$700 Billion Could Completely Rebuild The US Passenger Rail System

[lib2DaBone]

$700 billion could completely rebuild the US passenger rail system! All the way to complete electrification and to the same standards the French enjoy with their TGVs."
Its enough money to bring service to every town of 5000 and up. Just think of the jobs that could have been created... a new Fed-Ex or a new UPS... with fast overnight shipping to even remote towns all across the USA. What's my point? As the water begins to swirl around the drain and we head down the financial black hole... I want our Dem leaders in CONgress to see how bad they have screwed up when we needed them the most. The talking heads are already blaming the Dems for the economy. hate to say it.. but I will.. "I told you so".




TGV is an acronym for 'Train a Grand Vitesse' or 'train at great speed', or high-speed trains. The French TGV, at a speed of 186 mph, began service in 1981 from Paris to Lyon. In 1990, under special test conditions, a TGV trainset reached the astonishing speed of 320 mph!

On just a single line of dedicated tracks from Paris to Marseille, the TGV Mediterranee, which began service in 2001, carried 23 million passengers in 2002.

[lostnotforgotten]

1. Most American Would Love The TGV - Fast, Smooth, Comfortable

No homeland security searches.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Subtract the time you spend in the airport getting searched & hassled,

the need for transport to & from the airport, the ever-rising fuel-driven costs of flight, and the environmental damage due to air traffic, and you have an absolute winner with high-speed rail.

Goddam right. Nationalize the financial industry (it's too vital to leave in private hands), and build a national rail system. WooHoo--21st Century, here we come!

[unhappycamper]

2. $700 billion could also fund the military for another year. n/t

[lib2DaBone]

8. Yes, Ike was right.. if the Military Industrial complex

ever gets a hold of govt, we are screwed. Needless to say 8 years of Bush and the Neocons has done us in. Only question is.. "Where will they stop?" I thiink the answer is a total nukuleer (sic) meltdown... as long as they can keep stuffing cash in their pockets.

[jtrockville]

3. Hell, I'd settle for reasonable prices on AMTRAK

Why is it cheaper to fly than take rail?

[Jackpine Radical]

5. Because we have a 19th-century rail infrastructure & pay private RRs to rent it..

Because we prefer to build highways & airports, at huge public expense, to subsidize private carriers.

[Sal Minella]

7. Because the Big Oil Boys love airplanes (use lots of gas) and hate AmTrak (very fuel-efficient) so

Congresscritters are paid ("recipients of generous campaign donations") to pound AmTrak and its efficiencies to a bloody pulp?

AmTrak is castigated in Congress for not being self-supporting -- I'd like to see an accounting of who builds and maintains France's and Japan's wonderful trains. Instead of encouraging affordable rail transportation, the U.S. corporatocracy tries to persuade us to desire towering S.U.V.s.

But U.S. billionaires wouldn't ride trains, so nobody in particular is pressuring Congress FOR a decent passenger train system. (Not even to mention pollution forestalled by freighting by rail instead of by highway.

People working 2.5 jobs to survive are too busy to write their Congresscritters about the U.S. needing bullet trains.

[scarface2004]

6. if they could give me a small piece say $5000000

i would be able to retire to a life of luxury to which i think i am entitled!!