States Line Up for Florida High-Speed Rail Money

[BridgeTroll]

Ock...you do know that the ongoing GDOT study will be recommending one route by the end of 2011 right? 

I expect the route to go from Atlanta to Macon via I75, Macon to Savannah via I-16, and then down to Jacksonville via I-95.

It's a miracle they have Marta. Georgia is as conservative as they get. Florida is now as conservative as Georgia, at least the leadership in Florida is.

And the voters keep taking the bait, that "poster child" image of the welfare queen has done wonders for the Republican party. Symbolism over reality, penny wise and pound foolish, except when it comes to the real heisting in the US. Oh well. shrugs shoulders. Hey we have THE posterboy of the REAL heist: our governor Rick Scott running this state. Brace yourselve for more BIG Time stealing 

Despite a majority of democrat voters in the state.  How the eff does THAT happen??

[FayeforCure]

Ock...you do know that the ongoing GDOT study will be recommending one route by the end of 2011 right?  

I expect the route to go from Atlanta to Macon via I75, Macon to Savannah via I-16, and then down to Jacksonville via I-95.

It's a miracle they have Marta. Georgia is as conservative as they get. Florida is now as conservative as Georgia, at least the leadership in Florida is.

And the voters keep taking the bait, that "poster child" image of the welfare queen has done wonders for the Republican party. Symbolism over reality, penny wise and pound foolish, except when it comes to the real heisting in the US. Oh well. shrugs shoulders. Hey we have THE posterboy of the REAL heist: our governor Rick Scott running this state. Brace yourselve for more BIG Time stealing  

Despite a majority of democrat voters in the state.  How the eff does THAT happen??

BT it really DOES boggle the mind.

But think about it, some imagary is soooooo ingrained, it can be used for generations................especially if it makes you "feel good" in the "I'm better than thou" sense.

See the heisting Rick Scott does is something we cannot personally identify with. After all, most of us are average citizens, and would never be in the position to pull off a big time heist.

But we can all fall on hard times, and to look down on those people is what makes us "feel strong"

It's one of those manipulative psychological things courtesy of Reagan  

He was the ultimate sales person.

I saw a very positive HBO documentary about Reagan called: Reagan

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/07/ronald-reagan-documentary-hbo_n_819988.html

One of the things I never knew about him is that he honed his sales person skills, as the prime "morivational" sales person for GE.

BTW, except for the welfare queen stuff, he didn't con us like many politicians today do..............he really did believe in supply side economics working for one of the largest corporations in America. Little did he know that instead of seeing trickle down, we'd be trickled on.............and the middle class would melt before our eyes!

Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%

http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/05/top-one-percent-201105

[mtraininjax]

MARTA is all inner city, that's why it still lives. Democrats saved it. Gwinnett County was once the fastest growing county in the nation and they are mostly republican, they have no bus service and Cobb County, CCT buses people to Marta, they won't allow it in their county. See a trend here?

[buckethead]

Little did he know that instead of seeing trickle down, we'd be trickled on......

[wsansewjs]

MARTA will always be remembered for this...

http://www.youtube.com/v/zXz-tlK2pkI?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0

PRESSIN MAHH CHARRAGGGGESSS!

-Josh

[FayeforCure]

MARTA will always be remembered for this...

http://www.youtube.com/v/zXz-tlK2pkI?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0

PRESSIN MAHH CHARRAGGGGESSS!

-Josh

Chill Josh, I couldn't understand a word. Bur what was even more funny was how google flashed a townhall meeting announcement for Cliff Stearns for April at the bottom of the video.

I'm sure Stearns would not even want to be associated with this video! 

[FayeforCure]

Alright, back on topic  

Here in Metrolina, Columbia, SC city leaders are travelling to Charlotte on Monday to investigate how a Charlotte-Columbia inter-urban rail project could add the South Carolina Midlands to the regions benefiting by the larger planned rail corridor connecting Washington, Richmond, Raleigh, Charlotte, Greenville, and Atlanta.  There's clearly no economic advantage to that.  At long last, perhaps, there will be access to both Columbia and Charlotte from Rock Hill, SC, which today has not even so much as a Greyhound bus stop.

SC DOT is studying the broader possibility of establishing a commuter rail system within the state, connecting the metro areas of Charleston, Columbia, and of course SC's world-famous Grand Strand, with Charlotte, NC and Greenville-Spartanburg, already included in the broader regional Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor plan.  Opponents (mostly the rental car industry) say that such a system would not enjoy sufficient ridership.  There's no model for that anywhere in the world, by the way, and here in Metrolina, the CATS system has been so popular in its initial development that suburban areas throughout the region are fighting over "next."

The Columbia, SC, Amtrak station, reports the National Association of Railroad Passengers, enjoyed a 12% annual increase in ridership in 2008, the last year for which figures are available.
SOURCE: http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-charlotte/midlands-leaders-see-benefit-columbia-charlotte-rail-line-unlike-fl-s-scott

So Jacksonville, by helping vote for Rick Scott managed to take money away from Central Florida and thus allowing Georgia to take on the liability and to getting that state to pay for the rail system maintenance that will benefit Jacksonville FL causing our little city to bloom at the expense of the rest of both Florida and Georgia!  

This could be a beginnings of a good Machiavelli novel if that really what happens.  Trickery, Manipulation, Greed, and Selfishness if not what others consider - Evil.  That story will be one for the historians to laugh at!  

As much as I like Ock's support for expanding Amtrak's reach, I'm all in favor of that. But it shouldn't come out of the HSR pot, and Mica agrees with that.

I DO want to point out that true HSR requires dedicated passenger rail tracks rather than share with freight. CA is best positioned to get THAT ball rolling. TRUE HSR.

The dichotomy has always been:

1. upgrade existing rail (nostalgia plays a role here too   )

or

2. Build new tracks like they are doing in China, and will be doing in CA............and what Florida HSR was about too.

[JeffreyS]

Doesn't the Amtrak Acela HSR line share track with freight?

[fsujax]

Mtrain. Gwinnett County does have bus service. It started up in 2002, while I was living up there. They actually run a good express system that takes commuters to Downtown Atlanta. MARTA - Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority.

[FayeforCure]

Doesn't the Amtrak Acela HSR line share track with freight?

Exactly, and it needs major upgrading to even get close to real HSR.

[FayeforCure]

Mtrain. Gwinnett County does have bus service. It started up in 2002, while I was living up there. They actually run a good express system that takes commuters to Downtown Atlanta. MARTA - Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority.

But mtrain is right, gwinnett would not allow Marta to expand into gwinnet county, I was still living in gwinnett in 2002 also. They just don't want that riff raff to have too easy access to super Republican "secluded gwinnett"

Never mind that the biggest drug bust ever took place in gwinnett county!

[fsujax]

You are right. The bus system is not MARTA it is GCT. Guess I should have made that clear.

[tufsu1]

Doesn't the Amtrak Acela HSR line share track with freight?

yes, but Amtrak owns the tracks...and has spent hundreds of millions upgrading/straightening the track...and let's not forget, while the train is capabale of speeds of 150mph, it never reaches that speed....Amtrak has said it needs billions more to upgrade the tracks to achieve true high speed capability.

[Ocklawaha]

Doesn't the Amtrak Acela HSR line share track with freight?

Exactly, and it needs major upgrading to even get close to real HSR.

Works just fine as it is, freight is a non-player for all practical purposes.

Causes of delays

For non-NEC trains, a common cause for delays is freight congestion as mentioned above.

Amtrak owns the northeast corridor and thus controls the freight movements seamlessly between passenger trains. The model could be repeated with a joint track agreement leaving the freight railroad in ownership, or a case where Florida would buy a stretch of track. Either way it goes, if someone can watch a TV screen and work a PC then there is no reason they can't work this out. The hysterics of building a completely new railroad are unnecessary expenses that have zero chance of ever recovering a penny of the cost.

OCKLAWAHA

[spuwho]

With attempts by Savannah and Charleston to get some piece of the Panamax pie; CSX is going to be reluctant to support any east/west passenger rail using existing infrastructure as it will impede timed freight deliveries to the Atlanta hub. Charleston specifically is counting on timed freight to Atlanta over CSX.

All of the Appalachian Midlands cities (Atlanta, Columbia, Charlotte, Greenville, Triangle) make HSR planning difficult since they all don't fall in the line between the metro NE and the Florida coast.

As far as Josh's YouTube contribution. Consider it Exhibit #1 on why many people abhor public transportation. Granted it represents less than 1% of the total experience, most people prefer to listen to a Hannity rant on the radio in the privacy of their car than listen to that tirade. I have seen worse than her in my transit life.

Chicago Metra police just arrested guy because he wouldn't stop using derogatory language on his cell phone in the middle of a commute. They finally tackled him on the platform after he tried to deck he conductor. No doubt to Ock's pleasure, the conductor held his own and had him almost on the ground when the police arrived.

Many people are already turned off by lack of decorum on passenger airlines, would they allow the same on rail? Hardly!