1 Seizing the 19th century!

2 Is "high speed" a choo-choo train that exceeds 55 mph?

3 Like I want to get to Detroit 15 minutes sooner.

4 STOP SPENDING. STOP SPENDING. I'LL KEEP YELLING UNTIL YOU STOP SPENDING. please?

5 Damn good idea right there. Christie would support this. YAY!

6 53 Billion divided by the number or people that actually ride amtrak, Hum? , that's about 3 million per rider?

7 In true communist fashion.

8 What we need to do is blindfold slow Joe, put him in a race car, drive him up to Wilmington, and tell him that he just took the high-speed choo-choo. That'll shut the little retard up.

9 TRAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINS!!!! TRAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINS!! TRAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINSSSSSSSSSS!!

10 High Speed Dreams with Stagecoach Means.

11 But right wing asshole Glen Beck and Ace hate JEWS or something!!!!11ty!!!!

12 "Biden noted Obama's goal to give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail within 25 years."

WHY?

13
This is what happens when the Republicans have no ideas and no agenda.

We have a vacuum; Obama is filling it. This is natural.

14 How typical of Conservatives... anti-science and against progress. No class or panache either.

Now excuse me while I rearrange my cat butt fridge magnets.

15

Fortunately, government estimates are always accurate so we wouldn't have to worry about the costs doubling, tripling, quadrup...

you get the idea.

16 Well, there's one item to zero out in Preznint Splutnik's boodjay (and that's a big ef'ng deal).

17 High Speed Boning!

18 Trains? "Seizing the future"? Being like China and Japan.

We're screwed.

19
Where is the GOP's plan for jobs?
Where is the GOP's plan for energy independence -- oil, nukes, coal, etc.?

20 Next up? Ludicrous Speed Rail.

21 What we need to do is blindfold slow Joe, put him in a race car, drive him up to Wyoming Wilmington, and tell him that he just took the high-speed choo-choo. That'll shut the little retard up.

-- might work better ...
You'd maybe need to live near Wyoming to understand.

22 If anyone is interested in a careful analysis of just how awful light rail really is, head over to Coyote Blog.

23 ATTN:  The only jobs that government can create are Government Jobs.  Therefore, the only way out of this recession is for the government to make shit up and put people to work.

So, your tax dollars will be spent to pay construction workers who will pay taxes on their salaries to continue to pay themselves.  We've finally figured out how to invent the perpetual motion machine!!!!!!  Jugears McFuckstick is so goddamn SMART!!!

24

Isn't that nice that we'd be funding a program that directly benefits the vice president.

25

And whaddya know?  China's high-speed rail networks have ticket prices so high that people tend to travel by other means, erasing the societal benefit of the high-speed trains:

JUDGING from the votes they have cast with their bottoms, China's business travellers need little persuading of the merits of high-speed rail. Since the high-speed link between Wuhan and Guangzhou opened in December 2009, for instance, over 20m have chosen the zippier trains, while the number of competing daily flights between Guangzhou and Changsha (on the route to Wuhan) has dropped from over 11 to three. Yet whether plans to double high-speed coverage by 2020 are an unmitigated good thing for China, which already has more high-speed rail than any other country, is a different question.

It is one that decision-makers have largely sidestepped thanks to the peculiarities of China's political system. But of late debate has spilled over into the public realm. Detractors complain that high-speed rail is too expensive for the Zhang in the street. Migrant labourers, 230m of whom are expected to make the journey home during Spring Festival, are not in enough of a hurry to pay a premium for speed, they argue. (Or as Patrick Chovanec of Tsinghua University puts it with a dose of economese, "The bulk of the long-distance passenger traffic, especially during the peak holiday periods, is migrant workers for whom the opportunity cost of time is relatively low.") While some travellers are having such a hard time getting tickets home this holiday season that they have unveiled their underpants in protest, it is reported that on one line $352 luxury sleeper tickets are going begging.

This mismatch raises questions about the $300 billion being thrown at high-speed rail this decade. Many newly added lines are making hefty losses and many are thought to be operating at under half capacity The Chinese Academy of Sciences, an influential official think-tank, seems to be in the sceptics' corner: fretting about unsustainable levels of debt, it was reported in November to have recommended the government reconsider its plans. Chinese leaders were said to have ordered a review, and construction of a Maglev line between Shanghai and Hangzhou has since been reported "shelved".

Some economists make even more dismal arguments. Mr Chovanec attacks one of the main legs of the economic case for high-speed rail in China, that transporting passengers thus would free up track desperately needed for shifting coal. Much of China's fuel travels by road: a 62-mile traffic jam outside Beijing lasting 10 days last August was only the most visible sign. But if fast trains are out of reach for the masses, there will be little or no relief for either rail or road networks. Critics say the proliferation of expensive trains has pushed poorer travellers back onto the roads, clogging them with 70,000 more buses this Spring Festival, although hundreds of extra trains have also been laid on. Improving China's languishing logistics network for freight would be a better use of the cash, Mr Chovanec posits.

26 The Phoenix Durango company could do it for half that price

27 All of this is Reagan's fault. If he hadn't let Biden out of the loony bin in the 1980s (or 70s or 60s, depending on which leftist hater you ask), we would be well on our way to saving the $53 billion.

28 I'd be perfectly fine spending $53 billion to ship everyone in favor of high speed rail to China.  Now, THAT's an investment that would pay off handsomely.

BTW, Amtrak trains don't even run at their top speeds for various reasons, they have to stop quite often when there's a rash of leftists who decide to try and commit suicide by lying on the tracks, and there is still a huge subsidy by the feds for every Amtrak ticket - even those on the most-used Northeast Corridor trains.

How about we sell Amtrak, instead - if we can find anyone stupid enough to buy it?  After all, the feds were only supposed to hang onto it for a few years ...

29 When they talk about High speed rail do they mean connecting distant cities where the speed has some value. Or do they mean really fast trains that stop for 3minutes every 5 miles for city commuting. I'm gonna guess #2 since that would be the most wasteful.

30 RT @HeritageActPA: BREAKING house to pull #TAA extension bill #tcot

31

stuiec,

 

to that point. I've always wanted to ride a train. There is something romantic about it.

I was going to visit a buddy in DC and decided I would take a train. I looked it up online and the Pitt to DC ride was ten hours(each way) and 250 bucks round trip, I then looked on expedia and got a flight for 130 bucks and 45 minute trip.

It's so inefficient and expensive.

 

32

Look, if we don't build high speed rail across the country, we are damn sure never going to get a high speed rail line to the Moon.  We have to get busy. 

Have any of you read Dreams from my Father?  Was there something in there about wanting a train set and not getting it?  Does George Soros prefer rail to air travel?  There is an important factor driving this insanity - someone needs to dig up the connection. 

33 Bankruptcy comes faster on union-built high-speed rail.

34 Where is the GOP's plan for jobs?
Where is the GOP's plan for energy independence -- oil, nukes, coal, etc.?

Please review the concept of free markets.

35 When they talk about High speed rail do they mean connecting distant cities where the speed has some value. Or do they mean really fast trains that stop for 3minutes every 5 miles for city commuting. I'm gonna guess #2 since that would be the most wasteful.

Posted by: Buzzsaw at February 08, 2011 02:26 PM (tf9Ne)

Neither one. They are talking about funding focus groups, study groups and lawsuits.

36 Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at February 08, 2011 02:23 PM (LH6ir)

And to continue that thought -- light rail is nothing compared to the costs involved in high-speed, long distance rail comparable to the European system.

37

Everthing these fucking half-wits do, does not make sense! EVERYTHING!!11!!!

 

 

38

I must be in a bizzaro world.  We are speculating with borrowed money for something that has been proven to be underutilized and unprofitable.  (look at Amtrack people!).

Our government does not understand that we no longer have the luxury of trying to stimulate, or "invest" our way out of this.  Cuts, cuts, cuts.  Significant cuts to sacred cow programs.  That includes defense, agriculture subsidies, college subsidies.  We need to cut, cut, cut so that people realize the Federal government cannot provide them a cradle to grave existence, and 2) the Federal goverment cannot use spending and pork as a means to get elected or stay in power.  Reducing the size of government is what we need, not the pretend meanlingless cuts proposed by both parties, and  certainly not the talk out both sides of your face "cuts" that Obama proposes to the tunes of Trillions of dollars.

39

stuiec,

 

to that point. I've always wanted to ride a train. There is something romantic about it.

I was going to visit a buddy in DC and decided I would take a train. I looked it up online and the Pitt to DC ride was ten hours(each way) and 250 bucks round trip, I then looked on expedia and got a flight for 130 bucks and 45 minute trip.

It's so inefficient and expensive

Posted by: Ben at February 08, 2011 02:26 PM (wuv1c)

Back in the 80s I wanted to take a Passenger train from St. Louis to Cincinnati.  I had to go via either Chicago or New Orleans.

40 Foam the tracks!  The Biden Express is comin' in!

41 THE CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO,THE A-TRAIN,THE WALBASH CANNONBALL,THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS,THE ORANGE BLOSSEM SPECIAL, were trains in popular songs but the PORK TRAIN is another wacko ideas that needs to be derailed

42 13
This is what happens when the Republicans have no ideas and no agenda.

Who?

43

Also, let's be clear, the buiilding of tracks will be fought at every turn by environmental legal groups with endless budgets.

When was the last time we undertook a massive public project?

44 Unless you tack "guns" on the end, high speed rail is a waste of money.

45 If Even the fucking LA-Las Vegas fucking bullet train would be unprofitable (even given that gambling would be permitted on the train once you cross the Nevada state line) and cannot be fucking done without government subsidy -- THEN FUCKING FORGET IT. 80% of the land between these two cities is uninhabited desert and would be cheap to buy up. There is a real need for the train (try driving back from Vegas Sunday afternoon). And yet -- even here, no private companies want it. So -- forget it. This is a nostalgia act. I like trains but if I really want nostalgia I will go to fucking europe and ride the fucking Orient Express. That will be expensive, but it will be cheaper (and more fun) than this bullshit.

46 How fast do I really want to get from one inner city to the next inner city?

47

High speed train fetish = union jobs for construction + union jobs to operate + fantasy greenie eco pipedream to inconvienience us all - private sector concern for profit or accountability.   Add it all up, and the taxpayer is getting screwed.

 

48 Biden, who estimated he has ridden Amtrak between Washington and his home in Wilmington, Delaware, some 7,900 times, made a strong pitch for rail transportation to enable the United States to compete and lead internationally.

Wait, we've had this little economic debate before. I thought we decided that because.

The US's economic centers were much more spread out than other countries.
And
The US economy moved on a short time cycle compared to other economies.

That we were going to invest in air travel infrastructure.
Didn't we "lead" the world internationally on that?
Given how well the Air/Road system has served us, shouldn't we be investing in the weak link there, the roads?

49 California is going broke but they still are going to spend billions they don't have going from nowhere to nowhere, i.e., Corcorcan.

50

Back in the 80s I wanted to take a Passenger train from St. Louis to Cincinnati.  I had to go via either Chicago or New Orleans.

Yeah, I could have saved money if i drove to another city to catch the train, but what's the frigging point?

I am going to take a train someday. I might take that one in canada that goes cross country

51 Rail brings the minorities to the burbs to rape and pillage.

52 High speed rail will bring all sorts of good things - opportunities for a Credit Mobilier-style corruption, massive defrauding of the taxpayers by the contractors, union featherbedding, another mass transportation system that will require more unionized TSA gropers, massive Federal expenditures...  What could possibly go wrong?

53 It would be a lot cheaper to load Sheriff Joe into a cannon every morning and fire him from Wilmington to DC.  He could land on a big trampoline and there could be clowns and balloons.

54

I took Amtrak once.... from Eugene OR. to Seattle.  The train got into Eugene 4 hours late.  It took 3 hours longer getting from Eugene to Seattle than it would have if I had drove.  I then paid a cab driver to drive me to my house about the same amount it would have cost me in gas to get from Eugene to Seattle.... 7 hours earlier.

But I got to ride on a train.

55 Ace, c'mon.  You know private companies are EVIL and only want to make INSANE PROFITS!!!!  That's why they don't build rail.  It has NOTHING to do with it's inefficiency or bloated costs.

56

The US's economic centers were much more spread out than other countries.
And

not only that, we don't have a massive migrant work force, and most people own cars.

Whenever you see video of Chinese or Indian trains that are over packed(and in India with people on the roof) it is because they are migrant workers and don't have cars.

57

Look, if we don't build high speed rail across the country, we are damn sure never going to get a high speed rail line to the Moon.

Idiot.  There will never be a train to the moon.

It'll be an elevator.

58 I'll be back.

59 55 It would be a lot cheaper to load Sheriff Joe into a cannon every morning and fire him from Wilmington to DC.  He could land on a big trampoline and there could be clowns and balloons.

Posted by: Cicero at February 08, 2011 02:33 PM (QKKT0)

hehe lmao

 

60 I worked for years with the freight train system in this country. It is fantastic; far better than the shitty system that Europe has. One of the reasons why our consumer goods are so amazingly inexpensive is our incredibly efficient freight system.

But those efficiencies don't translate to a passenger system. A toilet being shipped from Seattle to Tampa doesn't care about being dropped off 30 miles away, sitting for a night, and then being trucked to the distribution center. Your pork ribs from Iowa are perfectly content to get to Charlotte via Chicago and maybe New Jersey.

People are slightly more picky, and demand convenient stations, which translates to things like $15 billion tunnels under the Hudson (thank you Chris Christie for canceling that boondoggle) and $300 million stations in Downtown Chicago.

61 Between state funding of a "high speed" (yeah right) rail commission--while real road projects go wanting--and state funding of stem-cell research (the 21st century version of Snake Oil)--while overcrowded public hospitals shut down--California is going, going.....

62 55 It would be a lot cheaper to load Sheriff Joe into a cannon every morning and fire him from Wilmington to DC. He could land on a big trampoline and there could be clowns and balloons. Posted by: Cicero at February 08, 2011 02:33 PM (QKKT0) No, once Biden lands then you've already brought in the clowns. (Tip the veal, try the waitresses!)

63 It's that or build entire cities that will sit empty but we have got to keep up with China damn it.

64

Even if trains were economically feasible, they're still a problem.  Security is totally impossible.  I'm amazed that little Muz aren't running around blowing up remote bits of rail, or just plan prying up a rail here or there.  Pleny of freight still moves on rail. 

Any above ground bullet train would be highly vulnerable to sabotage.  Imagine a whole train load of passengers going off the tracks at 200 mph.  Not a pretty sight, I bet.

65

California is going broke but they still are going to spend billions they don't have going from nowhere to nowhere, i.e., Corcorcan.

Hey, have you heard about our Government-Paid Universal Healthcare Bill? http://tinyurl.com/6c6k6wm

66 I have another futuristic idea! If you harness a horse to a wagon, you can haul stuff without using gasoline! Emissions would not cause global warming cooling climate change, but could be used to feed organic vegetables! And we could go back to dirt instead of paved roads!

67 Posted by: moi at February 08, 2011 02:33 PM (Ez4Ql)

Corcoran isn't "Nowhere." Corcoran is "Nowhere's" asshole.

68

Thinking built on the past. Yeah, fuck all that experience and knowledge. Lets go with stoopid and ignorant, thats the future!

No it ain't fuckstick, lets see you get this turd past the Rethuglicans in Congress.

69 If we're going to revert to rail, maybe we should give steam engines another look?

70 33
I've always wanted to ride a train. There is something romantic about it.
I was going to visit a buddy in DC and decided I would take a train. I looked it up online and the Pitt to DC ride was ten hours(each way) and 250 bucks round trip, I then looked on expedia and got a flight for 130 bucks and 45 minute trip.
It's so inefficient and expensive.
Posted by: Ben at February 08, 2011 02:26 PM (wuv1c)

You haven't hit upon half of the pleasures provided by Amtrak.

Picture boarding a train that has been en route from points south for the better part of a day and the toilet's broken, filling the car with a perfectly lovely aroma.

Picture taking a train from Richmond and arriving at DC at the very moment you were scheduled to arrive in Wilmington -- another two hours away -- and Amtrak told the person who was to pick you up at the station that your train was running on time.

Those Russians traveling through Siberia in boxcars in Doctor Zhivago were only slightly worse off than the average traveler on Amtrak. (But we can look forward to Preznint Splutnik roaming hither and yon by high-speed rail like Comrade Strelnikov, comrades!)

71

Take Portland to LA route, one way.

Let's say I-5 carries 30 cars per minute X 2 pax per car = 60/min, or (say) 85K pax per day.

HSR could run 3 trains/hr max, at 1000 pax per train, that's 48K pax per day.

I am skeptical that any rail system can run 3 HS trains per hour, 24-7 (6 if you count both ways), so if it is 1/hr, it is only 16K pax/day.  Okay, so if the HST runs twice as fast as a car, the rate goes to 32K pax/day.

Also you still have auto-type trips on both ends to get door-to-door.  And then there's the little matter of the infrastructure one-time and sustaining costs of the railway and rolling stock, compared to a highway where the users maintain their own "rolling stock".  I don't think HSR makes sense.

BTW I have ridden the TGV and it was a hoot!  To the west of Paris it runs down some freeway medians, and watching those Mercedes and BMWs go backwards was amazing.  But you would have to be Joe Biden to imagine that my ticket covered more than a small fraction of the cost of my ride!

72 A side benefit (of course) is that the goddam government will have a much tighter control of who goes where when and why. Fuck that too.

73

Even if trains were economically feasible, they're still a problem.  Security is totally impossible.  I'm amazed that little Muz aren't running around blowing up remote bits of rail, or just plan prying up a rail here or there.  Pleny of freight still moves on rail. 

Any above ground bullet train would be highly vulnerable to sabotage.  Imagine a whole train load of passengers going off the tracks at 200 mph.  Not a pretty sight, I bet.

I wonder if I put a penny on a high speed rail if it would cause a derailment?

74 If we're going to revert to rail, maybe we should give steam engines another look?

Being done.  They're awaiting the verdict of the clean coal commission.

75 What could go wrong?

76 High speed train fetish = union jobs for construction + union jobs to operate + fantasy greenie eco pipedream to inconvienience us all - private sector concern for profit or accountability.

This reminds me of the bullshit the NFL and Players Union are pulling right now.  The NFL in general generates something like $8 billion a year/season.  The owners get $1 billion of that, the players get 60% of what's left and the rest is operating costs or some such.  The owners are asking for $2 billion, but the Players Union can't see the books, so they won't agree and don't believe that the owners need that extra billion.  What job have YOU ever had that you demanded to see the owners profits and you get guaranteed a percentage of that money?  Owners own because they make money.......the players get paid very well for what they do, outside of the benefits they receive for actually having that fucking 'job'........You think they pay their own way when traveling?  They get more for a weekend than I get in salary each month.......

77 Posted by: Soothsayer Kaczynski at February 08, 2011 02:23 PM (uFokq)

Black out?  What black out?

78

Those Russians traveling through Siberia in boxcars in Doctor Zhivago were only slightly worse off than the average traveler on Amtrak. (But we can look forward to Preznint Splutnik roaming hither and yon by high-speed rail like Comrade Strelnikov, comrades!)

heh. I like that reference. I've heard horror stories about amtrak. that's why i'm gonna try one of the luxury ones up in canada some time in the future(probably several years from now)

79

I wonder if I put a penny on a high speed rail if it would cause a derailment?

Posted by: Ben at February 08, 2011 02:42 PM (wuv1c)

I dunno...  But I bet if you and and another guy picked up the heaviest rock you could find and dropped it on the track, or else just made a pile of smaller rocks, the result would be pretty spectacular, and would only have cost you a few minutes hard labor.

80 There is a cargo cult mentality here. Liberals want to emulate Europe, and Europe has trains, so.... But as a commenter noted, their cities are much more tightly packed than ours. Europe has a much higher population density than the US -- even the higher-density NJ only competes but does not win against Holland's density. For certain trips, cars make sense; for mid-range trips, trains make sense; for long-range trips, planes make sense. In most of America, either cars or planes make sense -- it makes no sense to take the train from LA to San Fran, for example. It's a fucking 12 hour ride or something. (I looked it up once.) Trains only make sense in the tightly-packed NE and a few other areas where major cities like Philly, DC, and NYC are mid-range from each other. It makes no sense for 90% of the country, which is why the bafflingly stupid Chicago-DC line needs to be so heavily subsidized. The only connection that it occurs to me even needs train service it doesn't have is the LA/LV line, and if even that juicy line would be unprofitable (compared to planes) then there is no point. We do not need Buffalo-Cleveland lines. Miami to Atlanta? Maybe. But most cities that it makes sense to connect already are connected.

81 Posted by: Sponge © at February 08, 2011 02:43 PM (UK9cE)

But... but... permanent injury!  Concussions!  Bad Choices!

Wait.  Strike that "bad choices" thing, we've found it doesn't sell so well...

82 What really chafes my ass on stuff like this is that everyone, that is everyone including the clueless idiots that always vote Dem, know that these trains are a worthless drag yet they will go along with it.

Hey Repubs in the House, here is 53B to cut in one useless project. Also, if I am not mistaken both Rand Paul and Jim DeMint had ALL of the AMTRAC subsidies up on the chopping block didn't they?

83 I've never understood the liberal fascination with trains. I mean, don't get me wrong: I like trains. I'm a pro-train kind of guy. I like the trains themselves; I like songs about trains. But in the modern era, trains make no sense as people-movers (and they're barely worth it for freight). Liberals: if you want to know why commuter trains work in Japan and Europe*, but not in America, look at a frigging map (especially that big tract of Jesusland west of the Mississippi). *And it's an open question to me whether commuter trains really "work" in Japan, given the colossal amount of debt the Japanese racked up. It's an open question as to whether the bullet-trains are even going to be sustainable in modern Japan.

84

billion.  What job have YOU ever had that you demanded to see the owners profits and you get guaranteed a percentage of that money?  Owners own because they make money.......the players get paid very well for what they do, outside of the benefits they receive for actually having that fucking 'job'........You think they pay their own way when traveling?  They get more for a weekend than I get in salary each month.......

more importantly in any union v. management/owner battle, if the current players left, the owners could still run the league. There are some 1600 players in the league, all can be replaced if need be. Can the same be said of the owners/management?

85 I was told by an engineer that our tracks are too wide for high speed rail and bullet trains.  He said we would have to change all the track all over the county.  He also said a whole range of safety concerns would crop up with trains going that fast and inevitably there would be some horrific accidents which would sour the public rather quickly on the expensive system.

he also said he thought it was a moot point as he thinks the Chinese have been building it for two years now for us to buy.

86
How about a High Speed Border FenceTrain?

87 So Joltin' Joe has ridden the Acela from DC to Wilmington how many times?

I notice the current one-way fare -- not first-class -- is $135.00. I'm sure the First Bumpkin gets a discount pass, but it's still going to be a hefty hit. For taxpayers, anyway.

Despite the atrocious fares, Amtrak still gets heavy subsidies, still loses boo-coo bucks every year.

Yeah, I'm all for spending billions more to build more heavily subsidized rail lines, especially when those billions will part of the debt that is crippling the nation.

88 I want the train going 300 miles an hour in the residential neighborhood where my house is. That way at least I won't have to wait 30 minutes for it to pass stopped in my car. It will be a lot better that way.

89 Well, sir, there's nothing on earth
Like a genuine,
Bona fide,
Electrified,
Six-car
Monorail!

90

 I've never understood the liberal fascination with trains. I mean, don't get me wrong: I like trains. I'm a pro-train kind of guy. I like the trains themselves; I like songs about trains. But in the modern era, trains make no sense as people-movers (and they're barely worth it for freight).

actually they are extremely cost effective for moving coal, steel scrap, coke(not the drink), etc.

Heavy industry could never ever ever afford to have that stuff moved by 18 wheelers.

Barges and trains will always exist as long as we have heavy industry.

I'm not so sure about consumer freight though.

91 Biden, who estimated he has ridden Amtrak between Washington and his home in Wilmington, Delaware, some 7,900 times, made a strong pitch for rail transportation to enable the United States to compete and lead internationally.
-------------
Compete?  How does a high speed rail make us more competitive?  Rail will never compete with airlines.  The only place it makes sense is short runs between small cities, which is precisely the type of route doomed to lose money year after year because riders will not pay the true fare to keep those routes sustainable.

92 We're gonna need faster horses, Butch.

93 I, for one, look forward to the day when I can look out the window of the passenger car and watch the steam from the locomotive mix with the rays of the setting sun, while unicorns prance and frolic amongst the windmills and solar panels in the green pastures along the tracks. 

94 Posted by: ace at February 08, 2011 02:45 PM (nj1bB)

Dallas - Houston.  Because people in Houston need a faster way to escape.

I mostly agree with you, and I think that if any form of Passenger Rail is going to succeed commercially, it would have to be regional rail.  Trans-Continental rail only makes sense for cargo, really.

Even regional rail has some major disadvantages in light of the fact most Americans already have cars, and you can drive yourself without worrying about some company's scheduling.

95 "Seize the Future".  Seems as though that's what they've been doing the last two years, huh.  This shit's gotta stop.  Hopefully the House repubs will hold the line.

96

Lets see... Denver to Oakland CA...

$207 and a day and a half by train...

Just flew same for $121... and took about 10 hours with a fairly long layover...

 

FAIL.

97 Massive sock fail.

98 You know Japan, France and Germany all have trains! So should we! (Ignore the fact that we are 10 times bigger than any of those countries: Russia has trains too!)

99  I'm hearing that the libs/dems would prefer to take trains, more so than planes and they feel that a good rail system would lower the number of cars on the road.  I just really think that this "high speed rail" thing is wrapped up in their "european envy"

100

We do not need Buffalo-Cleveland lines. Miami to Atlanta? Maybe. But most cities that it makes sense to connect already are connected.

More specifically, we probably can't have high speed rails travel through the Appalachans or Rockies.

So you probably won't be able to go coast to coast on a high speed rail.

101 But... but... permanent injury!  Concussions!  Bad Choices!

Wait.  Strike that "bad choices" thing, we've found it doesn't sell so well...

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) at February 08, 2011 02:45 PM (8y9MW)

That was the other thing that pissed me off.  HEALTH CARE after retirement!!!  WTF!?!  Obamacare is supposed to be good enough for me and my family, but not for a fucking FOOTBALL PLAYER!!??!!  Fuck you AND the horse you rode in on, asshole.

102 Germany used trains a lot to move people in the 1940's

103

Maybe Obama is trying to hard to be like Lincoln. Trains played a major role in the Civil War.

 

104
>>>Posted by: Spurwing Plover at February 08, 2011 02:30 PM (vA9ld)

I think this is legit.

105 Now we're talkin'.

106 You know, I could help Mubarak too.

107 >>Dallas - Houston.  Because people in Houston need a faster way to escape.


I'm definitely planning to move to Dallas after the way the Super Bowl was held. You normally have to move to Cuba to get that kind of efficiency.

108

Heavy industry could never ever ever afford to have that stuff moved by 18 wheelers.

Barges and trains will always exist as long as we have heavy industry.

I'm not so sure about consumer freight though.

Don't worry 'bout that Ben. Zero and his merry band of genital lice are gonna do away with all that nasty, evil, exploitative heavy industry. And they're doing a great job, btw.

109 I heard a blurb on the radio that they will tie into existing track ?  Yea right - like a Formula 1 race car with 1905 wood rimed tires on a cobblestone street.

110 But as a commenter noted..

Yea! I've been promoted to "a commenter"!!!!

111

The problem with rail is not speed.  The problem is Amtrack.  Several years ago I wanted to travel from NYC to Indy.  I checked the tain and the plane.  Yes the train took longer than the plane, but more importantly, the train was more than twice the cost.

Conversely, many years ago, the lack of speed was an important consideration.  Back in the early 90's I took the auto train as I made my move from New York to Key West.  Not only did my car come with me, I enjoyed a nice sleep on that train.

The ideal vision of railroad in the US is not the intercontinental railroad (which actually went past each other until congress finally got mad and cut off the funding) but Henry Flaggler's overseas railroad across the Florida Keys, although it was "Flaggler's Folly" and eventually failed it was the perfect example of everything the President hates in our nation, and the only reason it failed was that not even man's determination can stop a well powered hurricane.

112

How about a High Speed Border FenceTrain?

Somewhat OT, but I would support airline subsidies for illegal aliens. Once caught, fly them to Cozumel. From there, it is 2000 miles back up to the border, 50 of it swimming to Cancun.

It would make for a transcontinental "Chutes And Ladders" game.

113 Come on, $56 billion isn't too much to serve the country's stated goal, the creation and sustainment of cushy government jobs and pensions for connected retards.

114 Germany used trains a lot to move people in the 1940's

ISWYDT

115

Yea! I've been promoted to "a commenter"!!!!

Could be worse.

116 Posted by: Sponge © at February 08, 2011 02:51 PM (UK9cE)

To be fair, I don't think any of the NFL Players really support OCare, nor do the majority of the owners.

117 One overlooked advantage of high-speed rail is that the myriad Darwin Award contestants who try to weave their way through the crossing guard arms would have to bring their "A" game ... every damn time.

Also, if we already had high-speed rail, the movie Eraser would have been about 90 seconds shorter (and that's a big ef'ing deal).

118 I just really think that this "high speed rail" thing is wrapped up in their "european envy"
Posted by: curious
------
That's exactly what it is.  However, they totally ignore the fact that the U.S. is spread out much more so than Europe.Towns are more compact.. once you get to a town by train you can walk or use local transportation to get to your endpoint.  You cannot do that here.  Hell, in Chicago, once you get to the train station, you could still be 40 miles away from the suburb you need to get to.  It's idiotic.

119

Obama's "watermelon" buddies are hiding in the bushes, waiting to launch 10,000 environmental studies that will quintuple the costs of any rail line, followed by 10,000 lawsuits against the rape of Gaia those lines will cause, and they will never be built, but the good old USA will have the most enviro-hotshot lawyers on the planet - that's the real agenda!

No, not THAT kind of watermelon, you morons - the green outside, red inside kind!  But I'll just proactively denounce myself to save everyone the trouble, okay?

120

Yes the train took longer than the plane, but more importantly, the train was more than twice the cost.

Hmmm.  What could be done to make a more expensive, longer train ride more attractive than an airplane flight?

121

Look, if we don't build high speed rail across the country, we are damn sure never going to get a high speed rail line to the Moon.

Idiot.  There will never be a train to the moon.

It'll be an elevator.

Dummy.  Elevators don't have windows.  Trains have windows.  It will be a train. 

122 Cars represent individual freedom, trains are a collective solution. It's a no-brainer as to why they prefer mass transit of all kinds. Not to mention the additional control that a collective solution gives the elites over the proles.

123 Posted by: Dr Spank at February 08, 2011 02:53 PM (45DBC)

You do know the NFL took over everything that directly had to do with the Superbowl, yes?

The rolling black-outs were stupid (I hope someone gets fired over that) and I'm not sure why they didn't just bring in the snow plows before the storm hit, but most of that debacle can be laid directly at the feet of the NFL.

@112 - I don't speak Greek, and I have a distrust of posting anything in a foreign language I don't know.  I always have a feeling that what it really says is "Heh.  Stupid American."

124 Lionel still makes an awesome train complete with track and controller for well under $50 billion

125 Aye caramba!!1!11!! Siempre supimos que Obama estaba en los carriles de alta velocidad!1!!11!1 IYKWWMAITYD

126

Dummy.  Elevators don't have windows.  Trains have windows.  It will be a train. 

Ahem.

127

I wonder if I put a penny on a high speed rail if it would cause a derailment?

One way to find out . . .

128

Posted by: sherlock at February 08, 2011 02:59 PM (BaQuW)

He said watermelon.  Heh.  Heheh.

129

Hmmm.  What could be done to make a more expensive, longer train ride more attractive than an airplane flight?

Posted by: The Friendly Hands At The TSA at February 08, 2011 02:59 PM (QKKT0)

 

Drugs and hookers?

130

Hmmm.  What could be done to make a more expensive, longer train ride more attractive than an airplane flight?

Posted by: The Friendly Hands At The TSA at February 08, 2011 02:59 PM

Private bunks and hookers?

131 Posted by: Soona at February 08, 2011 03:02 PM

We can share the profits!

132 The US already has the best train system in the world - if you want to move intermodal freight. We have coast to coast double-stack right of ways in place already. You can stack two shipping containers on a flat car, and haul hundreds of cars in a single train. Try that in China, or Europe. There is some federal money that would be useful to invest. A couple billion in Chicago (I know, but it is where all the train lines intersect), could clear up the freight congestion in the Chicago rail yards that can make it take 48 hours to move a freight car across town. For another billion, you could rebuild the tunnel under Baltimore and separate freight and Amtrak trains, and allow double stack trains to go from Florida to New England. Everybody benefits from faster shipping times and getting more trucks off the highways. But hey, why help the US be a more competitive place to do business.

133

What about me?

134 Ahem.

135 I was told by an engineer that our tracks are too wide for high speed rail and bullet trains.

Whichever engineer told you that is a fucking retard. Rail gauges are the same in the US and Europe.

136

Whichever engineer told you that is a fucking retard. Rail gauges are the same in the US and Europe.

As a mechanical engineer, I fail to see how a few inches in extra width is gonna have a material effect on the high speed feasibility anyway.

137

Whichever engineer told you that is a fucking retard. Rail gauges are the same in the US and Europe.

*cough*

138

"Several times the California High Speed Rail Authority has been caught mapping out bullet train alignments and then failing to notify homeowners whose properties would be slated for seizure via eminent domain."

  So here we have crooked railroads and corrupt politicians conspiring to steal private land and evict homeowners. Lovely.

 The California High Speed Rail Authority sounds like a collection of villians from a bad Western. 

139

Dummy.  Elevators don't have windows.  Trains have windows.  It will be a train. 

Ahem.

Posted by: Your local mall glass elevator

 

Yeah, like they're going to build a mall all the way to the Moon . . .

140

Whichever engineer told you that is a fucking retard. Rail gauges are the same in the US and Europe.

*cough* *cough*

141

There is some federal money that would be useful to invest. A couple billion in Chicago (I know, but it is where all the train lines intersect), could clear up the freight congestion in the Chicago rail yards that can make it take 48 hours to move a freight car across town.

They did this for the ports at Los Angeles / Long Beach and it was a godsend.

142 Posted by: Ernie McCracken at February 08, 2011 03:08 PM (jmf9+)

It does sound like a plot synopsis for The Lone Ranger, doesn't it?

143

Has no-one pointed out that this is all just a ploy to hire even more unionized TSA workers?

I'd be all for a rail system if it was a) cheap and b) efficient.  It is neither and never will be, unfortunately.  The USA is not Europe.  If the libs want to have the European experience, why don't they just move there already?

144

What about me?

Posted by: The Gravy Train

Get back in line

145

actually they are extremely cost effective for moving coal, steel scrap, coke(not the drink), etc.

Heavy industry could never ever ever afford to have that stuff moved by 18 wheelers.

Barges and trains will always exist as long as we have heavy industry.

I'm not so sure about consumer freight though.

Posted by: Ben at February 08, 2011 02:47 PM (wuv1c)

The fascinating thing is that coal and steel scrap and things of that sort tend to travel from mines that stay open for a long time to factories that tend to stay open for a long time.  By contrast, patterns of consumer and business passenger travel are much more fluid, making it much harder to plan to amortize a given passenger rail route over a period of time.  (Passenger airplanes have the signal advantage of being able to be rerouted as travel patterns shift.)

146

 The California High Speed Rail Authority sounds like a collection of villians from a bad Western. 

Posted by: Ernie McCracken at February 08, 2011 03:08 PM (jmf9+)

 

No shit!!

147

The California High Speed Rail Authority sounds like a collection of villians from a bad Western. 

Mongo only pawn in game of life.

148 Posted by: Russia at February 08, 2011 03:08 PM (QKKT0)

Keep coughing, Ivan. You have, what, a single high-speed rail line?

149 Well the current passenger rail systems are so efficient how can anyone be against this.

_{Sound Transit's (un)progress report on light rail}

150

As a mechanical engineer, I fail to see how a few inches in extra width is gonna have a material effect on the high speed feasibility anyway.

Posted by: maddogg
-----------
It probably means the libtards want to outsource the rail cars to European manufacturers.  Why have a multi-billion dollar project that would actually benefit Americans?

151 My sister used to date a high speed rail train. He knocked her up, stole her iphone, and had two of his buddies move in the house and start smoking crack. It did not end well.

152 hahhaha I just realized that the engineer who told me that our tracks are too wide works for Honda.

153

I was going to visit a buddy in DC and decided I would take a train. I looked it up online and the Pitt to DC ride was ten hours(each way) and 250 bucks round trip, I then looked on expedia and got a flight for 130 bucks and 45 minute trip.

It's so inefficient and expensive.

Posted by: Ben at February 08, 2011 02:26 PM (wuv1c)

You have to look at long-distance train travel much the same way that people nowadays look at ship travel: it's the voyage, not the arrival, that makes it worth it.  If you aren't into riding the train precisely for the opportunity to stare at the scenery for 10 hours, it's not worth it.

154 If the libs want to have the European experience, why don't they just move there already?

Because Europe's gravy train is fully booked and running out of fuel.

155

So, if a public works project trips over a salamander nest or spotted-turtle path, the project is essentially D.O.A.

But a project that displaces human beings?  No problem.

Huh.

156 Keep coughing, Ivan. You have, what, a single high-speed rail line?

Yea but they do have a nice non working replika of the Space Shuttle

OK but they do have the most beautiful train stations

157 My sister used to date a high speed rail train. He knocked her up, stole her iphone, and had two of his buddies move in the house and start smoking crack. It did not end well.

Posted by: Thomas the Tank Engine at February 08, 2011 03:13 PM (ue0DQ)

Did she end up pulling a high-speed train?

158 I got it!  What about a bullet train that actually delivers bullets!?

159 Posted by: Spain at February 08, 2011 03:09 PM (QKKT0)

Your high-speed lines are built on standard gauge, hombre.

160 Posted by: rdbrewer at February 08, 2011 03:17 PM (ntv/e)

No, no, no.  You're confused.

That's a rail gun.

161

So here we have crooked railroads and corrupt politicians conspiring to steal private land and evict homeowners. Lovely.

We'll do a number 6.  That's where we go a-ridin' into town, a-whompin' and a-whumpin' every livin' thing that moves within an inch of its life.

162 Well if the high speed rails here are anything like the high speed rails in Japan it might be worth it. They are known as a place where women get molested and groped by everyone around them. Google it if you doubt me.

163 And I want my High Speed Train Elevated so no rodents or corn crops are displaced.

164

Any above ground bullet train would be highly vulnerable to sabotage.  Imagine a whole train load of passengers going off the tracks at 200 mph.  Not a pretty sight, I bet.

Posted by: Reactionary at February 08, 2011 02:37 PM (xUM1Q)

Well, Obama was right: no point in patting down passengers at rail stations when terrorists anywhere along the line could destroy the entire train with next to no investment in time and material.

Of course, I am confident that our nation, that can't secure a thousand miles of our actual international border, will nonetheless secure thousands of miles of high-speed rail lines.  President Obama must believe it, so I believe it.

165

We'll do a number 6.  That's where we go a-ridin' into town, a-whompin' and a-whumpin' every livin' thing that moves within an inch of its life.

Posted by: Taggart at February 08, 2011 03:18 PM (QKKT0)

Gabby Johnson said, "The Sheriff is NEAR!"

166 Other than freight intercontinental rail doesn't make sense. Amtrak should get out of the commuter rail business and allow states to run those smaller authorities. Many states already do this and it shouldn't be Amtrak's job anywhere. Other than the Northeast Corridor and a few other instate connections between dense cities, there shouldn't be ANY federally funded rail. As far as freight improvements, why can't Norfolk Southern pay for it's own infrastructure? Don't even get me started on those assholes at CSX, which seem rather disinterested in actually running their damn railroad like a real railroad, and not real estate liquidation firm.

167 Gotta have them there trains.  Cain't get mah cows to Kansas City no more.  Them sodbusters got it all fucked up. *spit* 

168

So, the Administration wants $53 bn to run a high speed train on us. 

169 'Chelle's going to get in on this act and recommend that a federal program be established to equip every American couple with a two-seater paddle boat and set them to work hauling river freight.

170 Posted by: Cowboy Hank at February 08, 2011 03:22 PM (FeeTi)

Ummm... Cowboy?  Those trains mean you make about an extra hundred bucks a head.  Walking all the way from Fort Worth to OKC runs off a lot of pounds on those cows.

171 Posted by: ya2daup at February 08, 2011 03:25 PM (UzjcV)

Naa.  Entirely too free market for them.

172 170 Gotta have them there trains.  Cain't get mah cows to Kansas City no more.  Them sodbusters got it all fucked up. *spit*

Get with it paw Its the new economy n all - sposed ta cut them thar cows up inta itty bitty pieces, chillem thenen call them thar little brown trucks fer senden em. And theys cana fly too, its a dang wonderment !

173 They built the Bridge to Nowhere, now they need a train to go with it.

174 13
This is what happens when the Republicans have no ideas and no agenda.

We have a vacuum; Obama is filling it. This is natural.

Posted by: Soothsayer Kaczynski at February 08, 2011 02:21 PM (uFokq)

I don't get it, are you saying that Republicans should be doing big government, just with a different flavor?

Or are you saying that it's just natural for people to win when their position is "ass-rape the taxpayer" over people whose position is "don't ass-rape the taxpayer" because they, like, have a plan and are being positive instead of negative?

Because if that's the case, then, you know, boned.

175 We're going off the rails here....

176 As far as Biden's mentally-challenged plans:

"This is about seizing the future," he said...

"This is about seizing the future income of Americans," he meant to say.

The piece complained that “critics…base their arguments on the past, not the future.”

Why am I not surprised that a lot of intellectually inbred urban liberals would like to base their argument on shit that hasn't happened?

You know what the past is? The past is stuff that happened. It is ALL you have to learn from. Your imagination can lead you to lots of places no one has ever been, but it isn't effing PROOF of anything.

As has been pointed out above, mass transit means people are more easily controlled, have less individual choice, and it grows government. From a leftist POV, what's not to like?

177 But Barry is all about "reducing the deficit", right?

178 I rode Amtrak once.  Only once.  It was as expensive as a plane ticket, it took forever to get there because the train kept getting held up at different stations and it was dirty and uncomfortable.

If this is the "future" of train trips, I'll pass, thanks.

179 ...it makes no sense to take the train from LA to San Fran, for example. It's a fucking 12 hour ride or something.

True if you go down the coast, which is a slow route. Take the San Joaquin, which goes from Oakland to Bakersfield, then a bus to Union Station in Los Angeles, and it's about eight hours.

180 Liberals' ideal world is one where everyone gets herded into big cities where liberals rule, lives in tiny apartments owned by the state, and gets on a government- and union-run train like cattle to go to work and back home every day.  They hate cars, and suburbs, and home ownership because those things mean FREEDOM, they mean inequality and better lifestyles for those who work harder, take more risks, and are smarter.  Liberals want everyone to be equally miserable. 

181 Did somebody say something about pulling a train?

182 Whoopsie, slipped on my sock.

183

Trains which nobody will ride. Built with money we don't have. Endorsed by a man with an IQ equivalent to a potted plant. The genius of liberal utopia planning in action.

184
Traaaaaain, train, take me on out of this town
Train, train, Lord, take me on out of this town
Well, that woman I'm in love with, Lord, she's Memphis bound

Well, leavin' here, I'm just a raggedy hobo
Lord, I'm leaving here, I'm just a raggedy hobo
Well, that woman I'm in love with, Lord, she's got to go

185 Hell, in Chicago, once you get to the train station, you could still be 40 miles away from the suburb you need to get to.  It's idiotic.

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at February 08, 2011 02:58 PM (f9c2L)

But the libtards want to force us to live in urban, "walkable" neighborhoods with no freedom of movement (that is, you know, provided by cars).

186 I think if the goverment  would just stay the fuck out of our lives we would have personal luke skywalker X wings by now. Fuck trains.

187
You know what's unsaid about the high-speed train thing? It's a travel subsidy for rich socialists that work in the liberal paradise of Frisco, but want to buy homes in the more conservative Fresno. Real Estate is about 1/4 of the price, so you can buy a mansion for the price of a Frisco studio apartment, and you won't get shanked by an aggressively panhandling hobo while taking out your trash.

188 Barry needs that high-speed train because it's getting might crowded under that bus. Plus, buses are so inefficient for that sort of purpose. When he starts building high-speed showers, watch out.

189 I'm not so sure about consumer freight though.

Ever seen one of those long double-stack freight trains? Those are what moves goods back and forth across the country. A lot of the containers heading east from the Los Angeles area come off ships unloaded at Long Beach.

Also, UPS uses TOFC for its ground service and BNSF does a bang-up job with this between Chicago and Los Angeles/Richmond.

190 If we made the train even faster, wouldn't we save even more money while creating more jobs?  Let's shoot for 450 mph.

191

I'm not so sure about consumer freight though.

Posted by: Ben at February 08, 2011 02:47 PM (wuv1c)

Um, UPS uses freight trains extensively, and that's the very definition of consumer freight. And by the way, no UPS train ever takes 48 hours to get through Chicago. 4.8 hours is enough to have people fired.

192

If politics weren't involved, we'd take what we are giving Amtrak and start giving it to the freight train industry and double long haul freight truck tax rates (local rates remain the same) to better reflect the actual impact of 40,000 lb carrying freight trucks on our roads.  Net-net:  more freight via rail, less via truck.  

We benefit from safer and less damaged roads that need to be repaired less often.  Only profitable routes remain on Amtrak, and the freed up rails can be used for more freight trains.  Almost all long haul then goes train.  Truckers are left with medium and short haul only.

193 Um.  Can I get in on this?  I'd even settle for some soul train action.

194 Now that I think about it the real problem is that the Feds haven't invested in spice harvesting yet. Forget trains. Traveling without moving is where it's at.

195

Let's make a train that goes 1,000 mph.  Then everybody will have a job and the deficit and debt will by eliminated.

The faster your train goes, the better your economy.

196 "Other than the Northeast Corridor and a few other instate connections between dense cities, there shouldn't be ANY federally funded rail."

Posted by: Blue Falcon in Boston at February 08, 2011 03:21 PM (ijjAe)

Please explain why there should be ANY federally funded rail.

197 Tell you what. If Barry can build an HO scale model of the train, we'll let him do it. He'll never finish the layout. Model railroading is too complex for his mind.

198 Posted by: Blacque Jacques Shellacque at February 08, 2011 04:09 PM (nD3Pg)

Do you work at NBACA?

199 They'll get the high-speed train network up and running right about the time commercial teleportation hits the market.

200 Go fuck yourselves, auto apologists.

Fucking right wing morons.

201 Also there's this: High speed rail = more hobos

202
Also there's this: High speed rail = more hobos



Or.....high speed hobos. With shotguns.

203 Fucking right wing morons.

I resemble that remark.

204
He forgot to call us racist. I rate that lefty troll effort a B+.

205 Do you work at NBACA?

The Santa Rosa hub? Nope.

206 This guy built a railroad, too. (Vocals start at about 1:09.)

207

Also there's this: High speed rail = more hobos

No no no.  High speed rail = faster hobos

208

For giggles, I looked up Houston to San Antonio on Amtrak's Sunset Limited.  It's 180 miles courthouse to courthouse and about 3 hours by car.

Amtrak leaves Houston at 9:50 PM on MoWeFr and arrives San Antonio at 3:00 AM on TuThSa.  Returning, Amtrak leaves San Antonio MThSa at 11:55 PM and arrives Houston TuFrSu at 4:40 AM.

If you depart Houston on Monday, the earliest you can return is Fri.

Then there's this from Amtrak's Sunset Limited brochure, keeping in mind you arrive in San Antone at 3:00 AM:

"For thru passengers between Chicago and Los Angeles, the train lays over in San Antonio approximately 2 1/2 to 3 hours.   After checking with the Conductor, passengers are free to detrain and enjoy the sites of the city, including the famed River Walk, only a short cab ride away."

 

1. Hey gang, let's grab a cab and check out the Alamo and the River Walk in the pre-dawn hours of 3:00 - 5:00 AM.

 

2.  Apparently, Amtrak confuses Chicago with New Orleans in their ad copy.

 

3. Departures at 9:50 PM and 11:55 PM with arrivals at 3 AM and 4:40 AM in either direction, respectively, is not gonna persuade very many people to experience Amtrak.

 

Drain Bamage

209

Joe Biden: "Seize The Future, Urkel!" (STFU for short)

"I'll be happy if the trains can make it to 88 miles/hr., and the Mr.Fusion attached to the Flux Capacitor will do the rest."---Dr. Emmett Brown

210

People come to me when they want to make the Kessel Run in less than 12 Parsecs. So, Seize That Future Urkel.

211 203 Go fuck yourselves, auto apologists.

Fucking right wing morons.

Posted by: darth nixon at February 08, 2011 04:28 PM (XvpWw)

What the fuck? An anti-automobile bigot?

What is it, 19 fucking 05?

Yeah, I know, individual choice, freedom and responsibility is just too much of a burden to bear, much better to be shuffled around to the wrong place at the wrong time by an over-pensioned bureaucrat.

I knew an anti-auto bigot at college, actually. True nutjob, typical extremist, never changed the subject, never shut up. Sad figure, really. Has to be either teaching or a hobo now, could never work somewhere that results mattered more than flecking spittle.

212

We do not need Buffalo-Cleveland lines.

Get me the hell out of Cleveland. I don't care where you take me, just as long as it's fast.

213

We do not need Buffalo-Cleveland lines.

What 215 said, except the other way around.

214 We all know Joe's brain took off on a high speed rail a long time ago.

215

Gabby Johnson said, "The Sheriff is NEAR!"

Posted by: stuiec

No, gawl-dangit dadburnit...  I said, "The Sheriff is a NINJA!!"

216 A number of years ago I stayed at a hotel in South Miami for a work conference. I took the light rail system downtown a lot when they moved the meeting place. I had to get off, walk several blocks and then take a little monorail to a stop several more blocks from my conference. I asked someone why the rail line only went about 8 miles and they told me they only had about 8 billion at the time, and they estimated it would cost 3 times as much to initially extend it to the actual downtown or really just anywhere else and taxes would have to go up astronomically even with Federal subsidies forever after. Since the line quit running every night before my deal was over and I was usually the only one on the entire train by then, I rented a car. Took 15 minutes instead of an hour+. Nice train though.....slow speed rail. By all means, lets replace cars with bicycles built for twenty as well. Notify your block captain if any of your neighbors don't seem enthusiastic about that plan either.

217 Trains belong in amusement parks. They are the only trains that actually make money. I ride on trains in amusement parks all the time. Trains will not be allowed to go fast in residential areas. In California, the non-residential areas tend to have lots of mountains over which trains also CANNOT go fast (as in the laws of physics keep them at 20 miles per hour.). But hundreds of people make millions of dollars studying the possibility and have done so for decades.

218 Is it me or does every new plan Obama comes up with just reek of a desperate attempt to get people to like him after the NOV 2010 elections.

219 altın çilek - fx15 - leke kremi - yudali - maurers - ozon yağı