States Line Up for Florida High-Speed Rail Money

[mtraininjax]

Saw in the TU, page A-3, the Federal cuts of 38.5 billion will include money for HSR. So wait to see what else comes out in the form of cuts from the weekend. I believe many states are in for a shock when they see what gets cut.

[tufsu1]

Saw in the TU, page A-3, the Federal cuts of 38.5 billion will include money for HSR. So wait to see what else comes out in the form of cuts from the weekend. I believe many states are in for a shock when they see what gets cut.

cuts will come from the HSR funding proposed in the 2011 budget...not from the stimulus money...which is what Florida turned down

[Garden guy]

Recall our governor...he's ruining our state even more than his party has already done...it's a shame and i'm embarrased...even in europe they know of his ills.....the republican party proves they could care less about anything but guns and god...i'm sick of it....

[tufsu1]

Rick Scott taking credeit for the Federal budget deal by rejecting HSR

http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2011/apr/11/rick-scott/gov-rick-scott-takes-credit-helping-avert-federal-/

[Ocklawaha]

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.

The route is actually a Norfolk Southern secondary mainline that runs from Atlanta-Macon-Jessup-Brunswick, and they'll use the Atlanta-Jessup segment, hence north to Savannah of south to Jacksonville via the regular Amtrak-CSX double track high speed mainline. (Yeah, HIGH SPEED, I have ridden a demo train over that track at close to 120 mph, they had police close the crossings as we approached). I'm working up an article that will go into more detail.

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.

It's a triangle Richmond-Charlotte-Atlanta/Atlanta-Macon-Jacksonville/Jacksonville-Savannah-Charleston-Richmond.

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.

A little quick math using the total lane miles in the State of Florida (267,793), our population and a typical daily trip length, I came up with 300 passenger miles-per direction-per lane mile daily. Not sure if my numbers are close, but at that rate a single Amtrak train serving a typical long-distance route carries as many people. Cook up the numbers for highway maintenance and construction cost per lane mile and you could lay them side by side and see which gives us more bang for the buck. It also would eliminate the age old argument that nobody rides the trains, because highways would appear just as weak. I'd love to see what some of you math experts could come up with because you might have the answer that would shut down these fools once and for all. 

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!

Actually a railroad Conductor carries Federal Authority as do intercity bus drivers, in either case they can and do put disruptive or drunk passengers off in BFE. It goes for employees too, I recall one sunny Pennsylvania day along the Mon River when I was in an interchange yard to inspect an endless line of retired PENN CENTRAL boxcars. All at once my team was facing the business end of railroad police. We had to go to the yard office of the "other" railroad as they didn't know we were there. They finally worked it out and we went back to our work, but the moral of the story even for professionals is, "stay on your own side of the interchange or the bulls will get you!"

OCKLAWAHA

[yapp1850]

hey ock  i just found out that bnsf railway operates 3 different commuter rail, i thought freight did not want to run passenger rail!

[Jumpinjack]

Here's the continuing resolution budget reductions. Transportation got wacked. HSR got about a $3 billion cut.
Looking through the list, it's hard to tell exactly what this means in terms of programs cut, but it looks drastic. And more to come by next month.

http://money.cnn.com/news/economy/storysupplement/finalprogramcuts.pdf?iid=EL

[tufsu1]

FYI

APPROPRIATIONS DEAL KILLS HIGH-SPEED RAIL PROGRAM

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - 3:30 a.m.

At 1:45 a.m. Tuesday morning, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee introduced H.R. 1473, a bill finishing the fiscal year 2011 appropriations process and implementing the agreement struck late last week between the White House, House Speaker Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Reid (the last two on behalf of their respective leadership teams).  The text of the bill was put online at 2:20 a.m. on the House Rules Committee website and is available here:
http://rules.house.gov/Media/file/PDF_112_1/Floor_Text/FINAL2011_xml.pdf

(The Department of Transportation part is on pages 404-411, the Energy and Water part is on pages 220-240, and the Homeland Security part is on pages 262-287.)  All sums appropriated by dollar amount in H.R. 1473 or appropriated by reference at the FY 2010 level by section 1101 of the bill are automatically further reduced by an across-the-board rescission of 0.2 percent by section 1119 of the bill.  This section appears to apply to discretionary budget authority only, and not to obligation limitations (across-the-board rescissions in prior years specifically mentioned obligation limitations but section 1119 does not).  (Basically, multiply any sum by 0.998 to get the real total.)

The final legislation eliminates all new funding in fiscal year 2011 for the troubled high-speed and intercity passenger rail program (the FY 2010 appropriation was $2.5 billion, the White House requested $1.0 billion, and the final bill gives zero dollars for FY 2011).  The final bill also reaches back and rescinds $400 million of the funding appropriated for the program in FY 2010, which will eliminate DOT's ability to give that portion of the FY 2010 funding out to other applicants now that Florida has turned the money back to USDOT.  Even Amtrak itself was not immune to cuts, with its capital and debt service grants being cut by $80 million below the FY 2010 level.

The final bill also provides for a hefty rescission of highway contract authority in order to help meet the Transportation-HUD Subcommittee reach its budget authority target of $55.5 billion (down 18 percent from FY 2010's $67.9 billion).  $2.5 billion in unobligated balances of highway formula contract authority held by states will be rescinded (see section 2207 of the bill for details), along with an estimated $630 million from rescinding "orphan earmarks" - highway earmarks from the 1998 TEA21 law and earlier authorization laws for which at least 90 percent of the amount provided remains unspent (unobligated) - see sections 2210-2211 of the bill for details.

Obligation limitations on contract authority from transportation trust funds are either left at the FY 2010 enacted level, apparently not subject to the across-the-board rescission, or in the case of FMCSA operations received a slight increase.  (Those programs face their huge cuts in the FY 2012 budget resolution and the next surface transportation extensions.)

The final bill also contains a sizable cut in the Federal Transit Administration's Capital Improvement Grants program (new starts and small starts) beyond what had been announced earlier - the final level for FY 2011 is an even $1.6 billion, 20 percent less than FY 2010's $2.0 billion.  The final bill also reaches back and cancels $280 million of that $2.0 billion provided in the FY 2010 appropriations law (much of which was freed up by the cancelation of the New Jersey ARC tunnel).

The legislation cuts the FY 2011 amount of "TIGER II" grants from FY 2010's $600 million to $527 million.

For aviation, the final bill cuts FAA procurement (Facilities & Equipment) by $202 million, from $2.936 billion in FY 2010 to $2.734 billion.  The big FAA account, Operations, gets an increase of $164 million over FY 2010 to $9.514 billion, but that is $279 million less than the Administration requested.  FAA R&D is cut back to $170 million.

This week's regular issue of Transportation Weekly will hopefully come out later today and will contain much more coverage.

[Ocklawaha]

OKAY BOYS AND GIRLS TIME FOR A SMILE BREAK, AFTER ALL SAME ASSHOLES DIFFERENT DAY!

Happy and I'm smiling,
walk a mile to drink your water.
You know I'd love to love you,
and above you there's no other.
We'll go walking out
while others shout of war's disaster.
Oh, we won't give in,
let's go living in the past.

Once I used to join in
every boy and girl was my friend.
Now there's revolution, but they don't know
what they're fighting.
Let us close out eyes;
outside their lives go on much faster.
Oh, we won't give in,
we'll keep living in the past.

(Living in The Past, by Jethro Tull)

He's the man of the hour!



He's a god!



BUMS studying civics.

There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down



Express yourself, give them a piece of your mind

There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side
It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down



...And your government will thank you.

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away
We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

(For What it's Worth, by Buffalo Springfield)



Maybe you'll be given a job killing the weeds.

Got off the plane in Vietnam, It didn’t seem like war.
With all I saw I started to wonder what I have come there for.
Some officers got drunk at night, and cheated on their wife’s.
And the peasants on the other side, where just struggling for their lives.

Oh the army tried some fancy stuff, to bring them to their knees.
Like Agent Orange defoliant, to kill the brush and tress.
We’d hike all day on jungle trails, through clouds of poison spray.
And they never told me then, that it would hurt my health today.

But I got the news this morning, yea, the doctors told me so.
They killed me in Vietnam, and I didn’t even know.
I tried hard to forget the war like everybody did.
Settled down, got married, even had a of couple kids.

Well my children both had birth defects, and the doctors had their doubts.
They never could understand it, but I think I figured it out.
Because I got the news this morning, yea, the doctors told me so.
They killed me in Vietnam, and I didn’t even know.

This Agent Orange from Vietnam, we carry it with us still.
It stays inside for years and years before it starts to kill.
You might get cancer of the liver; you might get cancer of the skin.
You can file for disability, but you might not live to win.

Oh I got the news this morning yea, the doctors told me so.
They killed me in Vietnam, and I didn’t even know.
Oh the doctor said I got some time, trying to be kind.
I’ve never been a radical, but this has changed my mind.

Oh I’d be so proud to hear my kids say hell no I won’t go,
Because you killed my dad in Vietnam, and he didn’t even know.
Yes I’d be so proud to hear my kid say hell no I won’t go,
Because you killed my dad and he didn’t even know.

my song? (Agent Orange Song, by Country Joe McDonald and the Fish)






This old engine
makes it on time
Leaves Central Station
at a quarter to nine
Hits River Junction
at seventeen to
at a quarter to ten
you know it's trav'lin again

Drivin' that train
High on cocaine
Casey Jones you better
watch your speed
Trouble ahead
Trouble behind
and you know that notion
just crossed my mind

Trouble ahead
The Lady in Red
Take my advice
you be better off dead
Switchman sleepin
Train hundred and two
is on the wrong track and
headed for you

Drivin' that train
High on cocaine
Casey Jones you better
watch your speed
Trouble ahead
Trouble behind
and you know that notion
just crossed my mind

Trouble with you is
The trouble with me
Got two good eyes
but we still don't see
Come round the bend
You know it's the end
The fireman screams and
The engine just gleams

Drivin' that train
High on cocaine
Casey Jones you better
watch your speed
Trouble ahead
Trouble behind
and you know that notion
just crossed my mind

(Casey Jones, by The Grateful Dead)




Ridin' on the City of New Orleans
Illinois Central, Monday mornin' rail
15 cars & 15 restless riders
Three conductors, 25 sacks of mail

All along the southbound odyssey the train pulls out of Kankakee
Rolls along past houses, farms & fields
Passin' graves that have no name, freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of rusted automobiles

Good mornin' America, how are you?
Don't you know me? I'm your native son!
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
I'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done

Dealin' cards with the old men in the club car
Penny a point, ain't no one keepin' score
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
And feel the wheels rumblin' neath the floor

And the sons of Pullman porters & the sons of engineers
Ride their fathers' magic carpets made of steel
Mothers with their babes asleep, rockin' to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel

Good mornin' America, how are you?
Say don't you know me? I'm your native son!
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans.
I'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done.

Night time on the City of New Orleans
Changin' cars in Memphis, Tennessee
Halfway home, we'll be there by mornin'
Thru the Mississippi darkness rollin' down to the sea

But all the towns and people seem to fade into a bad dream
And the steel rail still ain't heard the news
The conductor sings his songs again
"The passengers will please refrain:
This train got the disappearin' railroad blues

Good night America, how are you?
Say don't you know me? I'm your native son!
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans.
I'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done.

(City of New Orleans, by Arlo Guthrie)




Sisters, Brothers And The Whities
Blacks And The Crackers
Police And Their Backers
They're All Political Actors

Hurry, People Running From Their Worries
While The Judge And His Juries
Dictate The Law That's Partly Flaw.
Cat Calling Love Balling Fussing And Cussing

Top Billing Now Is Killing
For Peace No One Is Willing
Kind Of Make You Get That Feeling

Everybody Smoke
Use The Pill And The Dope
Educated Fools
From-Uneducated Schools

Pimping People Is The Rule
Polluted Water In The Pool

And Nixon Talking About Don't Worry
He Says Don't Worry
He Says Don't Worry
He Says Don't Worry

But They Don't Know There Can Be No Show
And If There's A Hell Below We're All Gonna Go
Everybody's Praying And Everybody's Saying
But When Come Time To Do
Everybody's Laying

Just Talking About Don't Worry
They Say Don't Worry
They Say Don't Worry
They Say Don't Worry

Sisters, Brothers And The Whitie
Blacks And The Crackers
Stone Stone Junkie
Police And Their Backers
They're All Political Actors

Smoke, The Pill And The Dope,
Educated Fools From Uneducated Schools,
Pimping People Is The Rule
Polluted Water In The Pool

And Everybody's Saying Don't Worry
They Say Don't Worry
They Say Don't Worry
They Say Don't Worry

But They Don't Know
There Can Be No Show
If There's A Hell Below
We're All Gonna Go

Lord What We Gonna Do
If Everything I Say Is True
This Ain't No Way It Ought To Be
1f Only All The Mass Could See

But Everybody Keeps Saying Don't Worry

(If There's A Hell Below We're All Gonna Go, by the late great Curtis Mayfield)





Oh shit my true identity is showing through...

Please allow me to introduce myself
Im a man of wealth and taste
Ive been around for a long, long year
Stole many a mans soul and faith
And I was round when jesus christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
I stuck around st. petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank
Held a generals rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made
I shouted out,
Who killed the kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me
Let me please introduce myself
Im a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached bombay
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's confusing you
Is just the nature of my game
Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me lucifer
Cause Im in need of some restraint
So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste, um yeah
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, um yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, um mean it, get down
Woo, who
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah!
Tell me baby, what's my name
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name
Tell me baby, what's my name
I tell you one time, you're to blame
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Oh, yeah
What's me name
Tell me, baby, what's my name

(Sympathy For The Devil, by The Rolling Stones)



JUST GONNA BE ONE OF THOSE EVENINGS!

I'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go?
I'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go?
I'm goin' to some place where I've never been before.
I'm goin', I'm goin' where the water tastes like wine.
Well, I'm goin' where the water tastes like wine.
You can jump in the water and stay drunk all the time.

I'm gonna leave this city, got to get away.
I'm gonna leave this city, got to get away.
All this fussin' and fightin', man you know I sure can't stay.
Now baby, packin' up the truck you know I got to leave today.
Just exacly where I'm goin' I can not say, but we might even leave the USA.
It's a brand-new game and I don't wanna play.

No use of you running or screaming and crying
But you got a home man, long as I got mine.

OCKLAWAHA