Speeding to Kalamazoo aboard Amtrak’s high-speed train

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | February 16, 2012 | Mark Brown

[N. Theknow]

When the Pioneer Zephyr — better known as the Silver Streak — made its historic run from Denver to Chicago in 1934, the diesel-powered passenger train now on display at the Museum of Science and Industry topped out at 112.5 miles per hour, which at the time was only slightly off the world land speed record.

What then are we to make of Wednesday’s official Amtrak kickoff for its first “high speed rail” corridor outside the Northeast — on which trains traveling between Chicago and Kalamazoo, Mich., will now reach top speeds of 110 miles per hour?

Bring back the Silver Streak?

[N. Theknow]

Ralph Nader once wrote about a GM product as being unsafe at any speed.

We now have a Government Boondoggle which is unwanted at any speed.

[Buckeye McFrog]

so now you can travel from a huge example of the failures of the Great Society to a small one in under two hours...

[ILS21R]

A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I got a gal in Kalamazoo
Don’t wanta boast but I know she’s the toast of Kalamazoo-zoo-zoo-zoo-zoo-zoo
Years have gone by, my, my, how she grew
I liked her looks when I carried her books in Kalamazoo-zoo-zoo-zoo-zoo

I’m gonna send away, hopping on a plane (train), leaving today
And my dreamin’. I can hear her screamin’
Hi-ya, Mr Jackson, everything’s OK-A-L-A-M-A-Z-O
Oh, what a gal, a real pipparoo
I’ll make my bid for that freckle-faced kid I’m hurrying to
I’m goin’ to Michigan to see the sweetest gal in Kalamazoo
Zoo-zoo, zoo-zoo-zoo
Kalamazoo

K-A-L-A-M-A-Z-O-O
Oh, I gotta gal, a real pipparoo
We’re going to Michigan to see the sweetest girl in Kalamazoo
Zoo-zoo-zoo-zoo-za-zoo-za-zoo-za-zoo-zoo
Kalamazoo

[Oratam]

"Oh, I gotta gal . . . a real pipparoo . . . ."

[Bob]

Still, if more of America’s railways were able to accommodate such speeds, I can promise you more of us would be riding the train, even if there is no comparison to the faster bullet trains of other nations.

Oh my goodness! Willie Green's changed his name and gone into journalism. :=)

[hal ogen]

Silver Streak???? It is more like the “Brown Streak” on the fiscal health of the nation.

[indthkr]

Commute at the speed of light - use the internet, attend Webinars, teleconference.

On the other hand, if gas hits $5/gal, the train may start to look attractive in certain densely populated regions.

[N. Theknow]

For comparison:

The Pioneer Zephyr - 112.5 MPH

Amtrak - 110 MPH

[NonValueAdded]

If you’re wondering why you’d want to go to Kalamazoo, the short answer is it’s halfway on Amtrak’s route to Detroit, and Michigan officials will turn their attention next to upgrading that portion of the journey. Eventually, they’d like to cut the five and a half hour trip between here and Detroit to three hours 45 minutes.

Let us read between those lines. The answer to the rhetorical ask "Why Kalamazoo" yields the answer "because it is half-way there?" I guess that means there is absolutely no reason to go from Chi-town to the 'zoo except to hear some speechifying. And it's half-way to Detroit? That begs the question, "why in God's name Detroit???"

So a few billions of dollars later, they shave a couple of hours off a trip no one will want to make, certainly not with enough repetition to make up a ridership base?

[1rudeboy]

Help me out here. Percentage-wise, how much slower is Amtrak?

[cripplecreek]

Train derailment about two weeks ago on this same line. If it had been high speed, that town wouldn’t be there today and many would be dead.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2841061/posts

[cripplecreek]

Kalamazoo. The second most liberal city in Michigan.

Second only to Ann Arbor but they’ll keep tryin.

[Fresh Wind]

How fast would the “new Zephyr” go without the government subsidy to push it along?

[animal172]

Doesn’t get any better than hearing Tex Beneke backed by Glenn Miller. Now that was music.

[ILS21R]

Doesn’t get any better than hearing Tex Beneke backed by Glenn Miller. Now that was music.

True. That big band sound is still the best.

[Zuse]

And hey! No (TSA) pat-downs!

[BfloGuy]

Amtrak - 110 MPH

Compared to the Zephyr, this thing even looks like a government train.

[ILS21R]

Kalamazoo. The second most liberal city in Michigan.

Interesting. Is it because of WMU?

[BfloGuy]

And hey! No (TSA) pat-downs!

Yet.

[PilotDave]

“they’d like to cut the five and a half hour trip between here and Detroit to three hours 45 minutes.”

You can fly on the airlines for about $50 each way in under an hour. Do these idiot politicians (redundant) really think this will work? Never in a free market. Of course, that is their trump card...