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Old 01-31-2011, 09:12 AM
 
73 posts, read 165,518 times
Reputation: 38

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High Speed Rail Summit Feb 8-11 Washington, DC

US High Speed Rail Association

"Within 25 years our goal is to give 80% of Americans access to high speed rail" -President Obama, State of the Union address, 1-25-11

"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark." -Michelangelo.

High Speed Rail for Richmond,VA according to plans by 2020

Excerpts from the website:

China is spending over $360 billion building their new national high speed rail network. China's first high speed rail line (only 2 years old), has already carried a record 40 million passengers.

For decades, the United States ignored technological advances in rail travel, leaving passenger trains in a nostalgic time warp. Devoted to their cars and jetliners, Americans dismissed 'bullet trains' as engineering novelties or costly foreign experiments unsuited to the way we live and travel.

High Speed Rail delivers amazing door-to-door, city center to city center service that beats flying and driving with a ride that's affordable, comfortable, and low stress from start to finish:


DC >> New York City
1 hour, 15 minutes

NYC >> Boston
1 hour, 15 minutes

NYC >> Philadelphia
30 minutes

NYC >> Montreal
1 hour, 45 minutes

Tampa >> Orlando
35 minutes

Orlando >> Miami
1 hour, 20 minutes

Dallas >> Houston
1 hour

San Francisco >> LA
2 hours, 25 minutes

LA >> San Diego
1 hour, 10 minutes

Chicago >> St. Louis
1 hour, 45 minutes
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Old 01-31-2011, 12:58 PM
 
139 posts, read 239,925 times
Reputation: 17
Yay! Kinda feelin' bad for HR though.... Richmond and HR have been discussing hsr for years. But who knows! Maybe R-mond and HR will be connected soon. This link may look familiar to some of you.

Richmond/Hampton Roads Passenger Rail Study

But then again, high-speed-rail may be different from 'passenger rail'. Really hoping that it's hsr though....
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Old 02-11-2011, 11:15 AM
 
Location: Londonderry, NH
41,479 posts, read 59,890,148 times
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It looks like the Republican's penchant for saving pennies at the cost of dollars is pretty much destroyed High Speed Rail development.
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Old 02-11-2011, 12:56 PM
 
Location: Richmond,VA
3,840 posts, read 3,079,049 times
Reputation: 2830
^ Good thing. All we need is Uncle SAM and congress running something else they don't know how to run (eg USPS, AMTRAK, HEALTHCARE). If it's a good thing and can be profitable, let private $$$ finance and run it. Can you imagine the politics that would be involved here? And how much did the Big Dig in Boston end of costing??
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Old 02-11-2011, 05:40 PM
 
Location: On the Rails in Northern NJ
12,380 posts, read 26,900,150 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ZUMAN View Post
^ Good thing. All we need is Uncle SAM and congress running something else they don't know how to run (eg USPS, AMTRAK, HEALTHCARE). If it's a good thing and can be profitable, let private $$$ finance and run it. Can you imagine the politics that would be involved here? And how much did the Big Dig in Boston end of costing??
But Amtrak runs on profit in Virgina at least Regional Does , so do the other lines in NE. So why would HSR be any different? The Acela is one of a few profitable HST in the world.
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Old 02-12-2011, 06:08 AM
 
Location: Virginia (again)
2,697 posts, read 8,708,002 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey View Post
But Amtrak runs on profit in Virgina at least Regional Does , so do the other lines in NE. So why would HSR be any different? The Acela is one of a few profitable HST in the world.
If it would be profitable, then why does the government need to foot the bill? We are $14 trillion in debt and running a $1.5 trillion deficit. Our interest payments finance 80% of the Chinese army's annual budget. Fares never come close to covering operating expenses on these things so it would be taxpayer subsidized to get it up an running and taxpayer subsidized to keep it running. No thanks.
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Old 02-12-2011, 07:39 AM
 
Location: On the Rails in Northern NJ
12,380 posts, read 26,900,150 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sls76 View Post
If it would be profitable, then why does the government need to foot the bill? We are $14 trillion in debt and running a $1.5 trillion deficit. Our interest payments finance 80% of the Chinese army's annual budget. Fares never come close to covering operating expenses on these things so it would be taxpayer subsidized to get it up an running and taxpayer subsidized to keep it running. No thanks.
The Govt never gave fair funding to Amtrak or any Rail agency instead pumped billions and trillions into Roads and Airports. If Amtrak was given the same amount of $$$ as the roads and airports it would be profitable.
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Old 02-12-2011, 08:06 AM
 
Location: Virginia (again)
2,697 posts, read 8,708,002 times
Reputation: 1565
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey View Post
The Govt never gave fair funding to Amtrak or any Rail agency instead pumped billions and trillions into Roads and Airports. If Amtrak was given the same amount of $$$ as the roads and airports it would be profitable.
Seriously? Oh, sure, if we had only spent more. This mentality is going to leave your children and mine paying 75% of their future income to the government in taxes. On average, the American taxpayer has to pay $32/passenger to ride Amtrak. Yes, indeed, if only we had spent more.
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Old 02-12-2011, 08:43 AM
 
Location: On the Rails in Northern NJ
12,380 posts, read 26,900,150 times
Reputation: 4583
Quote:
Originally Posted by sls76 View Post
Seriously? Oh, sure, if we had only spent more. This mentality is going to leave your children and mine paying 75% of their future income to the government in taxes. On average, the American taxpayer has to pay $32/passenger to ride Amtrak. Yes, indeed, if only we had spent more.
Well if Amtrak was given enough money to get smaller more efficient trains then it would be different. It would be profitable , if Amtrak dumped its longer distance losing lines this would lead to a profitable system but this has been blocked.....numerous times Amtrak tried to dump them and rural republicans and Democrats who would lose the lines blocked it. But we subsidize the Airports and Roads , so why not equally fund Amtrak. I don't see what the issue is , the roads can't bring a return unless there tolled and the Airliners only pay for themselves ...
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Old 02-12-2011, 09:33 AM
 
Location: Virginia (again)
2,697 posts, read 8,708,002 times
Reputation: 1565
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey View Post
Well if Amtrak was given enough money to get smaller more efficient trains then it would be different. It would be profitable , if Amtrak dumped its longer distance losing lines this would lead to a profitable system but this has been blocked.....numerous times Amtrak tried to dump them and rural republicans and Democrats who would lose the lines blocked it. But we subsidize the Airports and Roads , so why not equally fund Amtrak. I don't see what the issue is , the roads can't bring a return unless there tolled and the Airliners only pay for themselves ...
The problem with your argument is that it is not supported by government data. The attached study shows that rail and transport subsidies per mile are extremely large relative to highway and air. In other words, your argument that highway and air users don't pay their fair share is bogus. See page 25 and 26 for net federal subsidies per thousand passenger miles.

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ETA: Here is the same data in a more user friendly format:
http://www.bts.gov/programs/federal_subsidies_to_passenger_transportation/html/federal_subsidies_to_passenger_transportation.html (broken link)

Last edited by sls76; 02-12-2011 at 10:01 AM..
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