5 ms·

“We hope the U.S. government will be submitting some of the funds to finish it out.” LOL. Thanks for the comedy this morning. I'm guessing they're looking for

“We hope the U.S. government will be submitting some of the funds to finish it out.” LOL. Thanks for the comedy this morning. I'm guessing they're looking for somewhere around $5B (half of the proposed cost). As nice as it would be to see something like this, the US government has no designs on dropping a fraction of that money on any kind of rail system. They can't even pay for the current road infrastructure.

ams6110 12y ago
If Amtrak is any indicicator, the US government does NOT know how to run a railroad. They are the last partner you would want on such a project.
- chrisBob 12y ago
  I am not so sure. The US government subsidizes Amtrak [1], and if you want to start a new rail line that is probably exactly what you are looking for. [1] to the tune of $1.4B last year http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak#Public_funding http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak#Public_funding
  - melling 12y ago
    Do you ever feel like we're having the same conversation over and over and over and over and over and over again? Someone really needs to do an FAQ. You do understand that Amtrak is profitable in the Northeast? http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/01/amtrak-loses-a-ton-of-money-each-year-it-doesnt-have-to/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/01/a...
- _delirium 12y ago
  I'm not sure I'd really call Amtrak a railroad in the conventional sense of the term. With a few exceptions [1] they neither own nor lease trackage, and merely have legal access to trackage on fairly low-priority terms (the track controllers give them something like "best-effort" access, with no teeth in what constitutes a good effort). They're mostly a weird conglomeration of the former passenger services of a bunch of railroads, which were glued together and dumped on the government in the '70s in order to keep them on life support, but with no mandate to do much of anything but run the former services glued together on top of the trackage that was retained by the former operators. [1] The exceptions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak#Tracks_owned_or_leased_by_Amtrak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak#Tracks_owned_or_leased_...
  - biscuitt 12y ago
    I mean they own the majority of the track on the Northeast Corrider line including both the tunnel under the hudson river and the east river tunnel in Manhattan. This is their most heavily used line, and they have priority through those tunnels over LIRR, NJ Transit, and MetroNorth.
    - _delirium 12y ago
      That's the main exception, yes, and that one has much better operation compared to the rest of the lines.
kaonashi 12y ago
They can pay, they just don't.

ams6110 12y ago

If Amtrak is any indicicator, the US government does NOT know how to run a railroad. They are the last partner you would want on such a project.

chrisBob 12y ago
I am not so sure. The US government subsidizes Amtrak [1], and if you want to start a new rail line that is probably exactly what you are looking for. [1] to the tune of $1.4B last year http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak#Public_funding http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak#Public_funding
- melling 12y ago
  Do you ever feel like we're having the same conversation over and over and over and over and over and over again? Someone really needs to do an FAQ. You do understand that Amtrak is profitable in the Northeast? http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/01/amtrak-loses-a-ton-of-money-each-year-it-doesnt-have-to/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/01/a...
_delirium 12y ago
I'm not sure I'd really call Amtrak a railroad in the conventional sense of the term. With a few exceptions [1] they neither own nor lease trackage, and merely have legal access to trackage on fairly low-priority terms (the track controllers give them something like "best-effort" access, with no teeth in what constitutes a good effort). They're mostly a weird conglomeration of the former passenger services of a bunch of railroads, which were glued together and dumped on the government in the '70s in order to keep them on life support, but with no mandate to do much of anything but run the former services glued together on top of the trackage that was retained by the former operators. [1] The exceptions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak#Tracks_owned_or_leased_by_Amtrak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amtrak#Tracks_owned_or_leased_...
- biscuitt 12y ago
  I mean they own the majority of the track on the Northeast Corrider line including both the tunnel under the hudson river and the east river tunnel in Manhattan. This is their most heavily used line, and they have priority through those tunnels over LIRR, NJ Transit, and MetroNorth.
  - _delirium 12y ago
    That's the main exception, yes, and that one has much better operation compared to the rest of the lines.

kaonashi 12y ago

They can pay, they just don't.