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05-13-2015, 02:48 PM
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Edge of America
Posts: 1,509
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Philadelphia Train Derailment
Hope none of you or your families were on that train.
Just heard preliminary report indicating the train was traveling at 100MPH in a 50MPH zone.
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Try to rely on yourself as much as possible - when things go to hell, you will know who to blame.
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05-13-2015, 04:14 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 8,310
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Rail travel in the good old USA.
Back in June 2012, 5 of us took the TGV from Paris to Nice. It was delightful. No airport hassles, comfortable, fast, quiet, and scenic. And at many points during the ride at least 2 or 3 of us looked at each other, shaking our heads, that somehow the French can have this and we can't. Just another reminder of how screwed up this country has become.
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05-13-2015, 05:04 PM
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Reformed Know-Nothing
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: MoCo, MD
Posts: 25,909
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American passenger rail sucks, but American freight rail is the envy of the world. Given the size of our country, this is probably as it should be.
http://www.economist.com/node/166361...n/tw/te/rss/pe
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05-13-2015, 07:51 PM
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Senior Member
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: SF east bay
Posts: 4,455
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Just say No!
Quote:
Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Congress backed new spending cuts for Amtrak on Wednesday, just hours after a deadly accident, reviving an often rancorous debate over the public funding of America's struggling passenger railroad.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...e=domesticNews
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Carl
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Russians who vote elect Republicans
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05-13-2015, 07:59 PM
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Abby Normal
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Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 11,245
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Quote:
Originally Posted by finnbow
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nice post
I had no clue.
(I felt like Whelly )
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05-13-2015, 08:15 PM
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Senior Member
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: SF east bay
Posts: 4,455
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Yep, great article. Too bad we aren't talking about private jets here.
Carl
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Russians who vote elect Republicans
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05-14-2015, 05:22 AM
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Metro Detroit
Posts: 13,016
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It'll all boil down to cost and convenience. Most Americans I suspect would rather drive or fly than take a train, even a high speed version. Gas is still relatively inexpensive and airfares are still pretty decent.
In Countries with high speed rail, gas is taxed at the pump and passenger rail is in turn subsidized not only for initial construction but also ongoing operation. Elsewhere in the world, high speed rail lines often barely break even or are money losers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...021605977.html
Given the US's geography, preponderance of wide open spaces and limited areas of population density, high speed rail lines would have limited application in this country anyway.
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05-14-2015, 07:35 AM
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Sierras
Posts: 14,206
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I believe that this Amtrak train had just under 300 people on board, just about what an average wide body jet can carry. So in terms of efficiency, airplanes are far more efficient and economical mode of transportation compared to trains. But what about accessibility to people living in small towns even within in a high traffic corridor? Greyhound?
Wonder how much we subsidize the airlines with TSA, airport construction and maintenance, air traffic control, emergency services and other infrastructure investments.
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White Christian Nationalism:
Freedom for us, order for everyone else, and violence for those who transgress.
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05-14-2015, 07:53 AM
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Resident octogenarian
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: Maryland
Posts: 20,860
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BeamOn
I believe that this Amtrak train had just under 300 people on board, just about what an average wide body jet can carry. So in terms of efficiency, airplanes are far more efficient and economical mode of transportation compared to trains. But what about accessibility to people living in small towns even within in a high traffic corridor? Greyhound?
Wonder how much we subsidize the airlines with TSA, airport construction and maintenance, air traffic control, emergency services and other infrastructure investments.
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We do subsidize both airlines and trucking. Who builds the airports? Who builds the roads? But do we help freight railroads - not bloody likely. If you have never gone overnight by rail first class then you have missed out - rail passengers are quite civilized unlike airplane passengers. I swear airport boarding ramps are time machines - put a reasonably civilized human in the top end and out comes a Neanderthal at the bottom.
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05-14-2015, 07:59 AM
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Sierras
Posts: 14,206
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Quote:
Originally Posted by merrylander
We do subsidize both airlines and trucking. Who builds the airports? Who builds the roads? But do we help freight railroads - not bloody likely. If you have never gone overnight by rail first class then you have missed out - rail passengers are quite civilized unlike airplane passengers. I swear airport boarding ramps are time machines - put a reasonably civilized human in the top end and out comes a Neanderthal at the bottom.
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I have been going back and for from Portland to the Bay Area via Amtrak/Coach Starlight forl fifteen years. When our daughter was going to school in Boulder, CO. took the Zephyr a few times to Denver. Both these trains have killer scenery that I will miss if I am the driver.
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Freedom for us, order for everyone else, and violence for those who transgress.
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