Amtrak proposal to create new rail passenger connections for major cities

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Does this mean Amtrak employees are federal employees?

No, they are not federal employees.

[SIGSEGV]

Other than Atlanta to Nashville (which IMO only makes sense if it later connects to Louisville), this looks pretty good.

One confusing thing is that the Rockford train doesn't continue to Galena/Dubuque as used to be planned but...

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by Obadno

I wont because you are either trolling or have a fundamental misunderstanding of how the world works.

The latter

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

In 2009 I also believed in high speed rail, but since then I’ve grown up

Passenger rail between cities is worthless if the cities are more than, say, 150 miles apart

Just drive your soon-to-be-mandated electric cars or fly. Creating high speed rail between Chicago and LA is just idiotic. Completely redundant and unnecessary when we already have a third dimension (flight) that is heavily managed by the private sector.

Yes Chicago to LA HSR is idiotic, but nobody is proposing that. Regional rail like this makes perfect sense.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by Obadno

Just look at some of those routes. Nashville on a spur not connected in any way to the two financial hubs of the USA that use it for business? the lack of connections through the intermountain west is obvious with the only lines existing on the very routes humans have been using for centuries to cross the mountains and deserts when its again cheaper and quicker to fly why add a new line up to Phoenix but maintain a line from Tucson to San Diego? Sandpoint Idaho gets a stop....

What? Why? Its all nonsense. unsurprisingly

Sandpoint is already on the Empire Builder, so not sure why you're objecting to it?

[Steely Dan]

it looks like some people don't know how to read maps very well.

the dark blue lines are amtrak's EXISTING routes.

the light blue lines are NEW proposed routes.

and the yellow overlay in specific corridors/regions is for existing lines proposed to have upgraded service.


no one is proposing to turn any of those existing, absurdly long cross-continent lines, like chicago to LA, into HSR.

[badrunner]

Wow lots of good stuff.

LA-Vegas line will get a ton of use on the weekends, with a smoke break at Kelso Depot . I wonder if they'll use the old Harvey House in Barstow or build a new stop at the McDonalds next to I-15.

I'm surprised there's no direct service currently between Dallas and Houston. Phoenix finally getting intercity rail.

[Randomguy34]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

How would that work?

Trains from Chicago would arrive at New Center station. Then they would go back west until Grand Blvd & Hubbard St, where there is a ROW that turns and goes east past Michigan Central and into the Railway Tunnel to Windsor. It's convoluted no doubt, but necessary until Michigan Central is converted back into a railway station

Originally Posted by Obadno

Oh Biden is going to (attempt) to throw money at it??? Oh well then everything is solved. Maglevs will rain from the sky! and we will all take green 0 emission trains to Mars for work in the vegan-egg farm!

Talk about hyperbole

[jtown,man]

Please no Biden. I appreciate you liking trains, me too!, but give them enough money to not suck as much but then fund the hell out of cities!

Chicago could use like 15 billion without blinking. I am sure NYC could use 30 billion with zero issues.

GIVE IT TO THE CITIES!

[Obadno]

Cross country rail is useless at this point in time.

What they need to do is fund local Mass Transit, then link the local mass transit into regional systems.


Then when you have 5, 7, 12 solid regional transit networks you link those networks together (Maybe) by HSR connections.

This entire process is being done backwards, Imagine if they tried to build the Interstate system before we had local roads?

[badrunner]

I wish they would bring back the Desert Wind route. Also Bakersfield should connect to LA via the Tehachapi pass and the famous Tehachapi Loop. That stretch would be one of the more scenic routes. But alas, that would probably be redundant with CAHSR.

[Handro]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

it looks like some people don't know how to read maps very well.

the dark blue lines are amtrak's EXISTING routes.

the light blue lines are NEW proposed routes.

and the yellow overlay in specific corridors/regions is for existing lines proposed to have upgraded service.


no one is proposing to turn any of those existing, absurdly long cross-continent lines, like chicago to LA, into HSR.

What does "upgraded service" mean? In this sense is it more frequency, improved infrastructure or something else?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Handro

What does "upgraded service" mean? In this sense is it more frequency, improved infrastructure or something else?

i imagine it means greater frequency and/or speed.

[Buckeye Native 001]

Originally Posted by badrunner

Phoenix finally getting intercity rail.

Phoenix had intercity rail (Sunset Limited) until Amtrak re-routed through Maricopa (about 30 miles south in Pinal County) in 1996. Phoenix Union Station, amazingly, still stands.

[pj3000]

...

[Handro]

Originally Posted by The North One

Amtrak is pretty much useless as it is. We need high speed rail.

Pretty much agree with this. I'm all for increasing capabilities for non-car travel but investing more in AMTRAK seems like a dead end unless there are some big changes coming that I don't understand. IMO the only benefit AMTRAK offers is the novelty of taking a train, and that's not really much of a benefit at all.

I am SO jealous of those other nations that can travel Chicago-Cincinnati distances in just a couple of hours without the cost/headaches of air travel. It's really absurd the the US is lightyears behind in this regard.

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

i imagine it means greater frequency and/or speed.

Ok so that could be something!

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by Obadno

Cross country rail is useless at this point in time.

What they need to do is fund local Mass Transit, then link the local mass transit into regional systems.


Then when you have 5, 7, 12 solid regional transit networks you link those networks together (Maybe) by HSR connections.

This entire process is being done backwards, Imagine if they tried to build the Interstate system before we had local roads?

Tell that to China and Europe.

That’s not how it works at a federal planning level.

It’s very easy to imagine that. Because in many cases, that is EXACTLY how it occurred. And the existence of many shitwater places is directly due to the fact that interstate highways were built through areas before local roads existed.

[badrunner]

Originally Posted by Obadno

Cross country rail is useless at this point in time.

What they need to do is fund local Mass Transit, then link the local mass transit into regional systems.


Then when you have 5, 7, 12 solid regional transit networks you link those networks together (Maybe) by HSR connections.

This entire process is being done backwards, Imagine if they tried to build the Interstate system before we had local roads?

No, you're talking complete nonsense. The great thing about this proposal is that no new rail has to be built at $100m per mile (or whatever HSR is supposed to cost). What Amtrak Joe understands is that the US actually already has the most comprehensive rail network in the world. It's always better to leverage existing infrastructure (if the freight companies will cooperate). Notice that most of the new routes are short hop day trips. None of this is supposed to supplant air travel.

[badrunner]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Native 001

Phoenix had intercity rail (Sunset Limited) until Amtrak re-routed through Maricopa (about 30 miles south in Pinal County) in 1996. Phoenix Union Station, amazingly, still stands.

Yeah pretty much every city had rail service at some point. This proposal isn't really all that ambitious, it's mostly just restoring service that existed at one point on existing track.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by Handro

Pretty much agree with this. I'm all for increasing capabilities for non-car travel but investing more in AMTRAK seems like a dead end unless there are some big changes coming that I don't understand. IMO the only benefit AMTRAK offers is the novelty of taking a train, and that's not really much of a benefit at all.

I am SO jealous of those other nations that can travel Chicago-Cincinnati distances in just a couple of hours without the cost/headaches of air travel. It's really absurd the the US is lightyears behind in this regard.



Ok so that could be something!

pre-covid the Hiawatha was always busy when I took it (every month or two to visit my in-laws). I hate taking the bus to Madison, the train would be much better. I also have collaborators at MSU and WUSTL and flying such a short distance seems ridiculous, and renting a car + driving is no fun either.