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Originally Posted by Busy Bee
I literally disagree with almost everything you say. You seem to already have a pretty clear political belief already formed and honestly sound a bit like that maga loon that ran that American Rail Club youtube channel. And you just don't seem to be very well versed regarding the KOP project. The project was shit, a pathetic vestigial artifact of an earlier ambitious and sensible program. All for the low low price of a few billion $. People should be celebrating its demise. I'm genuinely perplexed why you seem to think it was a travesty, it's literally the poster child for everything wrong with American transit planning.
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Even though it was poorly planned, it was a great concept nonetheless because it would connect KOP to Norristown and 69th Street. The old Schuylkill Valley Metro was also a great concept, but it would've been better had it just been commuter rail over the light rail concept which was costly.
I'm no fan of the Purple line cars, but overall, the Purple line does do it's job by connecting 69th St to Norristown. It would've been better if there was a KOP connection but I guess with SEPTA running things, I don't see a KOP rail link happening as long as either SEPTA changes or SEPTA goes the way of the dinosaur.
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Originally Posted by Busy Bee
And honestly with the Buttigieg stuff. Should he have shown up a few days earlier? Sure. Should Biden have cancelled his Ukraine trip to go so show support past the multiple statements of federal urgency regarding the derailment? No. Especially so when the conservative local government was clearly itching for an opportunity to unfairly saddle the big bad Dem with all their blame. Did you hear the despicable comments of that trumper mayor? You really think that would have been productive to send Biden there? The political opportunism displayed was just gross. Trump showing up was just another chapter is the horror show.
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In this case, what Buttigieg and Biden should've done was to just show up and take the heat as opposed to worrying about what the conservative media would say about them. I'm not slamming them for being Dems/liberal, but I'm slamming them for showing a lack of leadership when it was needed the most, especially Buttigieg.
It makes more sense for Biden to wait until his Ukraine dealings, but Buttigieg should've really showed up a few days after the incident, when everything is contained, and he only showed up weeks later, only reflecting Buttigieg's inexperience and his lack of leadership as well as Biden's ineptitude.
Political or not, both Biden and Buttigieg should've showed up in East Palestine and given support to the local community over there than worrying about poll numbers and what the liberal and conservative media thinks about them.
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Originally Posted by Busy Bee
And lost in all of this seems to be the notion that somehow the federal government has dominion over the NS infrastructure. I even heard nitwits like Vance say something about why the infrastructure bill hadn't improved the rail conditions. Are you fucking kidding me? How stupid does he think the voters are? The federal government is not paying for a private railroads right of way, or for new safer cars or anything else beyond perhaps funding splits with local/state gov's for grade crossing modernizations or separations. It's almost like some people are so ignorant they think the railroad tracks that the freight choo-choos run on is nationalized (like they should be).
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It's pretty apparent that the rail infrastructure isn't the best in this country. It wasn't the best when Clinton was running it, and it damn sure was getting worse when Bush Jr, Obama, and Trump was running the country. Now that the Dems have control of the WH, you'd think that there would've been vast improvements in our road and rail system.
Biden has been known to ride the rails during his tenure as US senator and Vice President just to get home. The federal gov't may not have the jurisdiction to control NS's rails but the federal gov't can regulate NS as well as other freight rail companies,
and the blame goes to both the transportation secretary for being tardy and being complacent on his job, as well as to the private sector, which is NS. Both parties deserve equal blame! I believe I've said that before in my next to last post if you want to check that out!