State Governors Take Lead in Rejecting President’s High-Speed Rail Plan

[FrankRep]

State Governors Take Lead in Rejecting President’s High-Speed Rail Plan

Rick Scott, Florida Governor

Florida's Rick Scott is the latest governor to reject President Obama's $53 billion high-speed rail boondoggle.​

State Governors Take Lead in Rejecting President’s High-Speed Rail Plan


Dave Bohon | The New American
20 February 2011



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Obama Administration Proposes $53 Billion for High-Speed Rail

On February 8 Vice President Joe Biden unveiled an Obama administration plan to spend $53 billion over the next six years to develop a high-speed passenger rail system that would link the nation’s larger cities. The proposed spending would be added to the $10.5 billion the administration has already spent on high-speed rail since Obama took office, including $8 billion poured into his 2009 “economic stimulus package.”​

Proposed California High-Speed Train Faces Criticism

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Federal Mass Transit a Big Flop
The New American | 03 November 2010

California, with 10.5 billion of federal help, wants to build an 800-mile high-speed rail system from Anaheim to San Francisco. The overall 13 corridor project could easily cost 200 billion. by Bruce Walker​

Amtrak and the Railroads
The New American | 28 May 2010

Amtrak and its lobbyists at the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) recently invited us to commemorate the third annual National Train Day on May 8. Supposedly celebrating “America’s love for trains,” the day could not boast a more ironic host than the railroad nobody rides. Worse, Amtrak’s sponsorship was as shameless as Dracula’s funding a fashion show concentrating on décolletage: The government that owns Amtrak has sabotaged, subsidized, and sucked the life from American railroads since the industry’s inception.​

 

[MN Patriot]

I wonder if they did any studies to find how many people actually travel between these cities, how far away from their origin and destination the train stations will be, and if people would actually ride a high speed train when they live 50 miles away from it. Typical statist thinking, pounding square pegs into round holes.
Of course, the contractors just want the contract to build something. Then it will be the governments problem to find people who will actually use it.

 

[juvanya]

Some of them are sensible, some of them would be better off with normal rail, forget high speed. We could sure use that money here to get real high speed on the NE Corridor. California can have the rest. Maybe Minneapolis—Chicago—Indianapolis—Cincinnati—Columbus—Cleveland as well. The market is there if we do it right.

I dont have a problem with privatising Amtrak, as long as we stop taxing and regulating railroads as well, and also stop subsidizing and fully privatize all other forms of transport (highways and air). Private rail can never compete with 'free' highways and cheap airways. But level the field and rail will take off, because it is the most efficient in most trips.