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huh? I'm confused, I though CSX repaired the tracks/bridges right after Katrina and it has been open since then but Amtrak used a excuses to say no money to restore it? 🤷‍♂️
They probably only restored it to freight train standards, not passenger train standards.
 
If the GOP wins the midterm elections, than wouldn't future transit funding probably get reduced?
Yes, after they lower the corporate tax rate and wealth taxes to next to nothing.
Which is a very good reason for Amtrak to immediately enter into contracts, which cannot be broken by future Congresses.
There is no such thing as an unbreakable contract and many American politicians would strongly prefer to throw taxpayer money at contract lawsuits and settlements than to spend another cent on more passenger rail.
 
I am less worried about Amtrak funding from now until January 2025, its after that date is when things could get dicey if it goes that way. Not every Republican is against Amtrak although many are. A lot will depend on how successful Amtrak is on implementing these funds from now until then. I am more curious how the Post Office is going to survive going forward. I may be a bit unusual in this regard but I can largely live without ever receiving a piece of mail.
 
Completely disagree. There are about a dozen more pressing issues that need cash spent before extending the Sunset Limited. Perhaps daily service could be a starter.

Would it be nice? Yes. Should it be a spending priority? No.
I agree with you in this point again.

I would like having restored the Sunset Limited entirely, but in my opinion there should different priorities. But if enough money is there, I'm happy about every single kilometer which is (re)-opened for passenger service.

Personally, I would try to buy as many tracks as possible to limit (or stop) freight interference on some routes. Then I would double or triple services in completely underserved, densely populated areas (to ensure normal arrival/departure time of the trains in most parts of long-distance routes) and try to connect existing routes:

- I would go for Toledo - Detroit first (such a short distance, enough existing tracks of which perhaps one could be more easily purchased than in other cases, create a direct connection between Detroit and Cleveland)
- then I would also go for Cleveland - Columbus - Cincinnati to connect large urban areas within relatively short distance.
- Additionally, I hope Amtrak makes the Atlanta - Macon - Savannah connection happen to connect Atlanta in a much better way with Florida
- I would also like to see a connection of Dallas/Oklahoma City to the Southwest Chief via Wichita in Kansas.
 
They probably only restored it to freight train standards, not passenger train standards.
What do you mean by "freight train standards?" Was superelevation reduced? As far as I know CSX restored it to the condition it was in before (Class 4: 60 MPH freight/79 MPH passenger).
 
Check a map. Maricopa is WAY too far out from Phoenix for that.

Every advocate in Arizona wants to return Amtrak to Phoenix proper. The line west of Phoenix would have to be rebuilt by some government agency, but UP isn't using it so I'm pretty sure they would have no problem with Amtrak using it and running on it as long as someone else pays for it.

Many, many proposals are also to run regular several-a-day trains between Tucson and Phoenix. Some of those run on the existing UP line, others on a proposed new line because UP often is uncooperative. Either way, the Sunset Limited could share the line with the Tucson-Phoenix trains.
I completely agree with you.

I think serving downtowns is a key for success. Amtrak (or Via Rail) trains arriving outside downtowns are just not attractive more most tourists and even not for some regular riders and commuters. Take the example of Edmonton or Saskatoon in Canada were the railway stations are a footwalk one hour (or even more!) away from the citycenter which is apart from this station in the nowhere isn't served at all. Or Jacksonville (the station is 1 and a half hours away from downtown)... The locality is comparable to an airport. It's not walkable.
For Maricopa/Phoenix it is even worse.

What kind of strange urban planing is that? A combination of incompetence (regarding urban planning) or a shortage of money? Those stations are nothing more than stopgaps in my eyes. It might be true that they are better than nothing but they should not be a long-term solution.

Railways should use their advantage against airports by bringing people directly where they want to go. Entertainment, culture, restaurants are in or tend to come back to city centers. Most tourists are also interested in city centers and not in the suburban nowhere.
 
What do you mean by "freight train standards?" Was superelevation reduced? As far as I know CSX restored it to the condition it was in before (Class 4: 60 MPH freight/79 MPH passenger).
Would it be OK to point out that all this has very little to do with why Sunset Limited was not restored? It was not restored because Amtrak did not want to run it anymore and was looking for a convenient out and they found it in Katrina, and that is about the long and short of it. There was not a sufficiently vocal and numerous group willing to make the effort to challenge it, and here we are.... Looking for technical reasons for it is a fool's errand.
 
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I completely agree with you.

I think serving downtowns is a key for success. Amtrak (or Via Rail) trains arriving outside downtowns are just not attractive more most tourists and even not for some regular riders and commuters. Take the example of Edmonton or Saskatoon in Canada were the railway stations are a footwalk one hour (or even more!) away from the citycenter which is apart from this station in the nowhere isn't served at all. Or Jacksonville (the station is 1 and a half hours away from downtown)... The locality is comparable to an airport. It's not walkable.
For Maricopa/Phoenix it is even worse.

What kind of strange urban planing is that? A combination of incompetence (regarding urban planning) or a shortage of money? Those stations are nothing more than stopgaps in my eyes. It might be true that they are better than nothing but they should not be a long-term solution.

Railways should use their advantage against airports by bringing people directly where they want to go. Entertainment, culture, restaurants are in or tend to come back to city centers. Most tourists are also interested in city centers and not in the suburban nowhere.
The relocation of Saskatoon's CN station to a remote area was one of several station projects financed as "modernizations" by the federal government in the 1960's. As I recall, the Ottawa and Hull and Quebec City moves were in the same program. (For newcomers, there have been projects to ameliorate the issues in Ottawa and Quebec City. For Saskatoon, most of their service is gone.)

The Edmonton relocation was to open up the CP and CN yard area for developments and to "solve" the purported downtown parking problem. It also saved replacing the 105th Street viaduct and the 109th Street "rathole" underpass. The new location is on a someday rapid transit route, thereby salving the consciences of people who knew better but said nothing.

The Phoenix situation is different but it has the same end result.
 
The relocation of Saskatoon's CN station to a remote area was one of several station projects financed as "modernizations" by the federal government in the 1960's. As I recall, the Ottawa and Hull and Quebec City moves were in the same program. (For newcomers, there have been projects to ameliorate the issues in Ottawa and Quebec City. For Saskatoon, most of their service is gone.)

The Edmonton relocation was to open up the CP and CN yard area for developments and to "solve" the purported downtown parking problem. It also saved replacing the 105th Street viaduct and the 109th Street "rathole" underpass. The new location is on a someday rapid transit route, thereby salving the consciences of people who knew better but said nothing.

The Phoenix situation is different but it has the same end result.
Saskatoon sort of made sense because it was part of moving the freight yards out of the middle of town, and that was a very good thing. At the time the CNR was still running the passenger trains so they didn't have access to the only remaining tracks and station which could have served downtown. But since it's now VIA Rail running the one remaining passenger train to serve Saskatoon, it should be possible to use the CP tracks and station which still exist to connect two CNR lines and bring service back to downtown. It would take some work, no doubt. But what it really takes is imagination and will. I suspect Edmonton was similar, but I've never lived there so I'll leave that judgment for others.
 
Saskatoon sort of made sense because it was part of moving the freight yards out of the middle of town, and that was a very good thing. At the time the CNR was still running the passenger trains so they didn't have access to the only remaining tracks and station which could have served downtown. But since it's now VIA Rail running the one remaining passenger train to serve Saskatoon, it should be possible to use the CP tracks and station which still exist to connect two CNR lines and bring service back to downtown. It would take some work, no doubt. But what it really takes is imagination and will. I suspect Edmonton was similar, but I've never lived there so I'll leave that judgment for others.
Edmonton failed to recognize that it is a potential commuter rail city. Like Denver it had a well-situated station for regional rail service and integration with walking, LRT and bus services (better than Seattle, Portland or San Francisco, for examples). Space had been retained for it in back of the existing station tracks. When the CN Tower Station was built the pedestrian tunnel went all the way under the tracks for future expansion.

Here's the 1981 train from Saskatoon arriving in Edmonton's former downtown station. All of that surface parking could have been used as bus or rail space, already having access to the tunnel into downtown.

1981 043.jpg

Looking west toward Jasper in 1973.

EdmontonJan1973-10.jpg
 
What does FDOT (I presume this is Florida Dept of Transportation) have in mind? I'd love to see frequent service between the northern edge of the Tampa Bay megopolis to Naples. But somehow I don't think that is what FDOT has in mind.
Yeah Hillsborough County (which is Tampa) couldn't even get a 1% tax increase for improved public transit to stick. Cars cars cars is all people down here care or even think about.
 
Yeah Hillsborough County (which is Tampa) couldn't even get a 1% tax increase for improved public transit to stick. Cars cars cars is all people down here care or even think about.

The only reason it didn't stick was because a county commissioner was upset that the commission could not control how the funds were spent and sued to get the bill revoked. It was appeal all the way up to the State Supreme Court and they said the tax was unconstitutional. (I for one liked that the plan made the 3 cities (Tampa, Temple Terrace and Plant City) as well as the county submit plans to the oversight committee on how they would spend the money. The funny thing is the county has underfunded transpiration for decades. For example, I created a regional map with commuter rail, light rail and BRT as well as a creating some zones that I saw were perfect for Transit Oriented Development. Every time I posted it on social media I would get the "it's going to create sprawl" response. The sprawl is happening now. The county has collected over 500 million before the Florida Supreme Court announced the ruling. No idea what's going to happen to that money.

For people who want to see what I've created:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1FtQbqhj8bB1S6pDlEtxqTd9-9gsmb27k&usp=sharing
 
Tucson - PHX - LAX is prime potential of not just a daily Sunset but probably 2 maybe 3 Round trips. Not only a stop in PHX at the station but also maybe Tempe or Mesa near ASU. Other than needed service several directions in and out of ATL cannot see a location that needs the service more.
 
There is no such thing as an unbreakable contract and many American politicians would strongly prefer to throw taxpayer money at contract lawsuits and settlements than to spend another cent on more passenger rail.
That’s exactly what happened in Wisconsin where Scott Walker preferred to spend $50 million to terminate contracts and get zip, and turn down $800 million for enhanced 110 mph Hiawatha, an extension to Madison, and a budding rail passenger manufacturing industry in Milwaukee. Make no mistake; it wasn’t just Talgo in Milwaukee, but all the little job shops and suppliers as well. Walker stabbed Wisconsin for the Koch Bros. Then he FoxxConned the state with a hugely expensive giveaway that will never bear any fruit. He’s the epitome of corruption, and what we can expect with his party.
 
There is so much non-transportation fluff and pork in this "infrastructure" bill that it could probably be at least cut in half without reducing any real transit-related funding.
It is afterall an Infrastructure and Jobs Bill, not just a Transportation Bill. 🤪
 
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This is an example of the silliness of TV news and it was really popularized by CNN when it first started broadcasting years ago and had to fill 24 hours with one half hour of real news. TV news's biggest advantage of "live news" is that we actually see the events themselves as they happen - so important for critical events. But staged events where there is no expectation whatsoever of an unanticipated change ("Biden changes his mind! He refuses to sign his bill! See it live!") where it has been planned for a while and is just a formality, is just drivel, not news. The news occurred back in August when the Senate agreed to it without a filibuster and somewhat later when a number of Republicans in the House voted against party pressure to support it. The whole "event" could have been done an hour after the House vote since Biden's signature was a foregone conclusion.
 
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