Cincinnati-Indianapolis-Chicago high speed rail (Logan, Union: to live in, manufacturing, train station)

[SWOH]

New article:

On Track

[AlekZD]

Originally Posted by Arthur_Indy

The ignorance on this thread is jaw dropping! The cause and effect corollary that keeps getting drawn is "rail will never work because everyone stopped using it 70 years ago and got into cars" and "why build it when it will cost billions and no one will every use it." I also keep seeing the word "subsidize" dropped frequently. WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK THE INTERSTATE AND HIGHWAY SYSTEM IS!?!?!? That entire spiderweb of transportation is MASSIVELY subsidized! Airports, MASSIVELY subsidized! Amtrak ....subsidized, yes, but minor compared to the other two.

And, people didn't flee away from rail for their cars. The Automotive industry marketed against rail and encouraged the mystique of individual ownership and open road freedom. My point of origin is Indianapolis. If my choice were a 3 hour car ride with traffic and parking headaches vs a 1.5 to 2 hour train ride.... rail wins hands down. IF this were built the ridership would blow the minds of all of you naysayers.

I will now sit back and watch ALL of you rip my statements apart and defend the automotive industry.... an industry that has had sooo much innovation, that my 1996 car gets the same gas mileage a brand new car would get. (pathetic)

Amen brother!

I personally hate flying, and I'm sure I'm not the only person who does. Plus, I don't think I've ever had a flight out of O'Hare in the past 5 years that wasn't delayed or even cancelled. I'd love to have more high-speed rail in this country, especially true high-speed rail with multiple daily trips.

You know, the ignorance burns me up, too. But we might want to give people a bit more slack; unless you're an urban planner or a student of urban planning (such as myself), it's not always obvious how certain modes of transportation are subsidized, or what the true benefits of each are. Me personally? I'd rather have our taxpayer money go to something useful like this, instead of a war. That's just me.

[AlekZD]

Originally Posted by OHKID

New article:

On Track

So if I'm reading this right, it would simply ("simply") be adding track from Indianapolis to Cincinnati, correct?

[Wilson513]

It will be a long time before the City allows itself to be dragged into the drain again by the train people. By then, the 800,000 pound White Elephants will be being decommissioned elsewhere and that should put a final nail in the coffin.

[American Luxury]

Related:

Federal grant may get Oxford rail station rolling

[kpl1228]

Cincinnati would benefit from light rail as transit within the metro. Pittsburgh has it and Cincinnati's quite similar in geography and economics. Lots of old railbed to use also.
However, a rail corridor between Cincy and Chicago, other than regular old Amtrak service, is silly if the goal is to connect the three towns economically.

[Wilson513]

When will this silliness die. Cincinnati is not getting light rail. Accept it an move on. there is no place to put it, no one needs it, and it is just a big waste of money for all concerned except its connected advocates.

The main commuting corridor in Cincinnati has a super convenient and modern green energy bus service at rush hour operating for the last 10 years which has captured about .001% of the commuters. A light rail would take twice as long to get from north to south and cost 10X what the bus service costs in operating expense alone.

Put a stake in the heart of this light rail monster and make it die.

[progmac]

Originally Posted by Wilson513

The main commuting corridor in Cincinnati has a super convenient and modern green energy bus service at rush hour operating for the last 10 years which has captured about .001% of the commuters. A light rail would take twice as long to get from north to south and cost 10X what the bus service costs in operating expense alone.

20% of downtown commuters use metro

[Wilson513]

Originally Posted by progmac

20% of downtown commuters use metro

Exactly. No need for light rail for those folks. No one is taking light rail from Price Hill to town. And, that number is close to zero for people who could ride Metro along the proposed light rail corridor - Montgomery to downtown.

[progmac]

If there was an alternative proposal that provided quality mass transit through a revamped and vastly expanded bus system, I would probably support that. But in the absence of such an alternative, I'll continue to reluctantly support, vote for, and support paying taxes towards whatever serious mass transit proposals are on the table.

Any assertion that we already have a high quality mass transit system can be quickly and easily rebuked by anyone who has lived in this City without a car.