Obama's Crazy-Ambitious Plan for High-Speed Rail Lines in America

[Eleni]

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Europeans and Japanese already enjoy high-speed rail service, but Americans are woefully dependent on cars and planes to get from city to city. Not for long, if Obama has anything to say about it.

Obama's right-hand goon, Joe Biden, unveiled the administration's plans for high-speed rail all across the country today, showing off a seriously impressive map that adds lines connecting cities all over the country.

Of course, this is all going to take time and a whole lot of money. The first line that's likely to go in, thanks to its advanced state of planning, is the California section, which hopes to link up its major cities with a 200mph rail line sometime in the next decade.

What's unclear is how all of this will be paid for. After all, the current stimulus package has $8 billion marked for high-speed rail projects. Sounds like a lot until you learn that the CA section alone will cost somewhere around $40 billion.

But still, in the long run the benefits of a reliable, fast rail system connecting major cities is clear. I hope they're able to make this happen. [WhiteHouse.gov (http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/16/A-Vision-for-High-Speed-Rail/) and The Economist (http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13446666)]

[sadelb]

California desperately needs something like this. I was in Los Angeles last week and the traffic is absolutely miserable. It takes you at least 35 or 40 minutes to go 8 miles in LA. We were picking our dinner restaurants based on how many miles it was from our current location. Thank God for "alternative routes" on my GPS.

[Gspot555]

I actually like this idea, but I dont think now is the right time for it

[metfan85]

I love trains, and I love the idea of an entrepeneu being able to do this, but...

I wonder how Obama possibly has enough money in his savings account to pay for this? Oh wait, never mind, he's just going to steal it from us at gunpoint.

[joeylima]

It's a great idea...if they were gonna spend 800 billion on mostly garbage, they should of allocated a whole bunch more to this project...this is all talk though for now....wont happen any time soon, espeically here in NYC. That would be sick to have a high speed rail down to Miami though!!!

Wonder how much the fare would be?

[Benny B]

It's a great idea...if they were gonna spend 800 billion on mostly garbage, they should of allocated a whole bunch more to this project...this is all talk though for now....wont happen any time soon, espeically here in NYC. That would be sick to have a high speed rail down to Miami though!!!

Wonder how much the fare would be?

hi speed "rail" to miami..

:chuckle

[joeylima]

hi speed "rail" to miami..

:chuckle

lol

[James Maxx]

This definitely was overdue watch oil demand plummet just by this project.

[James Maxx]

hi speed "rail" to miami..

:chuckle


lol

[John Kennedy]

I love trains, and I love the idea of an entrepeneu being able to do this, but...

I wonder how Obama possibly has enough money in his savings account to pay for this? Oh wait, never mind, he's just going to steal it from us at gunpoint.

If a company is large enough to pull this off on their own with no government involvement, then that company would be just as big and bad of a beast, an unelectable and untouchable one at that, to this country as you think the federal government is wouldn't it? And if it's left completely up to the states to negotiate on their own, they'd probably form a group just as large as the fed agency working on this, or the major corporation capable enough to pull this off, in order to have some form of expediency, or else it would never happen, or take twice as long and cost twice as much, with money coming from the people or a government anyway. This is ma bell and con ed status.. it can't be thrown together without govt involvement at first at least. I'd love to hear of an idea that could illustrate otherwise though.

Govt wouldn't necessarily foot the whole bill if this happens.. tons of companies would love to sign on, borrow at a cost from fed insured/subsidized (with govt taking a profit from the loan), take a piece of the fares over a length of time (again, partnering with the govt agency running this) to payback the govt/banks and profit on their own. Tons of private companies will be born just for this project alone. We've been propping up Amtrak for the past 30 years with govt money being thrown into an archaic system, might as well lay it down right. It'll probably be worthless in 100 years like Amtrak is but that's everything.

[joeylima]

Govt wouldn't necessarily foot the whole bill if this happens.. tons of companies would love to sign on, borrow at a cost from fed insured/subsidized (with govt taking a profit from the loan), take a piece of the fares over a length of time (again, partnering with the govt agency running this) to payback the govt/banks and profit on their own. Tons of private companies will be born just for this project alone. We've been propping up Amtrak for the past 30 years with govt money being thrown into an archaic system, might as well lay it down right. It'll probably be worthless in 100 years like Amtrak is but that's everything.

GREAT points...I would love to see this happen.

[ShaE]

agreed

[Defekted]

Public Transportation is the lifeline for the America's Future. It will serve to revive the economic engine and reduce our dependency on foreign oil and clean up the environment........ whatever money we put in, WE WILL GET BACK 100 FOLD in the longrun......

[TrippinFace101]

Public Transportation is the lifeline for the America's Future. It will serve to revive the economic engine and reduce our dependency on foreign oil and clean up the environment........ whatever money we put in, WE WILL GET BACK 100 FOLD in the longrun......

And will create alot of jobs . And the unions will jump on it and make it take forever to build lol

[jameznyhc]

And will create alot of jobs . And the unions will jump on it and make it take forever to build lol

and americans will still drive

[TrippinFace101]

and americans will still drive

You know it bro :yipee:yipee. I :heart:heart driving so much fun

[sadelb]

and americans will still drive

If they start this in California BELIEVE ME, people will take this over driving. There's no question. I dont see why anybody would be against this.

[jameznyhc]

If they start this in California BELIEVE ME, people will take this over driving. There's no question. I dont see why anybody would be against this.

not saying im against since he stealing my money regardless im powerless until he gone and it will employ people .. i hope so i just dont see a huge demand for hi speed rail .. im takin a plane to cali are you crazy ..

[metfan85]

Public Transportation is the lifeline for the America's Future. It will serve to revive the economic engine and reduce our dependency on foreign oil and clean up the environment........ whatever money we put in, WE WILL GET BACK 100 FOLD in the longrun......

Ok, so you're saying this is going to return 100x profit and none of these billionaires, want to make an investment like that? Come on man, if this was economically feasible it would have been done already. I thought all businessmen were all greedy bastards who are risk averse and just want to make a buck?

Let us also not forget that the federal interstate system is what killed the rails in the first place.

Also why do all municipal run transportation systems need taxpayer funding and are still in red ink?

While we're on the topic of not forgetting, let us again not forget that the NYC subway system was privately funded and built, and has completely floundered since the takeover by the city. The city which came into the rails because they made a law demanding the train companies, IRT, BMT, et cetera could not raise fares. The same city which raised fares immediately after taking over the subway system.

And btw, I'm a rail user, I took a train, Amtrak, to Georgia last year and thought it was great.

not saying im against since he stealing my money regardless im powerless until he gone and it will employ people .. i hope so i just dont see a huge demand for hi speed rail .. im takin a plane to cali are you crazy ..
powerless when he leaves too lol

I guess he realizes his green initiative is going to make driving an expense only the rich will be able to cover, so everyone is going to need trains lol

[Benny B]

Ok, so you're saying this is going to return 100x profit and none of these billionaires, want to make an investment like that? Come on man, if this was economically feasible it would have been done already. I thought all businessmen were all greedy bastards who are risk averse and just want to make a buck?

Let us also not forget that the federal interstate system is what killed the rails in the first place.

Also why do all municipal run transportation systems need taxpayer funding and are still in red ink?

While we're on the topic of not forgetting, let us again not forget that the NYC subway system was privately funded and built, and has completely floundered since the takeover by the city. The city which came into the rails because they made a law demanding the train companies, IRT, BMT, et cetera could not raise fares. The same city which raised fares immediately after taking over the subway system.

And btw, I'm a rail user, I took a train Amtrak to Georgia last year and thought it was great.

powerless when he leaves too lol

I guess he realizes his green initiative is going to make driving an expense only the rich will be able to cover, so everyone is going to need trains lol

well thats exactly the point of cap and trade is the fact that they wanna push the prices soo high on current to push to green alternatives.. instead of letting the free market work they forcing upon us what they want instead of what the market wants.

[Bekim...]

will gays be allowed on the trains?

[TrippinFace101]

will gays be allowed on the trains?

:lol:lol:lol:lol:lol:lol:lol

[admin]

this wont happen for another 20-30 years. Things like this dont happen in America overnight like they use to. Just look at the Freedom Tower, last week Cushman & Wakefield disclosed their study which said that the Towers wont be fully occupied until 2037 (http://gothamist.com/2009/04/16/study_predicts_full_world_trade_cen.php) .

Over a dozen countries have trains that run over 200mph, including Turkey. This is a sigh that US is lacking behind:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_by_country

[admin]

btw Japan's high speed trains run up to 360mph. By the time US will be finished with their 200mph high speed trains, Japan and China will have trains that run 400-500mph. It's sad that our fastest trains run only at 90mph.

[ShaE]

high speed train crashes scare the crap out of me, 360mph? nothing left of you if that happens.

i'm not saying that's an argument against having them, but wow, dangerous.

[eL FryEdo]

high speed train crashes scare the crap out of me, 360mph? nothing left of you if that happens.

i'm not saying that's an argument against having them, but wow, dangerous.

kind of like plane crashes

[Defekted]

btw Japan's high speed trains run up to 360mph. By the time US will be finished with their 200mph high speed trains, Japan and China will have trains that run 400-500mph. It's sad that our fastest trains run only at 90mph.

We are waaaaaaaay behind when it comes to Mass Transit. I was in Germany for the World Cup in 2006 and was floored by their train system...... I went from city to city with the greatest of ease..... and I backpacked Europe in 2002 and used the train system exclusively..... From London to Athens...... Always on time and always reliable.


On the other side of the coin.... I worked for 3 years in DC and alternated between flying and jumping on the Amtrak Acela ..... its isnt bad at all but only serves a tiny slice of the north east and still stakes 3 hours plus to make it from NYC to DC.....


Even if it takes 30 years to realize, we need to break ground immediately..... If this country was interconnected from city to city and from coast to coast with high speed rail, we would see new levels of economic and social well being.

This is a no brainer.

[ShaE]

kind of like plane crashes
right, but a train you can see the speed so much more clearly b/c it's traveling on land, planes look so much slower than they are in the sky.

i can't imagine a train passing me at nearly 400 mph. planes go about 6, no?

[Benny B]

high speed train crashes scare the crap out of me, 360mph? nothing left of you if that happens.

i'm not saying that's an argument against having them, but wow, dangerous.

havent you seen the movie unbreakable

cmon there be at least 1 sole survivor..

:chuckle

[ShaE]

We are waaaaaaaay behind when it comes to Mass Transit. I was in Germany for the World Cup in 2006 and was floored by their train system...... I went from city to city with the greatest of ease..... and I backpacked Europe in 2002 and used the train system exclusively..... From London to Athens...... Always on time and always reliable.


On the other side of the coin.... I worked for 3 years in DC and alternated between flying and jumping on the Amtrak Acela ..... its isnt bad at all but only serves a tiny slice of the north east and still stakes 3 hours plus to make it from NYC to DC.....


Even if it takes 30 years to realize, we need to break ground immediately..... If this country was interconnected from city to city and from coast to coast with high speed rail, we would see new levels of economic and social well being.

This is a no brainer.

efficient, sustainable transportation is key, no question. especially w/ a country this size.

[TrippinFace101]

btw Japan's high speed trains run up to 360mph. By the time US will be finished with their 200mph high speed trains, Japan and China will have trains that run 400-500mph. It's sad that our fastest trains run only at 90mph.

Acela runs around 130mph at some spots

[metfan85]

this wont happen for another 20-30 years. Things like this dont happen in America overnight like they use to. Just look at the Freedom Tower, last week Cushman & Wakefield disclosed their study which said that the Towers wont be fully occupied until 2037 (http://gothamist.com/2009/04/16/study_predicts_full_world_trade_cen.php) .

Over a dozen countries have trains that run over 200mph, including Turkey. This is a sigh that US is lacking behind:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_by_country

Sorry, Dmitiry but that's not true. Nothing gets built in this country, when government tries to build it. Look at how quickly Larry Silverstein, got WTC #7 up, the state can not even agree on blueprints, and that is for an obvious reason, the people in charge do not make a profit and have no incentive to build quickly.

I don't get how people ever miss this.

[TrippinFace101]

efficient, sustainable transportation is key, no question. especially w/ a country this size.

To bad it will take forever to build it though. Unions contracts etc