Western Railroad Discussion > Vice President Joe Biden - America's no.1 railfan

President Barack Obama today referred to Vice President Joe Biden today as America's number one railfan. Obama said we cannot afford not to implement a system of high speed rail transpoetation and pointed to the systems currently in operation in Europe and Asia. Amtrak, while representing the antithesis of the "high speed rail" designation, should at least breathe a sigh of relief that the new administration is looking more favorably upon railroads as a solution and not a problem in upgrading the nation's infrastructure.

Check out Obama's comments made this morning;

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=13005579&ch=4226713&src=news

newsat11

"Pie in the sky" dreaming; where the hell will the money come from? Oh, more stimulus money.

Marty Harrison
Knob Noster, MO



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/09 06:45 by livesteamer.

Say what you want, but we've been subsidizing non-rail transportation for quite a long time.


livesteamer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "Pie in the sky" dreaming; where the hell will
> the maoney come from? Oh, more stimulus money.

Interesting...for years, people here complained about how Amtrak doesn't get enough money, railroads get no respect compared to other modes of transport, etc. Now we have an administration that seems to have an interest in improving our RR infrastructure, and now people complain, mainly for partisan BS reasons? Unbelievable...

PE - At least this administration seems to like Amtrak and trains...Dubya's sure didn't!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/09 09:37 by SP_8299.

well thats it. I don't like trains anymore. Yay Trucks. is there a truckorders.com?

TPWman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> well thats it. I don't like trains anymore. Yay
> Trucks. is there a truckorders.c

Bet you'd be the first one in line to ride it though. :)

While i freely admit to having no liking for barrack obama and 99% of what he is doing if he were to give us a GOOD national transportation system I will both use it and thank him for it. But while I have used amtrak I find using my car to be less expensive on long trips - almost as quick and it gives me the chance to railfan on the way. amtraks rules are to stifling and at an average of 80 mph to slow.






SP_8299 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Interesting...for years, people here complained
> about how Amtrak doesn't get enough money,
> railroads get no respect compared to other modes
> of transport, etc. Now we have an administration
> that seems to have an interest in improving our RR
> infrastructure, and now people complain, mainly
> for partisan BS reasons? Unbelievable...
>
> PE - At least this administration seems to like
> Amtrak and trains...Dubya's sure didn't!

Improving Amtrak is one thing - Starting a highspeed network from scratch is quite another.

A lot of money could be spent to get the Amtrak system in better shape and it would be more useful and a lot less expensive than a HSR network. It seems they are ignoring Amtrak and wanting to build a system without Amtrak. Sounds like a boondoggle to me.

Just because there are some bonehead decisions made at Amtrak and a host of rude employees doesn't mean we should scrap it. A lot could be done with the existing network.

All this is great for Amtrak and a new high speed network, BUT, the Obama administration in power now is not good news for the freight transportation industry. Read the Railway Age magazine special edition from a few months ago, read any trucking magazine. American business is worried about the business outlook with the Obama crew in power.
All these Amtrak and high speed plans will come from your pocket with higher taxes. Freight railroads pay their own way.
I love to watch freight trains but not the Amtrak higher taxes express.

gmojim

Get over it boys . . . New . . World . . Order . . 'Dogh

In the latest TRAINS (May), Don Phillips talked to Joe Boardman (latest head of Amtrak), and he says the equipment is a lot worse than he thought. He thinks that's where the money ought to go. The problem, in Congress, is too many want trains thru their district, and for long haul runs. 120 of the P42's were built in '96 & '97, and 87 built in 2001. I would think the first batch would be getting a little worn out by now, along with the actual passenger cars. It's going to be hard to get Congress to go along with that type of thinking. It makes too much sense.

...and mean while the Europeans with their network of passenger trains just smirk and grin..lol

railwayman69 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ...and mean while the Europeans with their network
> of passenger trains just smirk and grin..lol


With a density of what - 10 times America?

iliketrains Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> railwayman69 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > ...and mean while the Europeans with their
> network
> > of passenger trains just smirk and grin..lol
>
>
> With a density of what - 10 times America?


What I meant was that the Europeans have a much better passenger train network then the current one in America.
Even the island of Taiwan has high speed passenger trains.

>>A lot of money could be spent to get the Amtrak system in better shape and it would be more useful and a lot less expensive than a HSR network.<<

Improving existing service is really the first step in getting HSR. If they dropped half of that $8B on local service, they'd get huge numbers of people riding trains, faster trains, more trains, and start to change the way a modest fraction Americans think about regional travel.

Once you start getting peoples' behavior switched to thinking "do I drive or take the train this trip" and the train being a viable option at least some of the time, then you can pass a bond measure to fund a HSR system.

Just ask the Californians.

Prop [something] passed in 1990, $2B for trains. It brought in the Capitol Corridor, Metrolink, probably the Surfliner, another Sac LRT line, and a bunch of other stuff. Now Californians ride trains in huge numbers. And they got a HSR bond passed.

Obama et al would do well to note this. I'm sure they could spend $4B in 2 years and have vastly improved service in a dozen corridors by 2011, then they'd be set for HSR to have public support.

My $0.02
Ted in WA

gmojim Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> All this is great for Amtrak and a new high speed
> network, BUT, the Obama administration in power
> now is not good news for the freight
> transportation industry. Read the Railway Age
> magazine special edition from a few months ago,
> read any trucking magazine. American business is
> worried about the business outlook with the Obama
> crew in power.
> All these Amtrak and high speed plans will come
> from your pocket with higher taxes. Freight
> railroads pay their own way.
> I love to watch freight trains but not the Amtrak
> higher taxes express.

Can you identify one policy the administration is proposing that is against the freight transportation industry?
>
> gmojim

""Can you identify one policy the administration is proposing that is against the freight transportation industry? ""

The Democrat party has legislation before Congress to re-regulate the railroads and the proposed coal regulations could almost shut down the coal fired power plants. That is 2 for starters.
Read the February 2009 special issue of Railway Age magazine. They explain it all very well.
This is not just my opinion on the situation, but the rail freight industry opinion.

Union card check is a threat to the trucking industry and allowing states to dictate pollution standards for trucks is another problem.

gmojim

> The Democrat party has legislation before Congress
> to re-regulate the railroads

Senator Rockefeller has sponsored legislation for increased ability of customers to negotiate pricing for different segments of their freight's trips. That's not regulation. That's competition, but I'm sure an industry publication is not going to look favorably on legislation that would diminish the railroad's ability to set prices.

and the proposed coal
> regulations could almost shut down the coal fired
> power plants. That is 2 for starters.

What are those regulations? If they are about carbon dioxide, and gradually diminshing our production of it, I'm all for it. It is simply not sustainable for the world to be pumping out this much CO2. But I seriously doubt the coal fired power plants will be suffering mass closings. If railroads take a responsible long-term view, they are going to realize that their future won't have as much coal in it.

> Read the February 2009 special issue of Railway
> Age magazine. They explain it all very well.
> This is not just my opinion on the situation, but
> the rail freight industry opinion.
>
> Union card check is a threat to the trucking
> industry

Why? Aren't there tens of thousands of unionized truck drivers currently serving the country? Would you care to explain how the unionized engineers, conductors and brakemen are a threat to the railroad industry? Long-haul railroading is heavily unionized.

and allowing states to dictate pollution
> standards for trucks is another problem.
>
I can understand how the trucking industry- or any industry - would prefer to work under just one set of regulations.

I question to the tone of your original post, which inferred that Obama or the Democratic party is against a particular industry or business in general. Although I understand that trope is repeatedly rolled out by right-wing commentators, it just isn't true.

Geoff

Well in my opinion the truckers have been getting a free ride for a long time with public funded highways, freeways, etc., and railroads have not so much. And the whole Democratic party is not against the coal industry, as there are some high ranking democrats that come from coal producing states and support them. Railway Age magazine is pro-business and pro management, and its not a railfan type or pro-labor/union magazine.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/09 20:44 by railwayman69.

geoffreyherrig Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> gmojim Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> > All these Amtrak and high speed plans will come
> > from your pocket with higher taxes.

No taxes are being raised. They are letting the tax breaks for the rich lapse in 2010. I know the right keeps calling this raising taxes, but really it is restoring what they pay to Clinton era levels.