Remember that California bullet train thing?

[PaceAdvantage]

YouTube

[Stevecsd2]

In the early 2000's, when I lived in California, when they were in the initial planning stages, we predicted it would cost at least 5 times as much as predicted at the beginning and take at least 3 times as long to build. We were way low in our estimates. That bridge cost over $1 billion per mile to build.


Phase 1 was planned to be about 170 miles for a cost of:

As of February 2024, the entire Phase 1 was projected to cost between $89–128 billion, with allowance for future inflation.



It will never come in at $128 billion. Taxpayers just keep getting suckered into these boondoggles. This will rival the big dig in Boston by the time it's done.

[tucker6]

Looking good LOL

[mostpost]

Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KxmTgH25_4

In Europe, rail travel is highly successful. 584,000.000.000 passenger kilometers in 2019. Of course that dropped during the pandemic, but is ratcheting up again. So, if they can do it, why can’t we? The answer is obvious. Short sightedness and stupidity.

When Amtrak was established, rural congressmen-Republicans-refused to vote for it unless trains were routed through small towns. Avoiding many larger cities. A perfect example is the California Zephyr; Chicago to San Francisco.
After the Zephyr leaves the Chicago area, it heads southwest across Illinois stopping at Princeton and Galesburg. It crosses the Mississippi into southern Iowa with stops in Burlington, Mt. Pleasant,Ottumwa, Osceola and Creston before arriving in Omaha. Those seven stops have a combined population of 136,441. I have been on the Zephyr several times. It’s a good day if thirty people total get on the train at those seven stops.

But what if there were.a different route for the zephyr? First stop out of Chicago is 90 miles west in Rockford, urban population 276,443. Then west and South to the Quad Cities. One stop for Rock Island/Moline on the Illinois side; One stop for Davenport/Bettandorf on the Iowa side. Quad Cities area has a population of 377,441. Next stop Dubuque/Clinton, pop. 78264. After that, we head to Iowa’s second largest city, Cedar Rapids population 278,520. Followed by Iowa City which is not only home to 171,487 people but is also the site of the University of Iowa. A lot of kids from the Chicago area attend U of Iowa. The last Major stop in Iowa would be Des Moines, which would also include Ames, Iowa. That area has a population of 607,000.

That route has a population of approximately 1,800,000. That’s 13 times the population of the actual route. And that’s just one section of one route.

The other dumb move was using the freight tracks and giving freight trains priority. For what? So they can get to their destination and wait a week to be unloaded.

[Scamper]

And here people thought Mostie was a Democrat ...
go figure

[davew]

Originally Posted by mostpost

In Europe, rail travel is highly successful. 584,000.000.000 passenger kilometers in 2019. Of course that dropped during the pandemic, but is ratcheting up again. So, if they can do it, why can’t we? The answer is obvious. Short sightedness and stupidity.

When Amtrak was established, rural congressmen-Republicans-refused to vote for it unless trains were routed through small towns. Avoiding many larger cities. A perfect example is the California Zephyr; Chicago to San Francisco.
After the Zephyr leaves the Chicago area, it heads southwest across Illinois stopping at Princeton and Galesburg. It crosses the Mississippi into southern Iowa with stops in Burlington, Mt. Pleasant,Ottumwa, Osceola and Creston before arriving in Omaha. Those seven stops have a combined population of 136,441. I have been on the Zephyr several times. It’s a good day if thirty people total get on the train at those seven stops.

But what if there were.a different route for the zephyr? First stop out of Chicago is 90 miles west in Rockford, urban population 276,443. Then west and South to the Quad Cities. One stop for Rock Island/Moline on the Illinois side; One stop for Davenport/Bettandorf on the Iowa side. Quad Cities area has a population of 377,441. Next stop Dubuque/Clinton, pop. 78264. After that, we head to Iowa’s second largest city, Cedar Rapids population 278,520. Followed by Iowa City which is not only home to 171,487 people but is also the site of the University of Iowa. A lot of kids from the Chicago area attend U of Iowa. The last Major stop in Iowa would be Des Moines, which would also include Ames, Iowa. That area has a population of 607,000.

That route has a population of approximately 1,800,000. That’s 13 times the population of the actual route. And that’s just one section of one route.

The other dumb move was using the freight tracks and giving freight trains priority. For what? So they can get to their destination and wait a week to be unloaded.

and population density ... have you ever been out of a big city / suburb ?


If the freight trains own and maintain the tracks, who should have priority?


Amtrak is losing money already, you want them to build independent tracks?

[jimmyb]

Biden is going to reroute it as part of his trans pacific railroad. Stop in beautiful New Guinea to visit the area of uncle Bosies demise.

[vegasone]

[QUOTE=After the Zephyr leaves the Chicago area, it heads southwest across Illinois stopping at Princeton and Galesburg[/QUOTE]


The Zephyr goes to Chicago and ends there

[mostpost]

Originally Posted by vegasone

The Zephyr goes to Chicago and ends there

Eastbound yes. There’s also westbound.

[mostpost]

Originally Posted by davew

and population density ... have you ever been out of a big city / suburb ?

That’s my whole point. Run your train where more people live and you will get more passengers.

[mostpost]

Originally Posted by davew

and population density ... have you ever been out of a big city / suburb ?


If the freight trains own and maintain the tracks, who should have priority?


Amtrak is losing money already, you want them to build independent tracks?

Amtrak pays $142,000,000 a year to use those tracks, shouldn’t that give them some rights?

[Tom]

Depends what their agreement says.

You know, that legal contract, that lawful people go by?

Google lawfyl if you need to.