ndbprr wrote:Ok How can you do it? Where will it stop? Currently you have Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, Trenton, Newark and New York. Include the tunnels into New York and the tunnels under Baltimore and I figure five stops and two slow orders of say five minutes each so that is 25 minutes total delay so the actual travel time is now one hour thirty five minutes. That means it has to cover roughly 200 miles in 95 minutes which is close to an average speed of 120 miles per hour including starts and stops. Can't be done or Amtrak would do it. You aren't going to purchase a new right of way in megopilis unless you print money, fight off all the NIMBYs, Greenies, local governments, etc. We've been waiting for a third airport in Chicago for thirty years. It will probably be built in another thirty. Bet it gets done before this boondoggle. More political posturing for an upcoming election.
It would take a ton of curve straightening, at the very minimum, and more likely big chunks of new ROW - thru some of the most expensive real estate in the country.
Or, as "Mr Diesel" might like it, it could be strictly Wash DC to NYC. Head east out of DC toward Anapolis, under or over the C. Bay, up the Eastern Shore, under and over the D. Bay and then straight up the old CNJ thru South Jersey and then.....punt.
A few billion for some big bridges and tunnels, but cheap, existing, flat and straight ROW
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
Florida voted up and then voted down High Speed rail for the state. The primary selling point for the 'antis' was the it wouldn't serve every community in the state on day 1, and therefore, if you can't use it why pay for it. Such situations are where Leadership is required, no matter where it comes from. No system in any form of endeavor will benefit everyone on day 1. No system is ever fully formed and fully functional on day 1. Leadership has the vision to see the problems with the present and solutions that work into the future.
The United States these days is suffering through a leadership vacuum, at all levels of government and industry. We are hamstrung with the thinking of how much profit will I get from this investment next month, next quarter, next year. True vision does not fulfill it's potential in the time frame of next month, next quarter, next year. True vision is based on the 5 year, 10 year, 25 year basis.
We can continue to stick our heads in the sand and do nothing and wake up 10 years from now and figure out it is almost faster to walk between New York (or fill in your East of the Mississippi city of your choice) and any other major city that it is to use any other form of transportation.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
The on-time arrival percentage for the nation's commercial airlines for 2007 was approximately 74 per cent. It was a relatively bad year, primarily because of weather delays in the New York area and high summer bookings. Historically, the airlines have a better than 80 per cent on time record. During the last quarter of 2007 they were on time nearly 79 per cent of the time. This is considerably better than Amtrak's record, oustide of the NEC, especially the long distance trains.
Two weeks ago I flew from Austin to LAX. I took the train - San Joaquin - to San Francisco. Then I flew home to Austin. No delays! A month ago I flew to El Paso. No delays! I have flown on a commercial airliner approximately six times a year for the last 41 years. Many of those flights were into and out of the New York Terminal area, including three last year. Also, between 1999 and 2004 I made 18 trips between Australia and the U.S. I lived there. I have had just three delays (two due to weather and one due to mechanical problems) in 41 years. None of them was more than two hours. Equally impressive, my luggage was delayed only once.
Who says the air traffic control system is maxed out? Not the FAA! There are problems in New York terminal area that tend to cascade throughout the system, but they are fixable. One of the short term fixes is to limit the number of departures and arrivals at Kennedy, which are being put into place, and Newark. They are limited at LaGuardia.
Over the next decade the FAA will introduce a vastly improved air traffic control system. It will be able to handle many more air craft movements than the current system. Also, New York is enhancing the White Plains Airport in West Chester Country. It will help reduce air traffic congestion in the New York terminal area, which in turn will have a beneficial impact on air traffic throughout the country.
What is to prevent the governments that are responsible for the highways along the eastern seaboard from improving the capacity of I-95 or building new roadways? Americans have shown consistently that they prefer their personal vehicles for relatively short trips or for family vacation trips. It is the economics.
No form of public transport can compete with the automobile when it comes to hauling a family of four from Washington, D.C. to Florida or any other vacation spot in the U.S. Moreover, when they get there they have the family buggy to get around as opposed to renting a vehicle, which must be factored into the transport bill.
As I have said in previous postings, commercial airlines, bus companies, trucking lines, etc. tote their share of the note. They make money for their shareholders. Why should passenger rail service be any different?
To say that we should have passenger rail and not have the users pay for it because it is does not cover its costs anywhere else is an awful indictment. It is akin to saying that we should sign on with the losers so that we can go down the financial tubes with them. This nation was founded in large part because the founders did not want to emulate their European forefathers.
Long distance trains are not likely to ever pay for themselves. But with a bit of tweaking, rapid rail in relative short, high density corridors could cover its operating costs and contribute to the fixed costs. If the government stopped subsidizing other forms of transport, which is much lower on a passenger mile basis than the subsidies enjoyed by Amtrak, rapid rail could cover all of its costs.
High speed rail is very expensive. Alex Kummant told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that its cost ranges from $20 to $25 million per mile in open country, and this estimate excludes real estate acquisition costs. But rapid rail, i.e. average speeds of 80 to 100 mph, could be built for considerably less money. It could be a better option for many of the nation's high density population corridors. I have never heard a high speed rail enthusiast suggest realistically how it will be funded.
The U.S. federal debt is more than $9 trillion. This is an average of $75,000 per household. In addition, Americans are weighed down by high levels of personal credit, consumer credit, mortgage debt, state and local debt, and unfunded liabilities (Medicare, Social Security, military retirement liabilities, etc.).
According to the Comptroller General of the United States, David M. Walker, the total U.S. debt (current as well as implicit exposures) was approximately $440,000 per household in 2006. Implicit exposures represent the present value of the unfunded liabilities.
So where is the money for high speed rail going to come from?
jeaton wrote: BaltACD-I agree, but do you know anybody who might spend a few million (at least) to prepare a proposal for something that isn't likely to make a profit?Maybe the guys who designed the carousal car classification thingy?
BaltACD-I agree, but do you know anybody who might spend a few million (at least) to prepare a proposal for something that isn't likely to make a profit?
Maybe the guys who designed the carousal car classification thingy?
"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
I-95 is rapidly becoming maxed out for traffic between New York and South Florida.
The Air Traffic Control system is rapidly beomcing maxed out in all the major metropolitan airports East of the Mississippi.
If the country is to develop additional passenger movement capacity along the I-95 corrider specifically or in the Eastern half of the country in general....High Speed Rail is the only viable option.
This country has to begin looking at High Speed Rail Passenger Transportation as a public service for the overall benefit of the country, not a for profit entity for private business. There is no rail passenger operation in the World that turns a profit.
For those of you who can look at the Trains News Wire:
US Rep. John Mica (R-FL) has introduced a bill to have the Department of Transportation solicit proposals for development of a high speed Washington-New York line along the Northeast Corridor. Proposals are to include engineering, financing and development plans for the corridor and requires express service of no more than two hours between the two cities.
The bill contains no funding.
No doubt big buck developers and high powered civil engineering firms are just chomping at the bit to get into the action for what is sure to be an enormously profitable business.
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