Virgin Trains in race to realise Barack Obama's high-speed rail system

[bananas]

Source: UK Times

Virgin Trains, which operates the West Coast Main Line in Britain, is bidding for a slice of President Obama's multibillion-dollar upgrade of the American rail network, The Times has learnt.

Virgin is understood to be the only British company involved in the President's plan to build high-speed rail links between key cities on the East and West coasts of the United States. Virgin has been asked to submit a proposal for developing this infrastructure and has held meetings with the new Administration in Washington.

<snip>

Virgin is keen on the Los Angeles to San Francisco route and also the East Coast line linking Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington. There are 30 return airline flights a day between Los Angeles and San Francisco and a high-speed train service could replace many of those, cutting carbon emissions. The journey would take less than three hours and voters in California have already agreed to raise $10 billion to start work on a line that would run from Sacramento, the state capital, to San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.

<snip>

Moving into America would be Virgin's first venture outside Britain. The company, which is 51 per cent-owned by Stagecoach and 49 per cent by Sir Richard Branson, runs trains between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow. Virgin was criticised for its poor service when it first won the franchise in 1996, but since the completion of track improvements and the introduction of new trains, it has come to be regarded as a leading operator.

<snip>

Read more: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article5804544.ece

[LostinVA]

1. If anybody can do it, Uncle Richard can!

I worked for Virgin Retail as a buyer, and they are a first-class place to work for: great medical and health, time off, perks (cheap airfare, etc.).

[liberal N proud]

3. Glad to hear that he treats his people well

My impression of him made me think that he wouldn't be. Glad that I am wrong.

He does have the instinct to accomplish whatever he set out to do.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Before you get too excited, Branson's partner, Stagecoach, has an awful track record

especially with GLBT relations:

2000:

He has built his Stagecoach company from a couple of second-hand buses bought with his father's redundancy money into a global transport empire within 20 years. Yet Brian Souter drives a coach and horses through common perceptions.

His decision to donate £500,000 to the campaign against the government's proposed repeal of Clause 28, which demands that local authorities do not promote the acceptability of homosexuals in schools, stems from deeply-held religious convictions.

Souter is a member of the Church of Nazarene, an austere branch of Methodist evangelism with some 2,000 adherents in Scotland. This son of a bus driver was brought up on a Perth council estate defying the traditional comforts of television, drink and tobacco.

He says he is not homophobic but doesn't believe in promoting homosexuality. And if that seems like a contradiction, it is just one of many that litter Brian Souter's life and career.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/612409.stm

2008:

Express coach service Stagecoach has strongly denied any homophobia within the group and defended its commitment to equal opportunities and diversity, following accusations of a lack of support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) staff and passengers.

The Queer Youth Network, run by and for LGBT people, accused Stagecoach of homophobia, pointing to two recent incidents involving a coach driver and a young gay couple in Aberdeen, while in Manchester, a young gay Stagecoach driver has allegedly spoken up about a 'canteen culture' of bigotry and ignorance.

Steven Stewart, director of corporate communications at Stagecoach Group, dismissed both incidents, following a police investigation into the first. The police were found to be satisfied with the driver's account, and reported no evidence of discrimination.

Stewart added that Stagecoach was not aware of any such case in Manchester. "We have an excellent relationship with our local trade union, who would be the first to complain if they felt there was a discriminatory culture within the company's workforce," he said.

http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2008/01/25/44100/stagecoach-denies-homophobia-towards-staff-and-passengers.html

2008:

Twenty-eight years ago, a brother and sister set up a bus service in Perth that ran two coaches to London. Those two coaches expanded into Stagecoach Group, at one time the biggest bus company in the world and a watchword for Thatcherite capitalism. The next step was international expansion, and that was where the wheels fell off.

Six years on from the company's nadir, where its shares hovered around 10p and rumours it was on the verge of going bust, it has fought back to surpass its peak at the turn of the century. One analyst yesterday called the group the "shining light" of the public transport sector after it announced a strong set of results.

Stagecoach's storming rise in the 1980s was described as "a classic rags-to-riches tale from the frontiers of capitalism" by Christian Wolmar in his book Stagecoach, published in 1998. It was masterminded by Brian Souter, a former bus conductor and accountant, who launched the company in 1980 with his sister Ann Gloag using their father's redundancy money.

Through a strong knowledge of the industry and following the wave of privatisation and subsequent fragmentation of the market after the Transport Act 1980 it build a significant presence in the market. By 1992 it had expanded into rail operations with the shortlived Stagecoach Rail. Its use of the system and aggressive tactics weren't always appreciated. Mr Wolmar said: "Through press coverage of Monopolies and Mergers Commission referrals and reports, Stagecoach became notorious, an emblem of the excesses of Thatcherism."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/is-stagecoach-back-on-track-787307.html

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. How much have our beloved allies the Saudis invested in our

interests?? Oh yes, they increased the price of crude?? Limited production??? Sent us some pilots?? Seems to me they should be paying a bit of attention to their golden goose before it finds another better source of grain. Really haven't heard much from the Saudis since we have gone into the drink.

[saigon68]

5. Well, Osama is still around

LOL

[acmavm]

4. American railroads can't handle the job?

[ConcernedCanuk]

8. Ya want Amtrak to build em?? - even here, our rails are so bad much of the track has 30mph limits .

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I've worked on the rails up here

and ridden them

even at 30mph much of the track is like riding on a roller-coaster

just did from North Bay to Toronto a year an a half ago on the train

nice views, but rocking back and forth for 5 hours

We don't build real good tracks over here

I think the rest of the globe got us beat when it comes to quality rails

And ya need quality rails for high-speed

OH

Short answer?

NO

[jberryhill]

18. Come on down the Northeast Corridor

We've got welded and banked rail through the entire Amtrak Acela route, and the upgrade went pretty smoothly.

[ConcernedCanuk]

21. We have CWR (Constant Welded Rail) up here - don't mean shit if the base is uneven

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.

AND

if not done correctly, CWR, not having joints and gaps, can twist like crazy with extreme heat or cold

I worked for CPRail for over 3 years - NEVER saw a track that could sustain 60 miles an hour for any distance

I was what they called a "maintainer" - a mechanic of sorts - I was one of the very FEW that was actually a trained and licensed mechanic

I worked in the main repair shop in Toronto(now moved to Winnipeg) during the off-season(winter) and out on the gangs in the summer

I was not an operator, I fixed the machines that maintained the track -

but I saw thousands of miles of track in my time there - and not a smooth ten miles among them

[acmavm]

25. I think you sell American's short.

[dipsydoodle]

15. If they could

then I'd assume you'd at least already have + 200mph trains as we've got in Europe. Have you ?

[Gormy Cuss]

16. It's not a matter of inability to build them. It's a lack of interest in funding it.

You have high speed trains in Europe because passenger rail has always been a viable alternative to driving. Here the only transportation policy priority is making driving easier -- everything else takes a backseat.

[acmavm]

24. We can't build 'em?

[SpiralHawk]

6. "Virgins are, um, good." - Republicon Homelanders for Family (smirk) Values

"That is, as long as the virgins don't interfere with our wide-stance, diaper-clad, closet sex on the choo choo between Disneyland and Las Vegas. Smirk."

- Republicon Homelanders for Family (smirk) Values

[lunatica]

7. That's great news!

Travel between the cities mentioned is huge. Airplanes take off at least every hour between SF and LA, so the savings will be in fuel as well as lowering CO2 emissions and air pollution. It's going to work.

[iandhr]

10. high speed rail in America

ITS ABOUT TIME

[DS1]

11. It'll have to be elevated to keep the stupid light and sign dodging fucks from trying to beat it

not that they don't deserve to be Darwinned out of existence, it's the people on the train I'm concerned about.

[dipsydoodle]

13. Some of our trains are a lot faster than some may realise

Eurostar train has broken the UK rail speed record by travelling at 208 mph.

The target was reached on part of the soon-to-open first section of the £5.2bn Channel Tunnel Rail Link in Kent.

Hours earlier, the train had smashed the previous record by reaching 186mph in the Nashenden Valley area, near Rochester.

The 14-carriage train then set the new record by making further test runs between Ashford and Fawkham Junction, in north Kent on Wednesday.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3108973.stm

The French of course do even better - 356mph !

A French high-speed train (TGV) has smashed the world record for a train on conventional rails by a big margin, reaching 574.8km/h (356mph).

The previous TGV record was 515km/h (320mph), set in 1990.

The record attempt by a modified TGV took place on a track between Paris and the eastern city of Strasbourg.

The absolute train speed record was set by a Japanese magnetic levitation train - Maglev - in 2003. It reached a top speed of 581km/h (361mph).

The TGV set the new record at 1314 (1114GMT) on Tuesday. It was a modified version called V150, with larger wheels than usual and two engines driving three double-decker cars.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6521295.stm

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

12. I've been really impressed with Virgin's trains in the UK.

For those who don't know, the UK rail system was privatized and there are now many different companies operating trains and maintaining track. Virgin is just one of them. Their trains are clean, safe, and generally a pleasure to use. The same can't be said of some of the other UK train operators.

[xchrom]

14. while i'd rather see an american company do it --

i'm thrilled to see any of this moving forward.

[sofa king]

17. BEST. HEADLINE. EVER.

Yes, it's true I have a juvenile sense of humor.

Poopy!

[Romulox]

19. Guess the "Buy American" clause is out the window...nt

[nichomachus]

20. Please supply a list of American railroad manufacturers who can do this n/t

[Romulox]

22. Please look for a new secretary. nt

[bananas]

27. American steel for the tracks

[IDFbunny]

23. Eisenbahn

Our rails should at least match if not surpass what the French and Germans have done with the eisenbahn.

[muriel_volestrangler]

26. To clear things up: Virgin Trains does not build railroad, or trains

In the UK, it doesn't even own its own trains - it leases them (see eg http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2007/03/virgin_hopes_to_seal_pendolino.html). From some comments here, some people seem to think this would be a British company building things for the USA. Virgin doesn't do that; it just operates the services.

[ConcernedCanuk]

28. THAT's why they call themselves "Virgin" trains - haven't done it yet!

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sorry

just my weird Canuk sense of Humor . .

:silly: