http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/27/travel/future-travel/index.html?hpt=hp_c2 (http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/27/travel/future-travel/index.html?hpt=hp_c2)
QuoteRail riders
Americans are increasingly embracing train travel. Need proof? More passengers rode Amtrak this year than ever before in its 41-year history, the train company said. And there's no reason to believe the trend won't continue, say experts.
Better rail service and increased funding offers America its best chance in generations to get off the highways and get on the rails, according to analysts.
Regional inter-city rail systems in California, Illinois, North Carolina, Virginia and elsewhere have been invigorated by 2009's federal stimulus legislation, said transportation expert Yonah Freemark, who runs TransportPolitic.com.
"Those investments are going to be built out and people are going to see better service on inter-city rail lines across the country," he said." And you'll see increasing ridership." That's good news for the nation's energy situation. Rail travel uses 20% less energy than traveling by car, according to the ASCE.
Still, U.S. train ridership ranks very low compared with other nations. The number of passengers on Amtrak and commuter rail total about 500 million a year, Freemark said. Compare that to the United Kingdom, a country five times smaller than the United States, which counted 1.35 billion rail riders last year. Other nations where railroads carry more than a billion passengers a year include Germany, India, China, France, Russia and South Korea, according to the International Union of Railways.
QuoteFirst, let's use four quick stats to remind ourselves what a big deal the transportation industry is:
Planes: By 2022, the FAA predicts more than a billion U.S. airline passengers.
Cars and trucks: Washington says registered passenger vehicles number above 250 million (for perspective, the entire U.S. population numbers more than 312 million).
Trains: Amtrak ridership set an all-time record this year: more than 31 million passengers.
Though this is interesting, and highly hopeful ... I keep in mind that in the 1950's they were sure by 2000 that all of our cars would be flying.
http://cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2012/05/30/ac-griffin-california-high-speed-rail.cnn (http://cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2012/05/30/ac-griffin-california-high-speed-rail.cnn)
This is a video about what California HSR is going through
Um? Really? All I get is a page of CNN screens and none of them mention rail.
Quote from: Ocklawaha on November 28, 2012, 03:27:23 PM
Um? Really? All I get is a page of CNN screens and none of them mention rail.
hmmm works on mine Ock but you can also see video by clicking link to left of article. There is another one about Japans HSR there that I was quite impressed by. In California sounds like politics are going to make that plan a nightmare, which is a shame because I believe a 3-4 hr train linking LA and San Fran would really succeed. It makes AAF seem like the best rail transit plan nationwide, Jax and Florida as a whole definitely has an opportunity here.
California and ANY OTHER PLACE should take a lesson from AAF. Even an Amtrak like service would do just fine by extending the San Joaquin's into LA. Incremental speed improvements could follow making an ever improving rail system a reality without busting the budget.
BTW it now seems likely that AAF will be using the former Santa Fe, EL CAPITAN railcars built by BUDD. Here's the story:
QuoteCorridor Capital owns or controls 50 of the finest railroad passenger cars ever builtâ€"a mix of double-deck stainless-steel coaches, dining cars and lounge cars built by the legendary Budd Co. of Philadelphia for the Santa Fe Railway’s finest passenger trains during the 1950s and 1960s.
Known as the “Santa Fe Hi-Levels,†the original 1955 order of 47 new carsâ€"enough to equip six complete trainsâ€"was assigned to Santa Fe’s premium, all-reserved, extra-fare luxury coach train the El Capitan that operated on a 39¾-hour schedule between Chicago and Los Angeles. Designed to run at speeds as high as 117 miles per hour, the Hi-Levels were built of rugged stainless steel, which is impervious to rust and is three to four times stronger than conventional steels of the same gauge and weight. Because of their two decks the Hi-Levels provided not just higher comfort but higher capacityâ€"72 luxury sleeper seats compared to 52 spaces in conventional single-deck equipment.
The 1955 Hi-Level cars proved so popular with El Capitan riders that Santa Fe continued to market its passenger trains and maintain them at a premium level of service even at a time when other railroads were eliminating their passenger trains and claiming they could not compete with the Interstate highways and the new jet airliners. Eight years later Santa Fe ordered another 24 more Hi-Level coaches so it could upgrade its San Francisco Chief and Texas Chief. When Amtrak began service in 1971 it acquired the entire Santa Fe Hi-Level fleet, and when it expanded its long-distance fleet in the 1980s the Hi-Levels served as the model for the next generation of rolling stock, the Superliners.
By 2001, the Hi-Levels were coming due for a major heavy overhaul. Amtrak lacked a congressional budget appropriation sufficient to perform a total rebuild, so it decided to sell the cars to a series of private collectors. Most of the Hi-Levels never ran again. In 2006-07 Corridor Capital acquired them so that they could be rebuilt and modernized for operation in the fastest-growing passenger-rail market in the U.S.â€"intrastate daytime corridor trains.
As designed, the Hi-Levels were configured for overnight travelers, with seats that reclined virtually to the horizontal for comfortable sleep on a two-night trip. The lower levels contained only baggage storage, rest rooms and spacious dressing rooms where travelers could change clothes before retiring. Everyone rode and slept upstairs.
As redesigned by Corridor Capital engineers, the Hi-Level coaches have been reconfigured for daytime corridor operation, with new state-of-the-art reclining seats on 40-inch centers that raise coach capacity from 72 to 94. The lower-level dressing and rest rooms have been replaced with a modern rest room and handicapped rest room, along with passenger seating that includes a wheelchair space.
The Corridor Capital fleet also includes a new type of interiorâ€"Business Classâ€"with 78 spacious seats on two levels, including five sets of seats that face each other over a table for face-to-face, confidential conferring en route. And both classes of travelers will have access to a spacious food-service car with lounge seating.
Several veteran railroad rolling-stock engineers have pronounced the Santa Fe Hi-Levels “the best passenger cars every produced†and have called them “ageless†because their stainless-steel carbodies do not rust and are virtually immune to metal fatigue.