Obama supports high speed rail to Philly from Pittsburgh (Philadelphia: living, prices)

[pman]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

waltlantz,

The Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) has been accumulating data which addresses the degree of economic connection between different cities. In the U.S., it turns out there are some pretty notable regional effects (Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, for example, are both in each other's top ten cities). And there is decent evidence that economic growth can be promoted by further regional interaction. In that sense, you wouldn't want to just wait for healthy economic interactions, but would also be trying to encourage them.

watlantz should also read
//www.city-data.com/forum/8429686-post66.html

chicago would probably be better utilized than Texas. Milwaukee's has had success with its Hiawatha train already, despite not being terribly fast. Detroit can't afford not to be connected to chicago.

[gotermite]

I can't believe that Pittsburgh to Washington DC is being overlooked. An hour and a half to two hours downtown to downtown would be wonderful.

[Chichappens]

TAKE A PLANE.....Faster and cheaper

[pman]

Originally Posted by gotermite

I can't believe that Pittsburgh to Washington DC is being overlooked. An hour and a half to two hours downtown to downtown would be wonderful.

it's not, it'd be even more expensive and with philly-pitt you also get pitt-nypc

[BusyMomofOne]

I agree...why not DC as well???!!!

[WILWRadio]

How is the President qualified to determine where we need to make improvements to our transportation system? Has it been proven that it will be cost effective to run high speed rail from Philly to Pittsburgh on a daily basis? Or will the taxpayers yet again, have to foot the bill?

Here in Kansas City some fools are trying to get support to build a new light rail system despite the fact the bus system is seeing a decline in the number of routes due to the bad economy and a lack of funding. Clearly, it makes more sense to try to fix the local bus system problems before spending a billion dollars of tax payer dollars on a couple of light rail lines that will not really serve the needs of the residents of the city and is geared more towards a few thousand out of town visitors.

This high speed rail system is similar. It will cost a ton of money and may not be cost effective to run except in a few areas like the Boston to DC corridor.

[BMSF]

I'm from Philly, I don't see the need for this train. I agree a high speed train to D.C. would have been an intelligent choice.

[BrianTH]

All forms of intercity transportation are subsidized once you truly account for all the costs, and HSR is in fact a competitive alternative on a total cost basis when you are talking about fairly large cities the right distance apart. The bottomline is that over the last few decades we have underinvested in passenger rail and our highway and airport systems have reached the point where it makes economic sense to add a lot more intercity capacity through rail.

By the way, in the long run the Pittsburgh-Philly link has to be evaluated not just in isolation, but as the shortest route between the center of the East Coast and the Great Lakes region.

[JoeLeaphorn]

Originally Posted by WILWRadio

Has it been proven that it will be cost effective to run high speed rail from Philly to Pittsburgh on a daily basis? Or will the taxpayers yet again, have to foot the bill?

You mean like we did for nearly all paved roads in the US? Or how we subsidize flights in an out of small, regional airports? Or how we spend billions, annually, on the air traffic control system even though studies show us that less than half the US population will ever fly in their lifetimes?

I agree that Pittsburgh to Philly will only be viable if it is comparable in terms of times, with driving. Since Harrisburg to Philly is, the trick is to make Pittsburgh to Harrisburg competitive.

Don't worry, though. The state only asked for funds to study the possibility of HSR from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg. That shows you that the state was never serious about it in the first place.

[BMSF]

Originally Posted by Chichappens

TAKE A PLANE.....Faster and cheaper

Any idea of what the cost comparison is? Granted, airfares fluctuate more then a Amtrak ticket.