BigRedEO
Service Attendant
News article just came out five minutes ago - U.S. announces $2.4 Billion for High Speed Rail
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69R3PK20101028
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69R3PK20101028
And, as an alternative, where are they going to find the money to build additional runways, terminal facilities, add lanes to I-5, etc., etc., or are they simply going to throw in the towel and say, eiter endure worse and worse congestion in all forms of travel or leave the state?That's all California needs, $10 billion in new debt on top of it's $41 billion deficit!!
The FY2010 HSIPR grants included approx $230 million for IL & IA to institute a Chicago-Quad Cities-Iowa City line. If IA doesn't back out (meaning the Quad Cities-Iowa City portion is dropped) and the trains are successfuly, Des Moines and Omaha are expected as later phases/extensions.Please, please, please let them be looking at actually getting a train back into Des Moines with the IL-IA-NE money.
Here's hoping. Branstad was in politics long before the current wave of attitude flew up (he first took office as Governor in 1982), and IIRC Iowa isn't in nearly the trouble a bunch of other states are in (i.e. CA, FL, etc.). With Florida, I can almost see the logic in them hesitating on Orlampa with all the trouble the state is in...I wish that it were otherwise, but the $1 billion plus they need for their side is $1 billion plus they don't have right now. Granted, Scott isn't my favorite person in the world, but my suspicion is that this is going to be far from the only thing getting cut in FL this year.The FY2010 HSIPR grants included approx $230 million for IL & IA to institute a Chicago-Quad Cities-Iowa City line. If IA doesn't back out (meaning the Quad Cities-Iowa City portion is dropped) and the trains are successfuly, Des Moines and Omaha are expected as later phases/extensions.Please, please, please let them be looking at actually getting a train back into Des Moines with the IL-IA-NE money.
First of all, I think that the right of way, at the very least, needs to be bought now, while the land isn't horridly expensive.I've always been hoping the Orlando-Tampa line would be canned. Fact of the matter is, its a useless train that would have limited ridership. Not many people want to get from Tampa to Orlando, and god knows even fewer the other direction.
Not that an Orlando-Tampa route should never be built. Its just a doomed-to-fail line that will likely become the poster child of people who think HSR is a waste of money. It should be a later expansion of a Orlando-Miami line, not the other way around.
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