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Old 04-16-2013, 02:46 PM
 
83 posts, read 75,667 times
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I would have loved a rail here in Wis. I am from a little town that would have financially benifitted from the rail stop there. We were all pretty dissapointed and many were angry when it fell through.
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Old 04-17-2013, 11:53 AM
 
Location: Sector 001
15,946 posts, read 12,287,130 times
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seems to me like a big black hole where mountains of money would be spent only to benefit a relatively few, yet vocal people who support it.

I also see high maintenance costs associated with such long runs in a relatively low population density area. I could be wrong about all this though. People complain about our spending then propose ideas like this which would entail enormous costs.

"In 2012, Amtrak's President proposed a plan to build one dedicated high-speed rail line between Washington D.C. and Boston. He estimated it would cost $151 billion and take more than 25 years to fully design and build the line.[25] The proposed rail line would allow for top speeds of 220 mph (354 km/h).[26][27]"


Bottom line... do we get back the costs associated with building and maintaining these lines? Why is this needed over flying? What benefit does it have to the majority?

Last edited by sholomar; 04-17-2013 at 12:13 PM..
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Old 04-17-2013, 09:52 PM
 
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Imagine a 5 hour ride from Chicago to Minneapolis. Just over an hour to Milwaukee from Chicago. Just over an hour to Madison from Milwaukee with a short stop in or near Brookfield or Waukesha. Maybe about 3 hours from Madison to Minneapolis. Such a service could be a game changer in the region's transportation network.
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Old 04-17-2013, 11:56 PM
 
545 posts, read 1,485,187 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by reppin_the_847 View Post
Imagine a 5 hour ride from Chicago to Minneapolis. Just over an hour to Milwaukee from Chicago. Just over an hour to Madison from Milwaukee with a short stop in or near Brookfield or Waukesha. Maybe about 3 hours from Madison to Minneapolis. Such a service could be a game changer in the region's transportation network.
I agree, but that's not what was being proposed. There were 5 stops just on the Milwaukee to Madison segment (Wauwatosa, Brookfield, Watertown, MSN Airport, Monona Terrace) and the route chosen would have required a slow ride through Madison. Just a poorly thought out plan. True high speed rail would be a game changer, but where does the money come from? If the California HSR project is any indicator, it could be $50 billion or more just to build a true high speed rail from Chicago to Minneapolis (about the same distance as LA to San Francisco via the Central Valley). Then you have the operating costs...
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Old 04-18-2013, 12:22 PM
 
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^^Exactly. GREAT posts Brian!
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Old 04-20-2013, 12:56 PM
 
Location: Sector 001
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Hopefully we can solve this problem in the next 50-100 years with matter energy transportation. Chicago to Minneapolis by car shouldn't take more than 4 hours for a driver residing in Chicago, since they are all going 100 MPH on WI's interstates anyways. For everybody else it's about 6 hours.

With all the preplanning to leave at their fixed departure times, having to rent a car when you got there, waiting around if there's delays, the times mentioned above don't save much time over just throwing your luggage in the trunk and getting in the car and driving there. Plus cars don't really pollute... they are some of the least polluting items run off internal combustion we have... lawn mowers, boat motors, weed whackers, 2 stroke engines.. these pollute.
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Old 04-21-2013, 06:53 AM
 
Location: somewhere in the woods
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I live in western Wisconsin. we are a part of Wisconsin that is forgotten by those in madison. I sure as heck dont want my taxes paying for high speed rail that very few from western Wisconsin will ever use. it is not needed or wanted out here.
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Old 04-21-2013, 10:44 AM
 
573 posts, read 1,050,430 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by reppin_the_847 View Post
Imagine a 5 hour ride from Chicago to Minneapolis. Just over an hour to Milwaukee from Chicago. Just over an hour to Madison from Milwaukee with a short stop in or near Brookfield or Waukesha. Maybe about 3 hours from Madison to Minneapolis. Such a service could be a game changer in the region's transportation network.
Most people in Minneapolis would be going straight to Chicago, maybe a few students in Madison. 5 hours is not that great to get to Chicago. I would rather fly. They need to up the speed to at least 150 mph, probably faster. I would prefer over 200 mph.
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Old 04-21-2013, 11:04 AM
 
4,540 posts, read 2,784,951 times
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Originally Posted by monkeywrenching View Post
I live in western Wisconsin. we are a part of Wisconsin that is forgotten by those in madison. I sure as heck dont want my taxes paying for high speed rail that very few from western Wisconsin will ever use. it is not needed or wanted out here.
The government is a collective enterprise. By your logic, I shouldn't pay for your roads, schools, bridges, parks, and anything else that you use because I will never use them. Does that mean I shouldn't pay for it? No.
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Old 04-23-2013, 06:15 PM
 
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It might come down to cost, however. If the flight to Chicago is $100 and the train ride is $40 or $50, there are a lot of price sensitive customers that will easily put up with 5 hours in the train as long as it is reliable, hopefully more frequent than 1X per day and offers a comfortable ride onboard. If free WiFi is offered onboard, it would become even more popular. Detroit to Chicago, for example, can easily take more than 5 hours (often 6 hours with delays), yet the train is quite packed on weekends. Sure, you may argue that Detroit is a dead city, but keep in mind that a huge percentage of these folks board in suburbs & satellite cities of Detroit such as Ann Arbor, Dearborn & Royal Oak. Also keep in mind that despite its reputation, Metro Detroit is still the 2nd largest metropolitan area in the Midwest after the Chicago area.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MPLS_TC View Post
Most people in Minneapolis would be going straight to Chicago, maybe a few students in Madison. 5 hours is not that great to get to Chicago. I would rather fly. They need to up the speed to at least 150 mph, probably faster. I would prefer over 200 mph.
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