High Speed Rail coming to America?

Sunday, September 7, 2008, 03:00 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It would be incorrect to call Johnny Isakson a reckless adventurer, a seeker of confrontation and controversy.

But he is by no means shy.

Already the Republican senator has taken flak for engaging — along with colleague Saxby Chambliss — in a bipartisan attempt at an energy bill. Election season is not the time for kumbaya measures, the Rush Limbaughs of America have screamed.
isakson.jpg
www.ajc.com...

My opinion is this would be great to have. Think of the money people can save on gas and more jobs that would come to the economy not from just building the train system but from working it as well on the train, the station etc. Other countries like Germany, China and Japan have train systems and they seem to work. It seems the train system, if it happens, would go from Texas to Georgia to Massachusetts. There is MUCH more at the link but it was WAY too long to post here.

[edit on 25-11-2008 by LittlePinky82]

Mod Edit: Please use EX tags

[edit on 11/25/08 by FredT]

First off, Who is going to finance this? (sorry about the joke)
I would love to see a high speed train, but around here we cant even get commuters!

The other issue is the u.s. does not have the correct rail infrastructure for high speed commuters. We rely a lot on sharing with class 1 railroads.

...Amtrak has a hard enough time making a dollar! There is no way this will happen.

I would love to see this happen here in America. I have familiy that lives all up and down the eastern seaboard and I hate driving highways for various reasons.

I do have concerns with funding, but it seems like that could be worked out. Dont ask me how because I have no idea.

thanks for posting this

Originally posted by FunSized
I would love to see this happen here in America. I have familiy that lives all up and down the eastern seaboard and I hate driving highways for various reasons.

I do have concerns with funding, but it seems like that could be worked out. Dont ask me how because I have no idea.

thanks for posting this

You're welcome. Right. Very true. It would be nice and probably way cheaper than flying too. Probably less hassle as well since there would be different trains for different time periods etc. How do they pay for Amtrak? I'm sure it'd be the same way. And as the article mentioned it wouldn't have to run on gas but could another form of energy whether it's coal to nuclear. I live about two to three hours from Atlanta and traffic there is always a pain. It would be nice for people who come from my area to Atlanta for day trips like business or shopping. I'm sure it'd be a lot quicker too than driving. It's a fantastic idea I think.

If we can pay out a trillion dollars to save the banks, we should also be able to afford to build a high speed rail system. An effective public transportation system would greatly reduce our dependence on foriegn oil, as well as create a large number of jobs. If the country were to attack this problem like the space race, it could turn into a huge push for technological development, alternative energy sources, and develop our infrastructure for the future. Now would be the perfect time to start such an adventure.

I can see it succeeding in an environment where it feeds into larger cities. I know the train that goes into Chicago from South Bend is very very popular around these parts.

I don't believe a train from one large city to another would work so well. What's so great about riding the train if you have to get rental car or take a taxi everywhere once you get to your destination? Especially if you travel with your family.

Originally posted by poet1b
If we can pay out a trillion dollars to save the banks, we should also be able to afford to build a high speed rail system. An effective public transportation system would greatly reduce our dependence on foriegn oil, as well as create a large number of jobs. If the country were to attack this problem like the space race, it could turn into a huge push for technological development, alternative energy sources, and develop our infrastructure for the future. Now would be the perfect time to start such an adventure.

Yep. I think investing in this like NASA is a good idea too. It could be this time's NASA so to speak. And yes the jobs advantage would be great too! Plus it could help tourists who come to the country too with not having to worry about having a rental car or something all the time. Senator Kerry and the guy from Georgia (Harkin is his name I think) have been working on this for a while so it seems it's coming up to the Senate soon. There was a DailyKos blog about it but I wasn't sure about putting it up here so I put the Atlanta paper up. I think now is the perfect time too especially with people needing work and those who have work are trying to save money on gas for other items they need.

Originally posted by jjkenobi
I can see it succeeding in an environment where it feeds into larger cities. I know the train that goes into Chicago from South Bend is very very popular around these parts.

I don't believe a train from one large city to another would work so well. What's so great about riding the train if you have to get rental car or take a taxi everywhere once you get to your destination? Especially if you travel with your family.

I do understand that. From what I understand the train would go from Texas to Atlanta to D.C. and to Boston. So those cities are pretty big and have good public transportation. Even my town has public transportation all around the city even outside of downtown. Would you rather use your own gas or someone else's to travel that long?

As much as I would like to see High Speed Rail come to fruition, I have to agree with those who say we lack the infrastructure to support it. We are getting on this bandwagon about 20 years to late.

In my area, the shear acquisition of the needed land would be a problem. The urban sprawl has taken over the once plentiful land that would be needed to build such a rail system. This type of rail service definitely needs its own dedicated network of track.

Screw the infrastructure and make it happen anyway. If Congress can vote for 700 billion to bail out these useless CEOs and give them a pass then why not actually put some of this money to good use and help solve the transportation clog in several large cities? I think a high speed rail is a terrific idea.

This has been bandied about time and time again here in the US, while other nations like Japan, which is so much smaller in size, has already implemented mag-lev trains that go much faster than any rail based system, and are way ahead of the curve when it comes to the infrastructure.

And as before, this wont happen in the US anytime soon...bar none.


Cheers!!!!

reply to post by LittlePinky82


It assuredly will not be "way cheaper than flying".

e.g. I'm travelling from Scotland to London just before Christmas. British Airways from Glasgow to Gatwick is currently coming in at about £60 return ($100-120 therabouts) for a 1 hour flight, east coast mainline (not exactly high speed rail but as fast as we get in UK) is coming in at over twice that for a 5 hour journey.

They'd be better off investing in a light rail system on busy commuter routes. It's much more popular but even so still requires a public subsidy. I drive to my local railway station every day, park up & 30 mins later am in Glasgow city centre by train. Cheaper than driving (in UK at least where gas is coming in around about £0.93 per litre) ... & way less stressful.

reply to post by sos37


What good is a high speed rail system going to resolve for a congested city????

What congested cities need are things like mono-rail systems like you find over at Disneyland, systems that are overhead and then can cruise along at good speeds to get you across town.

But then again, even the mono-rail systems were bandied about for years, and of course, your only going to find such systems at Disneyland, or in some other smarter country.



Cheers!!!!

reply to post by sos37


I love the concept, except in my area, in order to effectively serve the big city and the outlying burbs they would have tear down a slew of newly built subdivisions and homes. The land is gone. Eminent domain would be the only solution aside from derailing the freight tracks and that won't happen.

Originally posted by LittlePinky82

Sunday, September 7, 2008, 03:00 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It would be incorrect to call Johnny Isakson a reckless adventurer, a seeker of confrontation and controversy.

But he is by no means shy.

Already the Republican senator has taken flak for engaging — along with colleague Saxby Chambliss — in a bipartisan attempt at an energy bill. Election season is not the time for kumbaya measures, the Rush Limbaughs of America have screamed.
isakson.jpg
www.ajc.com...

My opinion is this would be great to have. Think of the money people can save on gas and more jobs that would come to the economy not from just building the train system but from working it as well on the train, the station etc. Other countries like Germany, China and Japan have train systems and they seem to work. It seems the train system, if it happens, would go from Texas to Georgia to Massachusetts. There is MUCH more at the link but it was WAY too long to post here.

[edit on 25-11-2008 by LittlePinky82]

Mod Edit: Please use EX tags

[edit on 11/25/08 by FredT]

Back in the 1960's through 1970's RT.80 was supposed to have a monorail system from NY to California.

Here is a YouTube link to Michael Moore on Larry King, talking about the potential Auto-industry bailout. The link is to part one of three.

www.youtube.com...

Moore proposes that the government bailout the auto industry through some type of receivership whereby the government would ultimately decide what the money is used for. He goes on to say that they can use the failing auto companies to insitute new national works projects (ie mass transit systems, high-speed maglev trains, hybrid cars, etc). Much like Roosevelt's new deal during depression/ww2 era.

If done right, it could solve a lot of problems. Auto big wigs get their money, that money stays in the country, creates more jobs, eases dependence on foriegn oil, etc...

People will say it is socialist/communist and yada yada. But look at the news and you will see that the financial handouts by our government are already plentiful. If they choose to bailout one industry over another, it just goes to show how corrupt and nepotistic the powerful, elite system really is.

Rail lines could be installed in the center of the interstates, elevated, or put underground. The amount of space taken up by roads and parking lots in suburban areas is massive. A rail system that eliminated the need to drive everywhere could mean that we could eliminate a great deal of the space that roads and parking lots take up.

High speed trains might not be a good idea for traveling between cities, but for navigating the huge urban sprawls that we have developed, they would be a far better alternative for commuting to work, events, going out on Friday night.

I wonder if some kind of futuristic system could be developed that allowed people to travel on some kind of rail system with self owned cars that tie up to the other cars, where the rail type system does the driving, acceleration, and braking, allowing for people to travel in tighter packs at much higher speeds driven by electricity instead of gas.