Sunday, June 21, 2009

Obama has found yet another rat hole - high speed rail - to dump stimulus money down.

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-06-21/story/federal_aid_revives_plans_for_georgia_high-speed_rail Can any of you think of any circumstances - save maybe taking the kids or grandkids for a train ride - under which you would use a high speed train to go to, say, Atlanta?

3 comments:

lexslamman said...

Given that highways have become too expensive to maintain, many people are abandoning automobile travel due to increases in fuel price, and that high speed rail has been proven as a usable alternative to the car and airplane, it shouldn't be looked at as a matter of individual use - but as one of community, state, or national use. Amtrak trains up and down the east coast are usually packed to capacity. This suggests that plenty of citizens and businesses would use high-speed trains if the option was there.

Jay Moreno said...

Only the motor nerves to my legs are shot. My sensory nerves can still feel you pulling my leg. "Packed" AMTRAK trains! That's a good one. That's why the government has had to heavily subsidize AMTRAK from its genesis, right?

Jay Moreno said...

Just did a little checking: i/3 of the operating expenses of AMTRAK are subsidized by the federal government. It has yet to be profitable - or even break even - since its fouinding in 1970.

However, there is heavy commuter ridership for short hauls in the northeast corridor. Long haul ridership is sparse.