Morgan LeFayDecades ago, my town was served by beautiful passenger trains. It has two active freight lines, but they are not extremely active as they see about 1 train each per hour. There are four cities in each cardinal direction (north, east, south, and west) that I think would be awesome to reestablish passenger rail service between. So, how would someone go about doing that?
I'll give you a non-sarcastic answer. You first have to form a group of like minded people that agree with you. Then you have to come up with a source of funds to fund a DOT study, either via lobbying your local officials to get them to vote for that via the state (quickest option). You have to make a business case on why you think this service would be better than bus service and/or leaving things as they are in order to persuade legislators to stick their neck out.
A good test case and one that will put pressure on the legislature is the approach that was used in Milwaukee to intervene and improve the Milwaukee to Chicago service. Start with a group of businessmen that meets regularly like Rotary or Chamber of Congress group. Present a persuasive case in front of them and ask for their support or active endorsement and build from there. Why a business group? Because it tells Democrats they are not going to get lambasted during the next political campaign for supporting the passenger train proposal as well as encourages Republicans to stick their neck out as well. Always go to local busines groups first. Additionally, most business groups are made up of independent business people and as such are highly skeptical of such proposals so the old NEW YORK, NEW YORK parable applies if you can convince them, you can pretty much convince anyone. So going to a business group first will tell you what kind of persuasion work effort your looking at to achieve your goal.
Last but not least, read up on other DOT rail passenger studies and become familiar with the naysayer arguments and rebuttals. Among the most prominent is buses can do what trains can and they are far cheaper. However buses do not last as long as trains, are not as efficient as trains on a per rider per energy consumed basis BUT most important of all there is not a 100% transferrance of rail passengers to bus and never has been. When given a choice most people would rather ride rail than a bus. Comfort and security is the biggest reason.
So there are some starting points for you. It is going to take a lot of work to get from concept in your head to an actual demo train running over the route. I think you can get to at least a taxpayer funded demo train if you work your butt off and persuade a significant business group to back you. Be prepared for a lot of NO's along the way and for this to be a multi-year and possibly multi-decade effort. Depending on the resistance or push back.
For some stupid reason, a reply I tried did not show up. So, here goes another one. One city I would like to service has 2 million people. Another city has 1 million and two others each have 500k people.
One train per hour per line is pretty darn busy by freight railroad standards. If that is the case you will almost certainly have to build additional track capacity.
What is the population of each city in this area, and does any transit/public transportation service already exist between them? If so, what are it's ridership figures?
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
The trains would go to one city with a population of 2 million, a city with a population of 1 million and two cities each with a population of 500k.
After you've gotten ahold of Bill Gates' fortune...
Establish need. The railroad may sound like a great idea, but you need people to ride it. Many new transit operations have been pleasantly surprised when ridership has exceeded expectation, but not all.
Were will your riders go to and from? Where will your riders "interchange" with other trains or modes of travel? Freight usage notwithstanding, will you be able to offer trips that make sense?
Read up on break-even mileages for various modes of transportation. Will you be able to leverage that for your operation?
How many passengers will be required to simply break even - include track rental, insurance, depreciation, fuel, labor costs (including the janitor) and anything else you can think of that will cost money.
Consider local support - will your politicians and residents be on board with the idea? Will you have to build anything? Read up on Brightline (Florida)
Good Luck!
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
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Start with Bill Gates fortune, 1st buy politicians to support your viewpoints. 2nd kiss the rest of your fortune goodbye.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Decades ago, my town was served by beautiful passenger trains. It has two active freight lines, but they are not extremely active as they see about 1 train each per hour. There are four cities in each cardinal direction (north, east, south, and west) that I think would be awesome to reestablish passenger rail service between. So, how would someone go about doing that?
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