All aboard!

Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | Sunday, August 15, 2010 | Editorial

[Willie Green]

Conventional wisdom may say otherwise, but the recession is a good time to start spending the billions of dollars it will take to make high-speed rail travel a reality in this country. The benefits of that economic stimulus could not be denied.

Don't we already have high-speed rail lines, you might ask. And the answer is no, not really, as staff writer Paul Nussbaum pointed out in a four-part series of articles that ran last week in The Inquirer.

While Amtrak's fastest train, the Acela Express, chugs along at about 70 miles per hour, Spain's AVE Train cruises at 186 m.p.h.

Think about it: Trains traveling that fast would slice in half the five hours it now takes the Acela to get to Boston from Philadelphia. A New York-to-Washington trek becomes a 90-minute jaunt. Visiting or working in one Northeast Corridor city while living in another one suddenly becomes a much easier feat to accomplish.

A growing movement to take America where Europe and Asia have been for years with high-speed rail now includes President Obama, who recently committed $8 billion in stimulus money to new rail projects, including $1.2 billion toward the cost of a Tampa-to-Orlando high-speed line that may become the nation's first.

But Obama is just sticking his toe in the water. To get fully immersed, a much bigger financial commitment has to be made. A national network of high-speed lines will cost up to a $1 trillion, spread out over several decades. But the investment would pay huge dividends, including tens of thousands of new construction and manufacturing jobs.

The investment needed would be comparable to the effort that began the interstate highway system. It will require careful analysis of where it would make sense to put high-speed lines.

That's actually a conversation that needs to be had about all rail travel in this country. Government subsidies for lightly used Amtrak routes aren't justified.

Transportation and other government officials at all levels, as well as consumers and other stakeholders, must be fully involved in these discussions. They can get a good head start by considering an excellent proposal for a Northeastern high-speed line developed by the University of Pennsylvania School of Design.

The PennDesign plan includes new tracks for two rail lines dedicated to high-speed trains traveling from Boston to Washington. High-speed stations would also be built in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Hartford, Conn., and Long Island, N.Y. The new tracks would free existing tracks for commuter and freight service.

The popularity of these high-speed lines could triple Amtrak ridership in the Northeast Corridor to 55 million annual riders by 2040. The amenities needed to serve riders at new stations will benefit the surrounding communities. Increased train travel will also reduce the need for new roads, and the environment will benefit from reduced carbon emissions from cars.

It makes sense to integrate a new high-speed rail system with commuter lines and air carriers to build a transportation network better than anything in Europe. The cost will be great, but so will the benefits. Obama should emulate Eisenhower on highways, and make a defining investment in the needed infrastructure.

[Grizzled Bear]

Truth to a socialist is like holy water to a vampire.

[Grizzled Bear]

Amtrak is well on their way to surpassing the 28.7 million passengers they served in 2008. Amtrak heads for ridership record in 2010

How much true profit did Amtrak earn after subtracting the subsidies?

[Grizzled Bear]

Daily Willie Green Choo-Choo thread.

Promoting 19th Century technology for the 21st Century.

Petrucio,

You should start a rail detractors ping list!

[mvpel]

Name three high-speed rail systems that have broken even, let alone turned a profit, if it’s so much “more efficient.”

[cripplecreek]

Detractors are a more efficient mode of transportation.

[KevinDavis]

Says who... I refuse to take the train...

[Petruchio]

Detractors are a more efficient mode of transportation.

Especially when pulling detrailors . . . [grin]

[wolf78]

Germany's Deutsche Bahn Fernverkehr is profitable, so is France's SCNF, don't know about the Spanish AVE, but they've been stealing a lot of traffic from the airlines. But then high-speed-rail does make sense in Europe.

Take for example a trip from Frankfurt to Berlin, which is approximately 600km or 370mi.

A proper high-speed rail network does that in under 3 hours, and even a mediocre one with some stretches of old track in between and a few stops in the middle of nowhere does it in not more than 4. 4 hours during which you can do productive work or have a short nap or surf the net etc..

A plane is faster, it only takes one hour to cover the distance. But then you have to add half an hour to get from Frankfurt to the airport, plus another half to get from the other airport to Berlin. And up to another hour for check-in, baggage screening, having the data from your laptop downloaded by the authorities and why not throw in an anal probe for fun... so you have to ask: is it worth the hassle if in the end you don't save much time.

And as to the car: Realistically it takes 5 hours at an average speed of 75 mph because while doing 120mph is completely safe and legal in Germany, it's just too exhausting when there is normal traffic. It's actual work, you just don't arrive rested.

So there definitely is a market for high speed rail and if done properly it would certainly work on some routes in the US, too (something like New York-Boston or New York-Washington). But it's no panacea, no solve-all or a complete replacement for the car.

But that's the problem: Unfortunately - no offence - most people are stupid. They see their own needs and think everybody has the same needs (it's a miracle that a market economy came into existence despite that mindset). A New Yorker will think that cars are stupid - because who would want to drive a car in NY? And an Idahoan will think trains are BS, exactly because they do not stop at one's favorite restaurant.

Trains will not replace cars exactly because you can't use them to get groceries. But if in 15 years somebody offered me a mobility package that combines high-speed rail with electric rental cars at every streetcorner for half the price of owning my own car, why wouldn't I consider it? That's the beauty of the market: Everybody get to choose for him- or herself.

[BobS]

Anything that is subsidized by the government cannot stand on it's own two feet. Eorope's rail and freeways had their land base already constructed by the Romans. It was simple to lay rails city-city on top of what the Romans paved. Notice how smooth driving ~120 mph is over there? I like their O/N sleeper trains with a "bar" at the end of the car for coffee,soda,beer or sandwhiches. And the little bathroom in the compartment to shower, shave and wash up before departing.

Those 1st Classe train experiences can't happen here.

[Grizzled Bear]

Hey a$$hole the train stops across from my favorite restaurant. Get a grip. NOT s.

They should take some of the government subsidies paid to Amtrak to offset the cost of your meal.

That makes as much sense as loonie Willie's ravings.

[Leisler]

Truth only works for the logical.

The fanatic, the delusional, the hack is untouched by facts.

[Leisler]

Wow.

All of Amtrack does what a few miles around Boston does.

Impressive.

[Leisler]

"Americans earn a return on their Amtrak investment from the money saved by importing less foreign oil. "

Because Amtrack runs on Skittles from the anuses of white unicorns.

[Leisler]

Amtrak doesn’t ...’earn’ ...anything. Ever.

[Leisler]

None of them are publicly traded, or audited. They are profitable in the same way as the New York State Corrections Union is profitable.

[Leisler]

In 2008 all its Deutsche Bahn Fernverkehr shares were held by the Federal Republic of Germany......

Never,ever accept anything GreenDick says. He is, with out exception, a liar, delusional, twisted, ignorant, or a hack. Other than that, he's fine.

[Grizzled Bear]

Amtrak doesn’t ...’earn’ ...anything. Ever.

It was a rhetorical question. Oddly enough, he never provides a direct answer to the quesion. He's like the flim-flam man conning children out of their spare change with the old shell game.

Unfortunately for Willie, this ain't DU or KOS.

[Leisler]

Think about it. Willie=dick. To me, Willie Green means ‘Green Dick’. Which, he/it, is.

[Grizzled Bear]

He is, with out exception, a liar, delusional, twisted, ignorant, or a hack. Other than that, he's fine.

When confronting Willie on his falacies, it's important to remember that Willie has three basic arguments which he periodically rotates.

1 - Race Card. If you voice resistance to having your tax dollars poured into imbecilic Rail Boondoggles, after the Marxists skim the cream off the top, you are an antirail and antiurbanite bigot.

2 - "Shutup, Newby!" - I've recently (within the last several months) seen Willie use this on members with sign up dates as far back as 2003.

3 - "I've posted more articles than you so there!" - This sounds a lot like the elephant arguing that it is wiser than the dolphin because it produces a greater amount of feces. To be fair, Willie posts a lot of crap.

[Leisler]

That’s odd, its the same as any lefty.

Hummm.. Think like a lefty, post like a lefty, argue or and dismiss like a lefty.

Obviously, he is a Reagan man.

/sarc.