Whenever the train comes off the tracks, the engineer is responsible.

I was getting ready to leave work for the day via red line like I always do - I realized I had some research to do at the Library of Congress, so I went the other way instead, walked east - if I'd gone on my normal routine, I'm about 95% sure I'd have been on that train. Life's a trip.

(06-22-2009 06:04 AM)Tripster Wrote:  

(06-22-2009 01:21 AM)RobertN Wrote:  

(06-22-2009 12:25 AM)TomorrowHerd Wrote:  

(06-21-2009 11:54 PM)RobertN Wrote:  

(06-21-2009 11:39 PM)TomorrowHerd Wrote:  Most highway congestion is going to and from work. A high speed rail will not help this. To do this we will have to buy up all the land, do all kinds of environmental surveys, blah blah blah and it will have no real benefit. It is a pipe dream by people who want to be like Europe. I like travelling by train, but would not do it in the states.

A high speed rail line would also be VERY easy for terrorists to attack.

Drill baby drill!

THAT would have GREAT benefit!!!!
Good, Robert!!! You are showing some potential. Now we just have to work on you posting slogans in the right threads.

Benefit for who? Investors? Oil companies? Of course, you know I was making fun of your stupid ass comments. Ruining Floridauh's beaches is not going to solve our problems. Burning oil longer than we should be helps nobody. "We should just build more roads(or atleast pave the highways in WV). We should spend billions more on airports. But **** train travel. It is just a huge pork project and is just a waste of resources. No reason to have convenient inter-city travel. I have my rusty pickup with the gun rack on back."

My friend in Canada tells me how they have their rail systems worked out so that they are effective and efficient at the same time.

He said instead of either Elevated Trains that just stop at "Stations" or Subway Trains that do the same, the way the Canadians worked out their system, was to run the entire rail line under every building inside the city - - this way, you stay out of the weather, you get dropped off exactly at your building of work and there is no hawking the streets for blocks and blocks walking from a Subway or an El Train's fragmented stop schedule.

He said that hardly anyone drives because it is kind of foolish to do so when the Rail System simply gets you where you need to go with no hassle.

He says that he simply walks down to the Rail Stop under his Apartment Building, gets on the Train and it takes him directly to work with no weirdness mixed in.

Now anyone could see how that would work and if you needed to get to a certain Street, you just get off the Rail at which ever building is closest to that street and you walk thru the building and out the front door - - not the opposite way we do it in the U.S. ....

Instead of 150 MPH Bullet Trains that are made for long distance travel, why not rework our systems to mimic the Canadian way.

To Common Sense for us I guess and with the Bright Lights we now have running the circus, Bullet Trains are the Supreme Answer to All our Travel needs.

Why we can go from 110th Street Stop to 111th Street Stop in just under .02 Seconds with the Bullet Train !!!!!! Geniuses I tell you !!!!!! Bleendin' Geniuses .....

.

Trippy, you certainly have problems. Where do I start? We aren't talking about inner-city transport. Yes, I know Canada has a wonderful system(but they pay high taxes to achieve it).

What most of us are talking about is Chicago to Detroit or Cleveland. We aren't talking about an LA to Dayton. I think most of us agree that LONG routes such as this are not going to be what this is designed for. As for LA to LV, that line will be packed day in and day out if it is built. I am not sure where the tracks are planned but many cities in the north have train depots in their downtowns. So if you go from downtown to downtown, you can walk, catch a cab or rapid transit to get to where you want. This may not work as well in the southern states. What could be done is to have repid transit to meet up at the station(whether it be busses subways or whatever the main system used in the city) and have rental agencies available.

Quote:As for LA to LV, that line will be packed day in and day out if it is built. I am not sure where the tracks are planned but many cities in the north have train depots in their downtowns. So if you go from downtown to downtown, you can walk, catch a cab or rapid transit to get to where you want. This may not work as well in the southern states. What could be done is to have repid transit to meet up at the station(whether it be busses subways or whatever the main system used in the city) and have rental agencies available.

Or... You could drive your OWN car from ANYWHERE in the LA basin to ANYWHERE in the LV valley for much, much less $$$. Yeah may take you an extra 3 hours. But would probably save you $200.00.

(06-23-2009 02:47 AM)RobertN Wrote:   Trippy, you certainly have problems. Where do I start? We aren't talking about inner-city transport. Yes, I know Canada has a wonderful system(but they pay high taxes to achieve it).

What most of us are talking about is Chicago to Detroit or Cleveland. We aren't talking about an LA to Dayton. I think most of us agree that LONG routes such as this are not going to be what this is designed for. As for LA to LV, that line will be packed day in and day out if it is built. I am not sure where the tracks are planned but many cities in the north have train depots in their downtowns. So if you go from downtown to downtown, you can walk, catch a cab or rapid transit to get to where you want. This may not work as well in the southern states. What could be done is to have repid transit to meet up at the station(whether it be busses subways or whatever the main system used in the city) and have rental agencies available.

Yes you stupid dit !!!!! I know what the discussion is about .....

I tossed this in as a side note to how to deal with City Environments since half-witted Liberals will be trying to run Bullet Trains as City Transportation under our Grand TOTUS Obamagog.

Why do you waste time trying to be cute at insults when you definitely are not able to pull it off ???

Get a life, your Couch I Sagging like Your Asshat ....

.

(06-23-2009 03:29 AM)TomorrowHerd Wrote:  

Quote:As for LA to LV, that line will be packed day in and day out if it is built. I am not sure where the tracks are planned but many cities in the north have train depots in their downtowns. So if you go from downtown to downtown, you can walk, catch a cab or rapid transit to get to where you want. This may not work as well in the southern states. What could be done is to have repid transit to meet up at the station(whether it be busses subways or whatever the main system used in the city) and have rental agencies available.

Or... You could drive your OWN car from ANYWHERE in the LA basin to ANYWHERE in the LV valley for much, much less $$$. Yeah may take you an extra 3 hours. But would probably save you $200.00.

Or you can fly Southwest from LA to Vegas for about $100.

Here's the scoop on Europe's passenger rail

http://www.amtrakoig.com/(S(fidfyt4540nc...042208.PDF

Quote:Overall Conclusions
After examining a representative sample of European Passenger Train Operations over a multi-year period, we found that:
a) When all revenues and expenses for the entire passenger train system are taken into consideration, European Passenger Train Operations operate at a financial loss and consequently require significant Public Subsidies, and
b) The average annual subsidies for European Passenger Train Operations are much higher than those for comparable Amtrak services.

Enjoy.

Now give us the scoop on American roads and highways. Are they self-supporting or do they require large government subsidies?

They shouldn't get federal subsidies. How long are we going to rob Peter to pay Paul? The government needs to lessen the monies it steals from the state and the citizenry of the state and leave this **** UP to the states. I could have sworn that was in the US Constitution, but then again, you "progressives" think the Constitution is outdated.

(06-25-2009 04:48 PM)Zipfanatik Wrote:  Now give us the scoop on American roads and highways. Are they self-supporting or do they require large government subsidies?

Federal and state gasoline taxes, combined w/ tolls makes them essentially self-supporting. You don't get much more "user pay" than that.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticN...7E20090625

"The (Obama) administration has a difficult problem -- a system that can no longer pay for itself," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said at a Senate Environment and Public Works hearing. "There is simply not enough money to do what we need to do."

Not to mention the costs of pollution, congestion, time wasted...

(06-25-2009 09:41 PM)Zipfanatik Wrote:  http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticN...7E20090625

"The (Obama) administration has a difficult problem -- a system that can no longer pay for itself," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said at a Senate Environment and Public Works hearing. "There is simply not enough money to do what we need to do."

Not to mention the costs of pollution, congestion, time wasted...

Time wasted? You've obviously never taken public transportation. Those are fabricated arguments that really make no sense, but they do serve to keep the discord going.

As for the Transportation Fund, there is far more money than accounted for. For example, the Dulles Toll Road produces tens of millions of dollars in revenue each year that is NOT spent on the road, but rather goes to the general fund in Richmond. Maryland has similar issues, the tolls paid at bridges and tunnels are spent on other projects besides highways. That doesn't even count the millions Maryland wastes on poorly designed freeways and intersections.

(BTW, that's a big part of your Wash DC delays right there. Build sensible roads and shrink the Fed Gov't, and you get rid of traffic problems in the 3rd worst congested area in the country.)

Does every state have such issues? I can't say for sure. But while we do need improved roads, the reduced driving: 81B mi less means less wear and tear. Your transportation secretary hasn't mentioned that part, has he? Because gov't never likes to shrink itself.

Finally, you do realize that you're talking about a few billion for the whole country. Every city's light rail, costs billions to build and tens-hundreds of millions in annual subsidies. Consider the results from this study

Quote:As illustrated in the following table, from 1996 to 2006, the six European nations in this study spent, on average, a combined total of $42 billion annually ($26.1 billion – on-balance sheet funding; $15.8 billion – off balance sheet funding) on their national railroads.

That's over countries much smaller in size than the US.

All the train lovers and city planners who keep lobbying for this will never win the debate by showing the actual numbers. Instead it's vague notions about new jobs, green transportation, and reduced traffic. All of those are shown to be false when you examine the issue.