Another costly fumble by the Obama Administration: High Speed Rail = High Speed Waste

Obama has wasted enough money on ill-considered magical projects. He would have had more success genetically engineering a Clydesdale Unicorn. Some things are best left to private interests, if private investors are on-board with high speed rail they will make it happen – in a cost-effective manner, not wasting more BILLIONS of tax payer dollars.

"$11 Billion Later, High-Speed Rail Is Inching Along"

WASHINGTON — High-speed rail was supposed to be President Obama’s signature transportation project, but despite the administration spending nearly $11 billion since 2009 to develop faster passenger trains, the projects have gone mostly nowhere and the United States still lags far behind Europe and China.

While Republican opposition and community protests have slowed the projects here, transportation policy experts and members of both parties also place blame for the failures on missteps by the Obama administration — which in July asked Congress for nearly $10 billion more for high-speed initiatives.

Instead of putting the $11 billion directly into those projects, critics say, the administration made the mistake of parceling out the money to upgrade existing Amtrak service, which will allow trains to go no faster than 110 miles per hour. None of the money originally went to service in the Northeast Corridor, the most likely place for high-speed rail.

Rest:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/07/us/delays-persist-for-us-high-speed-rail.html?hpw&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpHedThumbWell&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0

Clueless. The Japanese have built two huge factories which I drive by once a week in Rochelle Illinois. Americans are building rail cars which replace Amtrack and local metra commuter services throughout America, and in fact are advancing forward on the rail lines. Thousands have been employed in Illinois building these cars which would never have happened had the original bill never been signed. The Japanese are taking high school kids and starting internships where Japanese is being taught, and the kids are going to a local Junior College where they are being trained on the state of the art welding equipment which allows these two new factories to have a supply of highly trained and skilled workers. The high speed rail initiative has been a home run for Illinois, and those states who opted out of the same.......well Illinois and those states who are reaping the benefits say thank you, and a big thank you to the clueless who think a thousand jobs do not mean anything.....a thousand high tech jobs which pay great wages.......again, pay attention before you swallow the same propaganda which made Illinois so happy because states opted out of the federal money. The Chicago to St Louis high speed line will be a huge money maker as Springfield sits right in the middle. Now Cardinal and Cub fans will be able to watch their teams like they are all home games.  

2seaoat wrote:Clueless.  

You are the one who is clueless. It just took you too many words to once again prove it.

110MPH in several stretches of track is not "High Speed Rail". Spending a few billion to save a few minutes over the current 79 MPH runs is really worth it??? R&D for high speed rail is OVER and yet the U.S. government squanders money on hit and miss current track "improvement" for marginal gain. Like I stated before, this should be private investment - -not more useless government attempts to play trains.

Want real high speed rail/ Just bring money.....the technology is already proven.

Again, you simply have no idea and you post nonsense and think you have sources which can tell you what really is happening. Illinois alone is collecting billions in new manufacturing jobs because of high speed rail. You think the thirty mile an hour difference is nothing, but this will allow a Cub fan to travel to St. Louis using all mass transit from anywhere in the city and go to St. Louis and save two hours over the current train, and never be dependent on a car, waiting at airports, or wasting fuel driving. For your information the average speed is not in the seventy mile range, but is the current top range. Having taken the current train, the two hour savings is not insignificant, and having taken a plane, you waste hours being processed and have to depend on a car with high parking fees for a short weekend. In Illinois the high speed rail has already paid for itself with the manufacturing jobs created to make the cars. Please try again. Pick a subject you know about. I personally know people who are making those cars, and the communities which are enjoying incredible multipliers from those manufacturing jobs. Some things require the government. For the clueless do you think the air transportation system just happened without government intervention and subsidy......again.....entirely and completely clueless.

You probably are getting upset that the buy America program which requires all components of these systems to be built in America are going to create jobs......the Oligarchy has hoodwinked the slow witted that spending money in America to create state of the art manufacturing and production which leads to American competitiveness should better be spent on a cut in the tax rate for the very wealthy so they can take their fungible wealth and invest it in another country where they can use slave labor and make a bigger profit so their Condo in Hawaii is just a little bigger.

No, in Illinois this has been a huge success. Rail cars are being shipped all over the country and they are 100% American because of the wisdom of our legislature. However, the current oil and gas interests, the folks stealing America, and the air industry are going to post propaganda about how high speed rail will not work. I went to the White Sox game yesterday, and the City of Chicago is vibrant and working as mass transit was full and people were driving prius and other hybrids. I saw my first Tesla and another leaf yesterday as the commuter trains which run down the eisenhower were full, and those cars are now going to be built in America in Rochelle Illinois. Does it not bother you a bit that you post propaganda without knowing a thing about what you post?

Is high speed rail good for everywhere in America? No. However the eastern corridor, the Illinois line, and the California lines make good economic policy and the best part is the 100% American component of the bill has been absolutely stunning for Illinois who now has supply manufacturing for the Rochelle plant setting up in Illinois.....thousands of high paid manufacturing jobs which are creating a labor pool of high tech employees which can be tapped into by other suppliers. Rumors now have the Rochelle airport expanding and fed ex or UPS putting up a huge facility a mile from the new plants. When we invest in ourselves, America wins, but when we keep smoking Unicorn dust and think trickle down and cutting tax rates is good for America, we end up with this sort of propaganda which is fairy dust.

2seaoat wrote:Again, you simply have no idea and you post nonsense and think you have sources which can tell you what really is happening.  Illinois alone is collecting billions in new manufacturing jobs because of high speed rail.  You think the thirty mile an hour difference is nothing, but this will allow a Cub fan to travel to St. Louis using all mass transit from anywhere in the city and go to St. Louis and save two hours over the current train, and never be dependent on a car, waiting at airports, or wasting fuel driving.  For your information the average speed is not in the seventy mile range, but is the current top range.  Having taken the current train, the two hour savings is not insignificant, and having taken a plane, you waste hours being processed and have to depend on a car with high parking fees for a short weekend.  In Illinois the high speed rail has already paid for itself with the manufacturing jobs created to make the cars.  Please try again.  Pick a subject you know about.  I personally know people who are making those cars, and the communities which are enjoying incredible multipliers from those manufacturing jobs.  Some things require the government.  For the clueless do you think the air transportation system just happened without government intervention and subsidy......again.....entirely and completely clueless.

Apparently you are unable to comprehend the written word and choose to ignore figures from the IDT. So it goes.

You are too self-absorbed and narrow minded to make a meaningful contribution to this thread. Go fondle your baseballs and leave the higher order thinking to others more qualified.

Or try reading the linked information for the 1st time before posting another misleading, rambling post on a subject of which you claim to have knowledge that is obviously not even headline deep.

What a HOOT!

And BTW 2SO, I am not opposed to REAL high speed rail (you know, the promised 220 mph variety), I am opposed to government funded or heavily subsidized (and thus heavily controlled and doomed to fail) HSR. After all the guvmint does such a wonderful job with Amtrak with operating losses of over $1B in 2013. With snail rail.

How is the Texas and California HSR effort going? Not too good.

LOL

I am a hoot. I have fun debunking absolute hooey. You claim high speed rail is costing billions. I just showed you that High Speed Rail in Illinois is creating billions. Your whole argument is that the two hours saved does not justify the fuel savings in the future, convenience, and job creation which high speed rail is producing. I drive to Springfield regularly. It is a tedious four hour drive from where I am now, but if I drive from say Joliet it will be just under a three hour drive. The train will cut this in half and will save fuel. The part you just do not get is the job creation and fuel savings components which are the beauty of high speed rail in Illinois.

In Illinois Republicans support the systems being put in place because they are huge for local business. Perfect is the enemy of good. By making the false argument that the high speed rail is not the fastest or state of art in the world, we should abandon making things better and in the process creating 100% American production on these systems. You are a propaganda eater.......if you keep eating the same your already clogged arteries in your brain will continue to allow you to spew nonsense. Again, it is not perfect, it is not meant for all areas of the country, but where it is being implemented is a huge win, and Illinois so far has been a huge winner. I am always available to help you with higher level conceptual thinking........but I have to be wordy to elevate your blood pressure and unclog those clogged arteries of a lifetime diet of propaganda.

2seaoat wrote:I am a hoot.  

LOL! STILL don't understand the point do you? Why are billions of taxpayers $$$ required if the minor improvements are making so much money? Why is AMTRAK losing money?

Amazing

What you think you will get:



What the guvmint will actually give you:

How is the Texas and California HSR effort going? Not too good.


I do not have inside information on those two states. I can tell you that the rail orders coming into the new Rochelle plants are coming from California. So Rail units which were once manufactured over seas and are now being made in America is a big win. I simply do not know enough about the texas and California routes, and I am not going to cut and paste propaganda for or against the same.

I do however know a great deal about the success of high speed rail in Illinois, and an end loader operator at the local gravel pit has been in training for six months and starts a high paid manufacturing job in the Rochelle plant by the end of the summer. The Japanese put a high value on training, and have been investing millions in local high schools and junior colleges including gifting over state of the art equipment for training at the Junior college near Dekalb Illinois.

Rochelle is a rail hub and has interstate 39 and 88 which meet in the town just a hundred yards from the new plants. I know a school board member who has told me that the jobs which are coming from suppliers are incredible and that these Japanese plants have just been a game changer for the community and they are getting calls from manufacturing all over the world to locate in the community.

Government works best when it encourages American business. As a lifetime Republican my party always was the party of business. Now we have been dominated by a bunch of nihilist bought and paid for by the oligarchy to create laws for special interests as the American middle class has been decimated by these traitors. Well the American middle class is growing in Rochelle Illinois and the state is booming from new manufacturing jobs associated with high speed rail. Again the enemy of good is perfect. It is time we start doing some damn good and quit waiting for perfect as our country is stolen by those who sell the propaganda.

Why are billions of taxpayers $$$ required if the minor improvements are making so much money?

They are not minor. The savings are tangible and the routes will be profitable. You are still clueless as to what the incentive bill was meant to do. It was meant to stimulate the American economy and create manufacturing jobs while IMPROVING our rail transportation systems. Do you think general aviation airports across America are not without government subsidy? Is it because poorer Americans have benefit from the subsidy as compared to the wealthy who utilize their planes and fly into general aviation airports which would fold up but for the government subsidy?

Sorry, you have been dead wrong on this thread. This type of stimulation has been a huge long term gain for America. American manufacturing jobs matter. It is just the special interests who float your boat with pure BS need the slow witted to be traitors to America and shills for the wealthy who are stealing America and would cry like a baby if their subsidies to general aviation airports was suspended. Investments in our transportation infrastructures are a home run, and you think we are playing soccer.

Private investors do a risk analysis and proceed from there, witness Florida and Texas which are in reality very minor projects in the big scheme of things.

Obama did a "feel good analysis" and threw $11B at a few patchwork projects without any rhyme or reason. Regardless of what may be considered a "success" is in reality nothing significant enough to merit positive attention except from the VERY few who benefited from this latest example of government largess.

Obama did a "feel good analysis" and threw $11B at a few patchwork projects without any rhyme or reason.

I cannot speak to other routes. I can tell you the Milwaukee/Chicago, and the Chicago/St. Louis lines are going to be a huge success, and the manufacturing jobs created with the 100% American factory requirement has been a home run. Other infrastructure projects did not have this component, and the Chinese steel producers were the beneficiaries. We need to invest in our infrastructure. We need to set conditions on that investment which is similar to the rail incentive package.

The board of education member's family has been farming for four generations since the late 1860s and they are life long Republicans and despise wasteful government spending, but he is completely for this project and the immediate results which Illinois has enjoyed. He could not tell me but there is going to be a big announcement of another big plant locating in their community, and the multipliers are off the chart. The end loader operator had lost his job at the cement plant because the Mexican Pemex giant can manufacture cement in Mexico and ship it here and a plant operating for fifty years gets shut down....we need to use our brains, and as much as you want to point out failures in this incentive investment, it is a home run in Illinois.

The projects in Illinois make sense today. The job creation with this project has been immense.

2seaoat wrote:Clueless.  The Japanese have built two huge factories which I drive by once a week in Rochelle Illinois.  Americans are building rail cars which replace Amtrack and local metra commuter services throughout America, and in fact are advancing forward on the rail lines.  Thousands have been employed in Illinois building these cars which would never have happened had the original bill never been signed.   The Japanese are taking high school kids and starting internships where Japanese is being taught, and the kids are going to a local Junior College where they are being trained on the state of the art welding equipment which allows these two new factories to have a supply of highly trained and skilled workers.   The high speed rail initiative has been a home run for Illinois, and those states who opted out of the same.......well Illinois and those states who are reaping the benefits say thank you, and a big thank you to the clueless who think a thousand jobs do not mean anything.....a thousand high tech jobs which pay great wages.......again, pay attention before you swallow the same propaganda which made Illinois so happy because states opted out of the federal money.  The Chicago to St Louis high speed line will be a huge money maker as Springfield sits right in the middle.  Now Cardinal and Cub fans will be able to watch their teams like they are all home games.  

High Speed Rail is old, dead technology.

Illinois is not going to be building any multi-billion dollar high speed rail. Please post here how much Illinois is in DEBT.

You're calling the train from Chicago to St. Louis "HIGH SPEED RAIL". High Speed Rail is 125 mph plus. This is barely faster than it can be DRIVEN. Without the inconvenience.

Distance from Chicago to St. Louis is about 300 miles. Last months article about the safety of the system is that it will make the trip in FOUR HOURS. That is an average of 75 MPH.

From Bing....

297.4 mi, 4 hr 20 min driving

4 hr 30 min with traffic http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?q=Chicago+to+St.+Louis&mkt=en&FORM=HDRSC4#Y3A9MzAuNDI2MTMwfi04NC4yNTE2NDgmbHZsPTQmc3R5PXImcnRwPXBvcy40MS44ODQyNTFfLTg3LjYzMjQ0Nl9DaGljYWdvJTJDJTIwSUxfX19lX35wb3MuMzguNjI3NzUwXy05MC4xOTk1NjJfU3QlMjBMb3VpcyUyQyUyME1PX19fZV8mbW9kZT1EJnJ0b3A9MH4wfjB+

High speed rail officials explain safety precautions

8:15PM Tuesday
July 29, 2014
Two-armed crossing like this one in Normal will soon be replaced by four-arm versions (Photo by Connor Quealy/WJBC).
By Connor Quealy

NORMAL - Travel from Chicago to St. Louis could soon take about four hours.

Representatives from the Illinois Department of Transportation held a meeting in Normal Tuesday night to explain the changes necessary to accommodate high speed rail along that route. Passenger Rail Marketing Manager Scott Speegle said all crossings along the route will soon have four-arm gates rather than the typical two-arm gates to help ensure safety along the tracks.

Read more:
http://www.wjbc.com/common/page.php?id=147524

What we need is a vast improvement of our FREIGHT RAILS.

2seaoat wrote:The projects in Illinois make sense today.  The job creation with this project has been immense.

Then why is unemployment in Illinois at 7.1 percent?

Then why is unemployment in Illinois at 7.1 percent?



That actually is very low compared to what it was at the end of the Bush Presidency. The Japanese and other companies which supply rail car production are moving to Illinois and from Illinois these cars are being made in America and shipped all over the country. This has been a home run for America.

2seaoat wrote:Then why is unemployment in Illinois at 7.1 percent?



That actually is very low compared to what it was at the end of the Bush Presidency.   The Japanese and other companies which supply rail car production are moving to Illinois and from Illinois these cars are being made in America and shipped all over the country.  This has been a home run for America.

Curious how Progressives can call a bunt, a home run.

Curious how Progressives can call a bunt, a home run.


I guess Illinois conservatives who are pounding the drum of job creation would tend to disagree with your baseball knowledge. When the ball is fair and hit over the outfield fence it is not called a bunt. You, having lived on the North side of Chicago, must be a Cub fan......there lack of knowledge of baseball is legendary.....yet they show up every year talking about next year.