Passenger Trains > Baltimore Sun Editorial

The Baltimore Sun had a recent editorial:  Can Amtrak survive COVID.   As usual with the press, their journalism is poor, but their sentiments are generally OK.  

-They cited the new Moynihan Station as a real upgrade.  Here on TO we do not seem impressed.
-The Acela 2s will bring high-speed trains to the NEC (blatant false and ignorant claim by the Sun)
-"Perhaps" some day Baltimore will have a mag-lev stop (ha ha - dream on)

-Positively they note that any train service to BAL needs the new tunnel at $4.5 B.
They do accurately state that the Baltimore station is an undervalued asset which needs major redevelopment; that kind of thinking is in the pipeline.

Naturally they close with the thought that the Biden administration should embrace climate change and borrow money to fund all the needed NEC improvements.  

The rest of the country is NOT MENTIONED.  

Getting the feeling that provincialism is on the rise.

"Trains for me and not for thee," With the addition of, "Thee shall pay for them."

MEKoch Wrote:
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> The Baltimore Sun had a recent editorial:  Can
> Amtrak survive COVID.   As usual with the press,
> their journalism is poor, but their sentiments are
> generally OK.  
>
> -They cited the new Moynihan Station as a real
> upgrade.  Here on TO we do not seem impressed.

We??  It is presumptuous for you to claim to speak for all Trainorders members about their views on the new Moynihan Train Hall.  The two threads posted this month on the Moynihan Train Hall presented critical and positive views as well as reserving judgment until visiting the new station.

 

RuleG Wrote:
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> MEKoch Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The Baltimore Sun had a recent editorial:  Can
> > Amtrak survive COVID.   As usual with the
> press,
> > their journalism is poor, but their sentiments
> are
> > generally OK.  
> >
> > -They cited the new Moynihan Station as a real
> > upgrade.  Here on TO we do not seem impressed.
>
> We??  It is presumptuous for you to claim to
> speak for all Trainorders members about their
> views on the new Moynihan Train Hall.  The two
> threads posted this month on the Moynihan Train
> Hall presented critical and positive views as well
> as reserving judgment until visiting the new
> station.
>
>  

In reading those threads, I came to the same conclusion as Mr Koch.

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

Yeah, okay. You let me know when you've been to Moynihan. Obviously it's not perfect (count me among the "knock down the Garden and rebuild Penn Station" camp, although I know that won't happen), but it's a hell of a lot better than the basement of the arena. The number of opinions I've read from people determined to be unhappy about a good thing is disheartening.

MEKoch Wrote:
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> -"Perhaps" some day Baltimore will have a mag-lev
> stop (ha ha - dream on)

Maryland Governor Hogan flew to Japan about 5 years ago (not his own money) and got to ride on the Maglev test tracks, hence the state's (and Baltimore's) interest in Maglev. Even here in TO, almost everyone expressed complete and utter ignorance on Japan's Maglev technology, so I expect worse from politicians and media. 

cchan006 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> MEKoch Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > -"Perhaps" some day Baltimore will have a
> mag-lev
> > stop (ha ha - dream on)
>
> Maryland Governor Hogan flew to Japan about 5
> years ago (not his own money) and got to ride on
> the Maglev test tracks, hence the state's (and
> Baltimore's) interest in Maglev. Even here in TO,
> almost everyone expressed complete and utter
> ignorance on Japan's Maglev technology, so I
> expect worse from politicians and media. 

There was talk about building a test Maglev train from Washington DC to Baltimore since the 1990s, even before Acela Express came out........

jp1822 Wrote:

> There was talk about building a test Maglev train
> from Washington DC to Baltimore since the 1990s,
> even before Acela Express came out........

There have been various people here in Maryland in favor of the Maglev even though what has been proposed will NOT work.  Why?  Because the distance between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland is only a short 37 miles from the former B&O Camden Station in Downtown Baltimore to Union Station in D.C.  That short distance alone makes it cost prohibited as the Maglev would not reach full speed.  And how many commuters would ride between those two cities?  Not that many as the present MARC Commuter Trains in normal times pre-COVID make many stops between these two cities since most of the passengers use the service from the towns in between, not from downtown Baltimore to downtown D.C.  Thus for most educated people who understand this concept, they realize that we do NOT need to waste money for a Maglev.  If a Maglev System should be built here in the United States it should be built somewhere out west where there is a lot of open land, between two major cities where it could compete with airlines.  Just the cost to acquire the needed land here in Maryland would be hundreds of millions before a shovel would be turned.  Forget about Maglev here in Maryland and spend the money to upgrade the service we already have.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

MEKoch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> -Positively they note that any train service to
> BAL needs the new tunnel at $4.5 B.
> ...
>
> The rest of the country is NOT MENTIONED.  

For some denizens of Charm City, Baltimore is still the Center of the Universe, despite ample evidence to the contrary.

Paul Wilson
Arlington, VA

No, Baltimore iIS on the NE Corridor.  That was the focus of the Sun article. Montana isn't a big issue for the eastern part of the US, where a large portion of the population resides.  Did you really expect that the Sun would advocate for Kansas ???