Quote:
Originally Posted by Busy Bee
If I can make just ONE prediction:
I think we have been apprehensive in these parts about what is possible in Congress, easily for the last 10 years, but realistically for the last 40. Conservative ideology and chronic congressional dysfunction through obstruction-as-the-goal has jaded many about what we can realistically hope for anymore in this country regarding ambitious transformational infrastructure projects.[/B]
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As I have shared elsewhere on this forum, I don't believe that true HSR is functionally necessary in most of the United States but there will be political pressure to build high speed lines because high speed trains attract a lot of attention.
But for most of the United States my hunch is that there is a lot more to be gained by upgrading major freight railroads to electric and double-tracking the intercity lines that are appropriate for expanded or new Amtrak services. The feds should also fund signaling upgrades so that we can get maximum capacity out of the existing lines and enable commuter rail on the expanded and electrified lines, where possible.
Relying on states to do in-state services is too inconsistent. The federal bill needs to be structured so there is a 90/10 fed/state funding split and then the federal bill needs to fund operation of passenger rail for 30 years. Otherwise we're going to see a repeat of the 2010 Tea Party stunts where several states gave away their money and Wisconsin abandoned u/c trainsets.