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Right, so forget about the executives that have a business appointment in Blue Ash using this train from Chicago after travelling to downtown Chicago from Naperville.
Also, as you state, the Northeast is a different world in terms of train use; Cinci and Indy both have sub-par local transit systems with only bus service. Not sure what the Cinci streetcar will do but considering its initial route, not much. There are increasing numbers of workers commuting from Philly to NYC; key being working in Manhattan and not out on Long Island or some other far-flung location. Perhaps if it's limited communiting, making the trip on Amtrak then up to Westchester or Long Island could be doable but not on a daily basis from Philly, for example. Then again you cite a rider taking the Hartford line into NYC; a straight-shot is much better than transferring though.
Actually Metro North starts and ends in Waterbury which is about 25 miles SW of Hartford. Amtrak still has trains running daily from Hartford to NYC and vice versa.
^I may never take it because I don't need to go to Chicago for anything. But plenty of people would with no other means of transportation. Amtrak costs too much anyway. I priced a ticket to go to California. It was the price of a first class airline ticket and took almost a week.
However. It's always good to have options if you don't have any in the first place.
Take the bus; Greyhound or Megabus. Cheapest means of getting to Chicago, complete with wi-fi.
^I may never take it because I don't need to go to Chicago for anything. But plenty of people would with no other means of transportation. Amtrak costs too much anyway. I priced a ticket to go to California. It was the price of a first class airline ticket and took almost a week.
However. It's always good to have options if you don't have any in the first place.
Go Greyhound. Checked the price from Indy to Cincy round trip and it can be done for as little as $20. Chicago is likely not to be much more.
I am curious as to whom would use this train? High speed rail is likely to cost more than Amtrak's intercity, cross country service.
Go Greyhound. Checked the price from Indy to Cincy round trip and it can be done for as little as $20. Chicago is likely not to be much more.
I am curious as to whom would use this train? High speed rail is likely to cost more than Amtrak's intercity, cross country service.
The proponents of this idea simply like the idea of having high-speed trains without considering the costs of building and operating such a train.
If Cinci's metro area was 10 million with Chicago's 9 milliion on the other end with Indy's 7 million in the middle, then there would already be excellent train service which could then be considered for upgrade to high-speed.
Even the Chicago to St. Louis high-speed line will be an operating money-pit.
The proponents of this idea simply like the idea of having high-speed trains without considering the costs of building and operating such a train.
If Cinci's metro area was 10 million with Chicago's 9 milliion on the other end with Indy's 7 million in the middle, then there would already be excellent train service which could then be considered for upgrade to high-speed.
Even the Chicago to St. Louis high-speed line will be an operating money-pit.
Yup. For some reason people no longer seem to utilize logic and common sense when it comes to making important decisions especially where finances are concerned. Precisely why we are seeing so much debt and the state and local level of government now. People only seem use emotions to guide their lives now and don't think about the consequences further on down the road. The Slight Rail system that is being built in Cincy right now is a good example of that. Already having trouble finding the funding to run it daily from what I've read.
To be fair about the bus service in Cincy it seems to be a bit better than Indy. I've checked the System Maps for both cities and the Cincy busses seem to cover more of the populated areas than the busses in Indy. I bought a home on a TANK line that runs until at least 10 PM on weeknights and starts up prior to 6 AM. And it seems to run pretty frequently. If by some miracle my plans to move there work out, I will try to find a job that allows me to park the car and take the bus to work. Will use the car for errands and travel.
Never knew they were planning a high speed rail line between Chicago and St. Louis. St. Louis is only a half million people larger than Cincy and it has no other medium sized metro between it and Chicago. I don't know enough about the corporate presence of Chicago companies in St. Louis and vice versa. If they have a couple thousand of people that can commute daily back and forth each day then it might work if they run it during the rush hour and only schedule it a couple of times during the rush hours. If it turns out to be like some Amtrak runs I've seen (one engine and a couple of cars at a time) then it will be running in the red pretty fast.
The following seems to support which areas might be able to justify high speed rail and others that won't.
One thing people have to keep in mind is what demographics are the high speed rail proponents thinking will use the system between Chicago-Indy and Cincy? Are they going to be executives that live 100 miles outside of the city and commute to work by car, bus or metro rail at this time? Vacationers?
This is why rail can work in the densely populated northeast region. People actually commute daily or at least weekly to and from the major cities. I mentioned my friend's now retired father used to commute to his office at Exxon in Manhattan daily from the Hartford area. 130 plus miles. And the husband of my mother's friend used to commute to NYC daily from the Hartford area. And you will also find people that live well outside of Boston in areas of Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island also Connecting commuting into the city on a daily basis. These are high paid executives and lots of them the make the metro rail systems in Boston and NYC or Philly doable. Same with Chicago. The question is what kind of traffic and how much will be generated from Indy and Cincy to the other cities? You won't find many people from Chicago commuting to Cincy for business unless Chicago companies have a number of regional offices in the Cincy area and have to get their executives into the city every day. And the same goes for to and from Indy and Cincy to each other.
For this to have any chance at working the rail company will have to market this to the people that fly between these cities on a daily or weekly basis. Make it cost effective and show how much time the rail rider can save when commuting between Cincy and Chicago and points in between. That is the only real way this has a shot at working. But if the number of commuters is not there to make this come close to breaking even, I doubt it will get built.
It seems that some people may not understand the growing commercial ties between Cincy/Chicago and Cincy/Indy, which is probably why a rail connection may be seen as less plausible than it likely is. You have Kroger making significant inroads in the Chicago market and wanting to expand, (under their Food 4 Less banner). You have a critical Boeing and GE Aviation partnership, and GE will also want easy Chicago access for their new operations hub. P&G and Macy's also obviously have significant interests in Chicago, and there's a growing logistics triangle between Indy, Columbus and Cincinnati (also including Dayton). Scripps has their second most important branch in Chicago, and I know it's a significant market for Fifth/Third, Great American and Western and Southern. It's really hard to think of a major Cincinnati company that doesn't have a significant Chicago interest.
Is it enough to sustain a regular train? Like I said before, I think it's close at least, and who knows, maybe it's GE that's pushing it over the top. OKI doesn't normally push for infrastructure unless the corporate suits behind it have given the go ahead.
I also think it probably doesn't hurt the train discussion with Kenton County becoming more belligerent when it comes to improving the Airport board. If CVG isn't going to improve, it makes sense that the city's corporate leaders are looking for a plan B.
It seems that some people may not understand the growing commercial ties between Cincy/Chicago and Cincy/Indy, which is probably why a rail connection may be seen as less plausible than it likely is. You have Kroger making significant inroads in the Chicago market and wanting to expand, (under their Food 4 Less banner). You have a critical Boeing and GE Aviation partnership, and GE will also want easy Chicago access for their new operations hub. P&G and Macy's also obviously have significant interests in Chicago, and there's a growing logistics triangle between Indy, Columbus and Cincinnati (also including Dayton). Scripps has their second most important branch in Chicago, and I know it's a significant market for Fifth/Third, Great American and Western and Southern. It's really hard to think of a major Cincinnati company that doesn't have a significant Chicago interest.
Is it enough to sustain a regular train? Like I said before, I think it's close at least, and who knows, maybe it's GE that's pushing it over the top. OKI doesn't normally push for infrastructure unless the corporate suits behind it have given the go ahead.
I also think it probably doesn't hurt the train discussion with Kenton County becoming more belligerent when it comes to improving the Airport board. If CVG isn't going to improve, it makes sense that the city's corporate leaders are looking for a plan B.
But how many executives are commuting within these cities on a daily basis? Most probably fly right now and will continue to do so unless a rail line can get them back and forth just as speedily and at a better or at least competitive price.
Yup. For some reason people no longer seem to utilize logic and common sense when it comes to making important decisions especially where finances are concerned. Precisely why we are seeing so much debt and the state and local level of government now. People only seem use emotions to guide their lives now and don't think about the consequences further on down the road. The Slight Rail system that is being built in Cincy right now is a good example of that. Already having trouble finding the funding to run it daily from what I've read.
To be fair about the bus service in Cincy it seems to be a bit better than Indy. I've checked the System Maps for both cities and the Cincy busses seem to cover more of the populated areas than the busses in Indy. I bought a home on a TANK line that runs until at least 10 PM on weeknights and starts up prior to 6 AM. And it seems to run pretty frequently. If by some miracle my plans to move there work out, I will try to find a job that allows me to park the car and take the bus to work. Will use the car for errands and travel.
Never knew they were planning a high speed rail line between Chicago and St. Louis. St. Louis is only a half million people larger than Cincy and it has no other medium sized metro between it and Chicago. I don't know enough about the corporate presence of Chicago companies in St. Louis and vice versa. If they have a couple thousand of people that can commute daily back and forth each day then it might work if they run it during the rush hour and only schedule it a couple of times during the rush hours. If it turns out to be like some Amtrak runs I've seen (one engine and a couple of cars at a time) then it will be running in the red pretty fast.
The following seems to support which areas might be able to justify high speed rail and others that won't.
The idea and funding for the Chicago-St. Louis line came from Obama's stimulus money and much of this midwest high-speed network nonsense stems from Obama. The Obama-Chicago connection helps in making Chicago, of course, as the hub of this fantasy bullet train system.
It seems that some people may not understand the growing commercial ties between Cincy/Chicago and Cincy/Indy, which is probably why a rail connection may be seen as less plausible than it likely is. You have Kroger making significant inroads in the Chicago market and wanting to expand, (under their Food 4 Less banner). You have a critical Boeing and GE Aviation partnership, and GE will also want easy Chicago access for their new operations hub. P&G and Macy's also obviously have significant interests in Chicago, and there's a growing logistics triangle between Indy, Columbus and Cincinnati (also including Dayton). Scripps has their second most important branch in Chicago, and I know it's a significant market for Fifth/Third, Great American and Western and Southern. It's really hard to think of a major Cincinnati company that doesn't have a significant Chicago interest.
Is it enough to sustain a regular train? Like I said before, I think it's close at least, and who knows, maybe it's GE that's pushing it over the top. OKI doesn't normally push for infrastructure unless the corporate suits behind it have given the go ahead.
I also think it probably doesn't hurt the train discussion with Kenton County becoming more belligerent when it comes to improving the Airport board. If CVG isn't going to improve, it makes sense that the city's corporate leaders are looking for a plan B.
Easy access to all these cities is by plane or car. The cost to build this rail line will far outweigh its benefits.
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