Amtrak proposal to create new rail passenger connections for major cities

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

if you're a fan of hazy drunken memories of 24 straight hours of nothing but wheat fields (and i mean nothing but), then i can't recommend the Empire Builder strongly enough.

then, when you get out to glacier, the real magic begins, and hopefully you'll get seated at a dinner table with another dude traveling solo, 40 years your senior, who spends the whole meal talking to you about his best friend, Jesus Christ, while you smile politely and swim ever deeper into a martini-soaked bliss. "oh, check out that sunset rainbow glowing out of that waterfall....... yes, i'll have another PLEASE!".


although any of the cross-continent routes through the great plains will be probably the exact same thing.

The mystique of train travel is not just about what's outside the windows. If you are traveling in a sleeper as I always do, you have plenty of time to read, watch movies or whatever in your room but when you want to you can venture to the club car and diner and MEET PEOPLE, often very interesting people. And unlike on a plane, whom you happen to be sitting next to is irrelevant--you can get up and go find another seat anytime you want and you can eat and drink with these people, always an ice breaker.

Many train trips in North America (not Europe) also include lengthy station stops. The Sunset Limited used to sit in the station in San Antonio for 4 hours--plenty of time to walk or take a cab down to the River Walk and bar hop a bit. In Canada, the Canadian stopped in the town of Jasper in Jasper National Park so passengers could shop and peruse the ice sculptures which are apparently an annual winter "thing".

Ass somebody above pointed out, however, the California Zephyr schedule purposefully has you crossing the Great Plains at night while you sleep and the daytime portions of the trip are pretty much all mountain scenery.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Native 001

I've always wanted to ride the Southwest Chief for it's entirety (did Flagstaff to Los Angeles in 2014, but that leg of the trip is mostly overnight) but I reckon it'd get real boring, real quick somewhere in eastern Colorado, aside from the stops in places like KC and other towns along the way?

If you are bored, read a book, watch a movie on your laptop or go to the club car, have a drink, and meet some fellow travelers. I am never bored on trains. Sometimes I get annoyed and frustrated at lengthy delays, which sometimes happen (I've been on trains that hit people and then had to sit for hours while investigations happened but more prosaic delays are just due to heavy freight congestion--you are always at the mercy of the commercial railroad dispatchers in spite of federal laws supposedly giving AMTRAK priority).

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by cabasse

i like driving but not a fan at all of traveling long distance by car. sitting for hours on end... having to continually pay attention to the road... that sucks.

Two years ago THAT (sitting for hours on end) gave me a deep vein thrombosis requiring 6 months of anticoagulant therapy.

Any travel mode that allows you to get up and walk around is much to be preferred.

[Centropolis]

i would always try to grab a texas eagle to chicago instead of the illinois service - they had/have the cool bi-level cars, observation deck car, snack/bar car...it was nice to be able to have reason to wander the train a bit...

its sort of the south by southwest chief...really dips low before heading to los angeles...


wikipedia.com

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Handro

I don't understand, do you think Europeans are unable to drive? There are expressways all over the continent. I could drive from Milan to Rome via the E35. It's roughly the same distance as Chicago to Nashville, so it's a days drive and exhausting--and god forbid you hit rush hour traffic in either city. Or, I can hop on an 9 AM train and be there having lunch the same day.

Lmao at trying to find a reason NOT to like efficient rail systems.

It’s not that I don’t like the idea. It’s just that, unlike the majority of this foruming community, I realize that money doesn’t grow on trees.

It’s not a practical investment right now

[Centropolis]

the texas eagle vs the southwest chief

[Yuri]

This video was posted few days ago and should inspire the US:

• Video Link

China has built from scratch its HSR and now 2/3 of world's network is there. HSR has the potential to turn entire countries or megaregions into functional metropolises.

The eastern half of the US is perfect for such system. It's not like a person must take a train from Chicago or Atlanta to Boston or New York. However, a person in Cleveland or Pittsburgh would greatly benefited from being connected to Chicago or New York, a person in Charlotte to Atlanta or Washington DC, etc.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

It’s not that I don’t like the idea. It’s just that, unlike the majority of this foruming community, I realize that money doesn’t grow on trees.

It’s not a practical investment right now

besides the fact that the dollar is the reserve currency of the world

what do you think the iraq war was? or the military industrial complex is?

its a massive permanent stimulus program designed to replace things like classic durable goods domestic manufacturing. sadly we won’t have anything to show for it within our sovereign borders except for huge equipment boneyards in the desert.

i would have preferred that we had built things within american borders in the full national interest instead of drone striking mesopotamian hospitals and then rebuilding them.

but its still the reagan/bush neocons world they built and we are just living in it, so we argue over whether we should throw very half-assed money at building out american public infrastructure or let thing decay domestically.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Centropolis

besides the fact that the dollar is the reserve currency of the world

what do you think the iraq war was? or the military industrial complex is?

its a massive permanent stimulus program designed to replace things like classic durable goods domestic manufacturing. sadly we won’t have anything to show for it within our sovereign borders except for huge equipment boneyards in the desert.

Ah, you beat me to it. I was gonna say the same thing.

I was gonna say, well, what would you rather spend our tax money on? Continue supporting the military industrial complex, starting endless wars, and investing in contracts with for-profit private prisons? Are those things better for the American people?

[llamaorama]

My thinking is that airliners are too hard to economically switch to some carbon-free fuel source so trains could fill the void for middle class long distance travel.

But we need truly fast trains, not upgraded 80 mph ones.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Ah, you beat me to it. I was gonna say the same thing.

I was gonna say, well, what would you rather spend our tax money on? Continue supporting the military industrial complex, starting endless wars, and investing in contracts with for-profit private prisons? Are those things better for the American people?

people refuse to see it but the united states carved out a socialist state the size of a european country, complete with a seperate healthcare system but wrapped in the flag and cloaked in the military.

the u.s. correctly understood that it had to build out something, some bare minimum (or there would be even WORSE social disruption from capitalism) so this is what we got instead of infrastructure.

[kool maudit]

There were a lot of these maps going around in 2008-9 as well.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

There were a lot of these maps going around in 2008-9 as well.

images.saymedia-content.com

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

It’s not that I don’t like the idea. It’s just that, unlike the majority of this foruming community, I realize that money doesn’t grow on trees.

It’s not a practical investment right now

I don't think you understand the economy as well as you think you do. This isn't throwing money into a black hole. This is infrastructure development. It will create jobs for people who pay taxes.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

It’s not that I don’t like the idea. It’s just that, unlike the majority of this foruming community, I realize that money doesn’t grow on trees.

It’s not a practical investment right now

It certainly seems to grow on trees for oil & gas, highway, and agriculture industry subsidies year over year, and for military "defense", of course. Should we discuss the cost-benefit and/or SIRs for these?


"It’s not a practical investment right now" OK... when will it be??


You should try to expunge this comment from your tally... see if they can put you back to 19,745.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by JDRCRASH

Nowhere near to the level it needs to, though. Keep in mind 1,000 miles of rail once connected Greater LA. The need for that level of mass transit has only increased.

But I digress, anything at this point is an improvement.

LA had 1,000 miles of streetcars, which were replaced by buses. Everywhere had streetcars/interurbans before the auto age. LA, until recently, never had a network of rapid transit, with dedicated corridors.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by yuriandrade

This video was posted few days ago and should inspire the US:

• Video Link

.

I am not inspired by authoritarian communist dictatorship. Thank you.

[Steely Dan]

it'd be nice if certain folks around here had the maturity to make their arguments without the need to insult those they disagree with.

i do not recommend that you continue with that behavior.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by The North One

The US is perfect for passenger rail, we have lots of huge cities that are far enough yet close enough to each other for it. But we refuse to update where it's painfully obvious we need to.

There is huge economic potential that is locked out from us just because we choose to stay in the dark ages on infrastructure.

If our cities were primarily built before 1940 like in the old world with dense urban patterns you'd be correct.

Unfortunately you still need a car just to live in almost all American cities unless you are a small minority that lives in some of the few walkable areas in the country. Even that is a novelty.

Thats my whole point. You can connect city center to city center but once you get there you are screwed because are cities are not built to be used by pedestrians and trains, they are built to be cars.

Again this is backwards, focus needs to be on local transit, then regional transit. Then in like 50 years when we have denser regional globs of urban areas with good density and transit you can link those together with HSR lines.

THis plan is a complete waste, just like when floated in 2009 and even more doomed to failure than that was.

[Centropolis]

airlines drop you off at your house