Comments on: Four Finalists For White House High-Speed Rail Funding? http://dc.streetsblog.org/2009/12/18/four-finalists-for-white-house-high-speed-rail-funding/ Your daily source for national transportation policy news and analysis. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:57:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: richard schumacher http://dc.streetsblog.org/2009/12/18/four-finalists-for-white-house-high-speed-rail-funding/comment-page-1/#comment-106161 richard schumacher Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:20:18 +0000 http://dc.streetsblog.org/?p=59961#comment-106161 California, Texas, and the upper midwest with Chicago as hub are the three obvious places for HSR. Central Florida is a less obvious choice but the recent flurry of media coverage of Florida state government work on matching funds suggests that the fix is in. Complications: - the NEC has the greatest present need for HSR but it would also be more expensive to implement there (buying right-of-way for new track) - it's not clear that much of this initial money will be used for real high-speed rail, that is 150 MPH and faster. Most of it will probably be used for upgrades to 110 MPH service on existing tracks. In any case, wait ten years. When gasoline and jet fuel cost $5 per gallon and up we'll be falling all over ourselves to build HSR. California, Texas, and the upper midwest with Chicago as hub are the three obvious places for HSR. Central Florida is a less obvious choice but the recent flurry of media coverage of Florida state government work on matching funds suggests that the fix is in.

Complications:
- the NEC has the greatest present need for HSR but it would also be more expensive to implement there (buying right-of-way for new track)
- it’s not clear that much of this initial money will be used for real high-speed rail, that is 150 MPH and faster. Most of it will probably be used for upgrades to 110 MPH service on existing tracks.

In any case, wait ten years. When gasoline and jet fuel cost $5 per gallon and up we’ll be falling all over ourselves to build HSR.

]]> By: jim http://dc.streetsblog.org/2009/12/18/four-finalists-for-white-house-high-speed-rail-funding/comment-page-1/#comment-102811 jim Sun, 20 Dec 2009 01:21:34 +0000 http://dc.streetsblog.org/?p=59961#comment-102811 Hope you managed to get out of town this morning. I wouldn't worry too much about the North East Corridor. There's going to be a North East Corridor Master Plan, written by Amtrak, coordinated with all the commuter lines along the NEC from MBTA to VRE and with all 12 states, released late January, early February, covering not just the NEC spine, but the feeder lines, too. It's a considerable cat-herding effort on Amtrak's part and will be the basis for negotiations for Federal funding, some directly to Amtrak, some to the states, to upgrade a large part of Amtrak's Northeastern operations. Hope you managed to get out of town this morning.

I wouldn’t worry too much about the North East Corridor. There’s going to be a North East Corridor Master Plan, written by Amtrak, coordinated with all the commuter lines along the NEC from MBTA to VRE and with all 12 states, released late January, early February, covering not just the NEC spine, but the feeder lines, too. It’s a considerable cat-herding effort on Amtrak’s part and will be the basis for negotiations for Federal funding, some directly to Amtrak, some to the states, to upgrade a large part of Amtrak’s Northeastern operations.

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