No high-speed rail for Florida

[Kristy]

You're talking more of a light-rail, Sunisinus. High-speed is more for long terrain destinations.

[chefcraig]

So sorry but a high-speed rail in Florida makes no sense when you consider the demographic of the population there. Americans, especially older Americans are not going to let go of their cars so easily for public transportation no matter how fast it is. Plus, Miami is not a major metropolitan area such as L.A. It would make more sense to put it in Texas than Florida.

The idea of a high speed rail train in Florida is dumb, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the age demo of the people living here or the size of it's cities. The proposal is for it to link the south with the north, which is pretty much pointless unless somebody wishes to visit either South beach or Disney World. In other words, it would be devised to bolster in-state tourism, which is absolutely ludicrous. Rather than spending the money on a train that perhaps a third or less of the population will use, the money should go toward the existing transportation system, which is completely inept and entirely inadequate due to poor planning, mismanagement and now, huge budget cuts. As a result, people of all ages, not just the elderly, have been forced into widespread car use because there is no viable alternative in place. Hell, just using a bicycle is a suicidal act, as the road planners have only recently (in the past 4 years) started creating pathways and laws (all drivers must remain at least three feet away from cyclists, you should see how poorly the public has taken to this, as I have a gash on my leg for proof) to accommodate alternate forms of transportation.

The calamity at work here is far deeper than the area's population statistics are aged or the metropolis isn't quite as developed as other cities. The problem is that leaders idiotically believe that a high speed train would solve the issues that the malfeasance of the past 40-50 years has led to.

[SunisinuS]

You're talking more of a light-rail, Sunisinus. High-speed is more for long terrain destinations.

In a country that has invested in this type of infrastructure it is integrated.

The light rail example of SLC was to illustrate that even Republicans will take the train and like it, once they see it as nonpolitical.

The grandma example still stands. Mine were in the Midwest and wanted to go to Cali. In a country that has an evolved train network, this is one of their journeys: 3 blocks to the Light Rail station (sure a friend could drive them if they wanted): Light rail takes her to large station (Tulsa perhaps): High Speed Train leaves 25 minutes later: Enters Ontario: Light Rail to Redlands: 7 blocks to destination.

No cars and fatigue and WORK in operating them (although she could drive her car to the train and put it onboard if she wanted to just like a ferry), and not waiting for 3-6 hours in airports just to have driven to them each time either.


Believe it or not: That is how it really works in Europe. Once people had this in the United States they would kill for it, and wipe out the politicians who kept it from them all this time. It is EASY, Safe, Cost Effective, Convenient, pleasant. If you only know Amtrak, and Greyhound, you must immediately forget those horrible excuses for transportation and clear your head.

Hope I explained that better as like I said, if you have only LIVED in the US you don't really get what I am explaining.

And yes, if you were a bicyclist you could take the SAME trip in the very same way and be bicycling on either end for those last 7 blocks to moms....Even in Winter (least in cali). We used to have the best train system in the world and we pissed it out the window. Sad.

[FORD]

High speed rail has to be part of a national project, or it would be worse than useless. A train that ONLY went from Jacksonville to Miami (or any other two points in Florida) would make less sense than the 2000 ballot counting process.

[Kristy]

I'm all for rail travel providing it is practical. When I used to work downtown I took light rail all the time and loved it the only problem was the park 'n' ride lots but when I think of high speed rail I'm thinking someone traveling from Miami to say, Daytona

[SunisinuS]

Airlines raising domestic fares again.

Sorry Florida.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20110303/ap_tr_ge/us_travel_brief_airlines_fares;_ylt=AlIGFuEYgmhIZTGofw0A3zNH2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTNtbjY2Zzk4BGFzc2V0A2FwX3RyYXZlbC8yMDExMDMwMy91c190cmF2ZWxfYnJpZWZfYWlybGluZXNfZmFyZXMEY2NvZGUDcHpidWUEY3BvcwMxMARwb3MDMTAEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNhaXJsaW5lc3JhaXM-

[jacksmar]

Sorry no one could comprehend the math. This will help. It takes 2 hours to drive to Orlando from St Pete Beach. I stop when I want to and when I need to and where I need to. If the trains total time at best is 1 hour 45 minutes it isn’t worth shit. That doesn’t include stops.

Just so the math lesson isn’t lost: distance 60 miles\ 1 hr = 60 mph
Sometimes it takes 1hr 45 minutes to Orlando from St Pete beach sometimes 2+ hours. A train won’t be any different.

So Ubama made the train political by pulling money out of his ass he doesn’t have. The Kenyan Houseboy pissed away court time and cost trying to shove trains on Florida and lost.

And for the dumbasses that still don’t get it: There isn’t a train anywhere in the U.S. that makes a profit. If the Florida train was going to be a haul ass money maker, someone would have done it by now.

Typical Ubama: I with the government and I’m here to help.

[FORD]

Why does everything have to be about "profit". I'm talking national infrastructure upgrade here. Was the Interstate Highway System built "for profit"??

It's certainly true that a lot of businesses profited from the highways, by locating themselves next to them. And certainly the oil companies have done well, even before they began practicing blatant fraud and thievery.

If you must bring "profit" into it, how about the money that would be saved by both the people riding the trains, and companies who choose to make them part of their freight operations?

[SunisinuS]

And for the dumbasses that still don’t get it: There isn’t a train anywhere in the U.S. that makes a profit. If the Florida train was going to be a haul ass money maker, someone would have done it by now.

Typical Ubama: I with the government and I’m here to help.

Turn off Rush just for one minute and read below:

http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/2011/feb/13/how-should-train-profit-be-spent-ar-840692/

http://peoriastation.blogpeoria.com/2010/02/19/passenger-train-profits-in-2010/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Lake_City_TRAX

http://www.streetsblog.org/2008/07/15/french-high-speed-trains-turn-175b-profit-leave-american-rail-in-the-dust/

Sorry just a quick 3 as I only had 2 minutes over lunch.

Would the gentleman like some Wine with his Crow?

[jacksmar]

Because you have to give the fucking train money back when the fucking train fails.

[Nitro Express]

Why does everything have to be about "profit". I'm talking national infrastructure upgrade here. Was the Interstate Highway System built "for profit"??

It's certainly true that a lot of businesses profited from the highways, by locating themselves next to them. And certainly the oil companies have done well, even before they began practicing blatant fraud and thievery.

If you must bring "profit" into it, how about the money that would be saved by both the people riding the trains, and companies who choose to make them part of their freight operations?

The interstate system was built for the US military actually. They never would have spent that much money for just commercial and civilian use. It was built to move the military around quickly and easily if need be.

[FORD]

The interstate system was built for the US military actually. They never would have spent that much money for just commercial and civilian use. It was built to move the military around quickly and easily if need be.

It was built for both military and civilian use actually. Just as the German Autobahn was when Adolf built it. And there's no reason why the military couldn't use the high speed rail system as well. In fact, having been stuck behind military convoys on I-5 before, I would encourage them to do so. Some of their vehicles just can't go fast enough to be on the freeway, so might as well load them on a flatbed rail car to get them from point a to point b faster.

[Nitro Express]

Governments have to run at a profit as well of they go broke a cease to exists or they get bought up by foreign interests. That's why you have to choose your projects carefully and calculate a return on investment over time. Everything that runs on money is a business whether it's in the private sector or the government. Spend your money away and you disappear or someone else buys you up cheap.

[Nitro Express]

It was built for both military and civilian use actually. Just as the German Autobahn was when Adolf built it. And there's no reason why the military couldn't use the high speed rail system as well. In fact, having been stuck behind military convoys on I-5 before, I would encourage them to do so. Some of their vehicles just can't go fast enough to be on the freeway, so might as well load them on a flatbed rail car to get them from point a to point b faster.

Roads and railways have always been win win projects if they are built in the right areas and serve various interests. There's all sorts of things we can do but at the current time we need to get this whole banking situation under control. The Federal Reserve System is robbing us and people need to understand that no real recovery happens until the Fed is nationalized and we audit it. We could free up 100's of Trillions of looted dollars and wipe out derivative debt. Then we need to pay our legitimate foreign debtors off and then we can look at long-term domestic projects. We don't need high speed rail right now but it's worth looking into once we get the banking fraud neutered and straightened out.

[Nitro Express]

The Fed has ran up so much debt that our taxes are going to pay the Fed off. They are giving 0% loans to the speculators but not to any productive means. So we will pay socialist level taxes and get nothing out of it the way things are. So we need to get the Fed under control.