the sins we have commited to ourselves

[NE933]

A Metro North drawbridge in Norwalk got stuck again this evening, about a week ago the same one failed in the open position, delaying many trains over three hours.

I ask the moderators to let me cut and paste these words of a poster that I migrated over from another rail website I won't name, because his or her articulation about this situation could not have been said better; here it is:

"The recent TRAINS articles about the NEC and the draw bridges on the NEC made me weep.
I am a retired Civil Engineer and I see the nation's infrastructure crumbling from lack of maintenance and struggling to cope with rising demand. (Of the major categories of infrastructure, freight RRs actually are coping better than almost all other categories.) US investment in infrastructure dried up decades ago and this failed drawbridge is one of the symptoms of our giving ourselves tax cuts while other nations invest much more of their GDP in infrastructure than we do (US: about 4%, Europe about 7%, China about 9%). A "High Speed Rail" corridor should not even have movable bridges, they are always a source of unpredictable operations, even if they work perfectly. Sorry for the blast, but this type of outcome is sadly predictable."

I am no longer a member on there, but I hope he or she will see this: my friend, do not be sorry, you have every right to be pissed, and justified in feeling hurt, because the transportation and government policies you cite, has betrayed you and me and the rest of us. While we debate over minutia on these websites, flowers in diner, newspapers in the sleepers, we the people are murdering ourselves with a noose around our necks that is tightening every day we neglect our bridges, tunnels, and such. Every year we pay ourselves with dividends drawn on delaying the needed spending on infrastructure, it will only make extinct our so called civilization, whether it's Amtrak or another carrier, even if it's a non-railroad.

May we all be happy and healthy.

 

[neroden]

Well, FWIW,

- the most recent mayor of my little city finally managed to pass a bill which funds sidewalk maintenance out of a general fee/tax. Sidewalks were previously officially the responsibility of the owners of the buildings they were in front of, but this never worked, ever, and the sidewalks were a disaster. (This antiquated 19th century system is still the policy in most cities in the US!)

- the previous mayor of my little city committed to fixing all the streets. Everything was torn up for 2 years. This is because the previous two mayors before that had not spent money on street maintenance, the first in protest of state-aid budget cuts, the second just because he didn't care.

- my township is slowly but surely committing to sidewalk maintenance as well, something they avoided for decades.

So I see a shift in attitude happening at the local level. I'm not sure what it will take to get this change filtered up to the state and federal level -- it'll probably take years for the state of NY and god-knows-when for the federal -- but the local change is heartening.

A somewhat more progressive state, Vermont, has simply committed outright to rebuild the Ethan Allen Express route to Burlington, regardless of whether there are any federal funds. So maybe this is a hint that the future will be brighter.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

And of course there is the fact that a lot of out tunnels and bridges and especially roads were built badly to begin with. We use tarmacadam for most new roads for gods sake.

 

[oregon pioneer]

I went to the UK in 1970, and found a country with very outdated and shabby infrastructure. If there's any glimmer of hope for us, it's the example that the UK set in rehabilitating itself. However, if we follow that example to the utmost, we have yet a way to go down... and the window of opportunity is closing, I believe.