Obama loves high-speed rail

[marmar]

from Grist Magazine's Gristmill blog:



Notable quotable
Obama loves high-speed rail
Posted by David Roberts at 9:53 PM on 07 Aug 2008



"If you think about the Midwest, think about right here, what we've got is all kind of towns that we could connect. All of these cities are, they basically take in the air about 45 minutes to an hour to fly. But by the time you get to the airport, take off your shoes, get to the terminal, realize that your flight's been delayed two hours, go pay $10 for a cup of coffee, and a sandwich for another $10, come back, you get on the plane, you're sitting on the tarmac for another 25 minutes, you finally take off, you're circling above the city for another half hour, when you land they can't find your luggage, and then you get to where you're going -- by the time it's all done it's a five-hour trip! So the time is right now for us to start thinking about high-speed rail as an alternative to air transportation, connecting all these cities and think about what a great project that would be in terms of rebuilding America."


http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/8/6/165931/4853

[Schema Thing]

1. He better. That we don't have high-speed rail criss-crossing America

is a sign of stupidity and shame.

I love that he's addressing it though.

[rurallib]

2. I used to fly from Iowa to Cincinnati

on a fairly regular basis for my company. After a couple years of $800 flights I realized that I could drive there about as quickly for a lot less money. I checked on rail but that was about a 2 day trip with layovers at the time.
The flights would take this amount of time:
- drive to local airport - 1hour
- wait and boarding - 1 hour
- flight (after a direct flight was established) - 1.5 hours.
- deplane etc - .5 hours
- get ground transport - .5 hour
- drive or ride to motel - 1 to 1.5 hours
total 6 hours or more on a good day. Drive time @ 7 hours from my house, leaving when I felt like it.

[bananas]

13. The only thing high-speed rail would do is make the flight time several hours longer

Commercial airplanes fly around 500 mph,
high-speed rail only goes around 100-200 mph,
so the 1.5 hr flight time becomes 4-6 hours.

[crimsonblue]

14. I'd take the 4 hr rail anyday

you at least have freedom to move about the cabin. Airlines treat everyone like terrorists these days.

[bvar22]

18. Traveling by rail would also cut fuel consumption....

...by several orders of magnitude.

Trains are remarkably fuel efficient -- on just one gallon of fuel,
one train can move one ton of freight 423 miles.

http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:sB175IUHMCgJ:www.freightrailworks.org/earned_media/PA_cox_072007.pdf+rail+%22one+ton+of+freight%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us

Electric High Speed Rail could use non-petroleum based fuels.

Whether you like travel by rail or not, it IS the future as petroluem supplies collapse.

[liberal N proud]

3. Coast to Coast high speed rail would be great

I would use it when traveling to the midwest if it was comparable to cost of a road trip. Airfare has been priced out of reach for practical personal trips. For me the current choice is pay large sums of cash to the airline or an 11 hour road trip.

[AlinPA]

4. Great issue. He is exactly right. Use it in a campaign ad, and use that paragraph

in speeches during the campaign.

[Mira]

5. Here's what I heard the conductor say on a high speed train in Germany

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am sorry to report we are running 2 min behind schedule, but we will be able to make it up so none of you will miss your connections"

[marmar]

6. Yup. The ICE rocks....As does the Eurostar, the Thalys, the AVE.......

and on and on and on.

[enlightenment]

7. They've been talking about building high speed rail

between Las Vegas and Los Angeles for years, but it always gets shuffled aside. For anyone who thinks that would be a silly expenditure, just for tourists, please don't. The I-15 corridor between the two cities is insane to travel, regardless of the time or day of the week - there are even people who live in LA and work in LV and the reverse. The two cities are only 231 miles apart.

I'd love to see high speed rail. Hell, I'd love to see commuter rail, period. Las Vegas actually started as a rail road town; the mid-point between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles on the SP,LA&SL line (that eventually became the Union Pacific). Had a huge maintenance facility. When Roosevelt came to open Hoover Dam, he came by rail . . .

Now we don't have passenger rail at all. :(

[YOY]

8. I think I got a stiffy from this...

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!

This Amtrak Employee from the Midwest wants to rebuild his home!!! Bring back infrastructure!!!

:cry:

[Voice for Peace]

12. !! lol.. not even a guy but I feel the same way

yay trains

[TheWraith]

9. Hell yeah.

The logistical nightmare of flying makes high-speed rail a winning proposition for a dozen reasons: convenience, affordability, comfort, efficiency, and on.

[silverweb]

10. Excellent.

And there's more. Warren Buffett is one of Obama's economic advisors -- the same Warren Buffett who has been quietly buying large shares of railroads around the country and has said he believes we need to revive our rail system.

I think an Obama administration can really make high-speed rail happen in this country!

:woohoo:

[girl gone mad]

11. Good! n/t

[Jensen]

15. I have traveled all around Europe on the train. I love it!!!

You get to see the country and meet all kinds of people. Traveled from Paris, France to Costa Del Sol, Spain overnight travel was comfortable, food service was good,clean rooms and it was a great experience! :party:
Those were the days before I lost my full time job!:grr:

[AwakeAtLast]

16. Now that's a man who has lived in the Midwest - he understands it!

:bounce:

[Nederland]

17. What about security?

Right now a good chunk of the time it takes to fly is taken up by security procedures. If rail becomes popular, we might have to start implementing those procedures with trains too...

[Indenturedebtor]

19. I'm quite sure that we would, but so what?

High speed rail is necessary. Period. Exclamation Point.

Also actually making things here in the US would do wonders for our economy no?