decisions.
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Posted by jeaton on Thursday, January 20, 2005 5:09 PM
The ultimate fate of the bridge doesn't matter. It can be rebuilt, removed, abandoned to fall in the river or collapse under the weight of a train, but the money to take care of the disposition is not going to come from internally generated Amtrak funds.

If you have a plan that would allow the money to come from a passenger train operation, send your resume to Secretary Mineta. You'll have a job in a heartbeat.

"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo Possum "We have met the anemone... and he is Russ." Bucky Katt "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr, Nobel laureate in physics

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Posted by greyhounds on Thursday, January 20, 2005 4:30 PM
You know, this is a broken drawbridge. A part has to be specially made to repair it. That's all it is.

Drawbridges fail to open/close on a somewhat ongoing bases and require repair.

A labor union chose to make this in to a political issue in an effort to get their hands further into the taxpayers' pockets. I don't know why anyone thinks Amtrak should have a perpetual claim on the Federal Treasury - the people who ride those trains should pay for the trains. They shouldn't be looking to other folks to pick up part of their transportation costs.

As to the $40 million--
1) It's mostly from private donations
2) It's less than Clinton spent in 1996
"By many measures, the U.S. freight rail system is the safest, most efficient and cost effective in the world." - Federal Railroad Administration, October, 2009. I'm just your average, everyday, uncivilized howling "anti-government" critic of mass government expenditures for "High Speed Rail" in the US. And I'm gosh darn proud of that.
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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, January 20, 2005 4:13 PM
A couple of considerations here:
1) When DOD operations are hampered by obstacles that are fixable, the private corporation or owner usually gets them fixed quickly. The nature of the fix is usually long enough to get DOD through whatever it is they are doing- be it the transit of an Ohio class submarine, or the channel blockage of Pearl Harbor by the skipper of the garbage scow that runs aground.

2) I have heard the 40 mill number bandied about a lot concerning the innauguration. I also heard that something on the order of 150 corporations made significant contributions to the festivities. Which leads to the question: How much taxpayer money is getting spent here? How much would have been spent regardless of who was elected? The uniformed services and Homeland Security would still have been placed on alert; there still would have been a million Inaugural balls; the guest list would still be huge.

3) I know about the towns affected here. The mayors of those towns are much more concerned about the safety of I-95 bridges than the railroad, which has a minimal effect on them. Those who use the NEC to travel from New York to Boston don't vote in those towns. Electric Boat operations and the US Coast Guard Academy don't rely on rail passenger service to do their jobs. The concern over proper function of a bridge over a waterway will bother the locals only when they can't drive over it, or when their livelihood is harmed because of it.

Erik
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Posted by AntonioFP45 on Thursday, January 20, 2005 1:48 PM
I respect the President, but he really needs to get a serious grip! His inaugaration is costing us $40,000,000. ( How many passenger cars and locomotives could be overhauled with that amount?!)

The NEC is heavily utilized by passengers. The complaint from his Transporatation "flunky" Norm Mineta is that Amtrak's long distance trains are too expensive and the whole system needs an overhaul. O.K fine and dandy, but we have a bridge that needs repairs right away! If the mayors of the towns along this section of the Northeast Corridor ganged up and raised a stink, something could happen.

Though I am conservative, after doing a lot of reading I am more and more convinced that corporate America does not wi***o see a resurgence in passenger rail travel. As much as we (me too) poke fun at California, this state has proven that passenger rail does work!

The day that Norm Mineta leaves or retires will be a day to celebrate!

"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"

 


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Posted by edbenton on Thursday, January 20, 2005 12:58 PM
What Gunn needs to do is tell congress that Amtrak needs the ca***o replace the bridge so the Ohio class Subs can get out of harbor otherwise they are just 2.5 billion targets that could be destroyed in harbor that should free up the cash needed to fix or replace the bridge in question[8]. It also would put Bush on the defensive since his precious military toys aka men and ships can not do the job he wants them to do next. From his speech today sounds like either North Korea or Iran is next my guess is on Iran since we already have the troops there.
Always at war with those that think OTR trucking is EASY.
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Posted by greyhounds on Thursday, January 20, 2005 12:14 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by jeaton



I wonder what the DOD and The Department of the Navy would do if the waterway was blocked. Precision bombing?


The CB's would either fix the bridge or blow it up in a couple of hours.
"By many measures, the U.S. freight rail system is the safest, most efficient and cost effective in the world." - Federal Railroad Administration, October, 2009. I'm just your average, everyday, uncivilized howling "anti-government" critic of mass government expenditures for "High Speed Rail" in the US. And I'm gosh darn proud of that.
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Posted by jeaton on Thursday, January 20, 2005 10:58 AM
Gunn has noted many times that the Thames River Bridge needs to be fixed. I have considered the impact on NEC passenger operations if the bridge fails, however I have never actually looked at its specific location in context with water traffic.

I wonder what the DOD and The Department of the Navy would do if the waterway was blocked. Precision bombing?

"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo Possum "We have met the anemone... and he is Russ." Bucky Katt "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr, Nobel laureate in physics

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Inadequate Funding=Broken Bridges
Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, January 20, 2005 10:38 AM
Amtrak bridge still stuck; repairs under way
(The following article by Ethan Rouen was posted on the Day website on January 20.)

NEW LONDON, Conn. -- The aging Thames River Amtrak railroad bridge has been stuck in the down position for a week, preventing some marine traffic from passage on the Thames River.

Also, on Wednesday, a cable snapped on the Old Lyme railroad bridge, but Gary Kassof, Bridge Program Manager for the first Coast Guard district, said that bridge should be repaired quickly.

A bearing on the Thames River bridge, which was built in 1918, cracked last Thursday, Kassof said. The replacement part needs to be built and will not be ready until the end of the month at the earliest, he said.

An attempt to temporarily repair the bridge Tuesday night was thwarted by an electrical problem, but engineers attempted to weld a temporary fix again Wednesday night.

Boats more than 30 feet tall are unable to pass under the bridge. A coal barge and a ferry are currently waiting to get through, Kassof said.

A spokeswoman for Amtrak said after the temporary repair the bridge will open on a schedule instead of when a request is made. She said she did not have any information about scheduled openings. She also said she was not aware of problems with the Old Lyme bridge.

The bascule Thames River bridge opens like a drawbridge, using a 4-million-pound counterweight to raise one end of the 188-foot span. The bridge opened 2,100 times in 2003, including 15 times a month to let submarines pass.

A two-year, $45 million plan to replace the bridge is currently in jeopardy, as is much of Amtrak's $570 million plan to improve infrastructure. The rail company asked the U.S. government for $1.8 billion, but President George W. Bush has recommended giving half that amount.

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