The White House Stakes Its Political Capital on a Massive Intercity Rail Plan

[marmar]

from the Transport Politic blog:







Vice President Joe Biden spoke in Philadelphia this morning to announce that the Obama Administration intends to request from Congress $8 billion in federal funds for the advancement of a national high-speed rail system as part of a six-year transportation reauthorization bill.

The White House’s commitment to fast trains has been evident throughout the Administration’s two-year lifespan, beginning with the addition of $8 billion for the mode in the 2009 stimulus bill and continued with $2.5 billion included in the Fiscal Year 2010 budget. Yet this new funding, which would add up to $53 billion over the six-year period, is remarkable for its ambition. It is clear that President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, already being framed in terms of “winning the future,” will hinge partially on whether voters agree with his assessment of the importance of investing in the nation’s rail transport infrastructure.

In his speech, Mr. Biden argued that American wealth was founded on “out-building” the competition. Infrastructure, he noted, is the “veins and the arteries of commerce.” The President and his team will be making this case to the American people the next two years, hoping that the public comes to endorse this message of national advancement through construction.

Whether the proposal — to be laid out in more detail with next week’s introduction the President’s full proposed FY 2012 budget — has any chance of success is undoubtedly worth questioning. Republicans have campaigned wholeheartedly against rail improvement projects in Iowa, Ohio, and Wisconsin; even Florida’s project, which would require no operating subsidies once in service, hangs in the balance. But as part of the larger transportation reauthorization legislation, which is apparently slated to move forward by this summer, a real expansion in high-speed rail funding seems possible, especially if Mr. Obama pressures the Democratic-controlled Senate to push hard for it. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2011/02/08/the-white-house-stakes-its-political-capital-on-a-massive-intercity-rail-plan/

[txlibdem]

1. As long as they're truly high speed rail -- and have their own rights of way

so they don't have to get out of the way of freight trains.

And the freight trains won't let anyone exceed 90 mph on their tracks. High speed rail needs its own tracks.

Fortunately a Texas company has come up with the solution: Tubular Rail.
http://www.tubularrail.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cShtEadkEc&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK5H92RHYfk

But can it go around a corner? Yes. Yes it can.

"How does the Tubular Rail car turn?

Lateral change in direction---is made by a combination of two forces. They are rotation of the roller from the perpendicular to direction of travel axis. They may also be taken out of the horizontal plane thus producing a super elevation effect. In other words, if in straight travel the axis of movement is thought of as a line perpendicular to the axis of the rollers, a turn is initiated when the car encounters a set of rollers not perpendicular to the travel axis and the car will tend to move to that side on which the acute angle is found. The second influence is that of the side roller on the obtuse side of the next encountered side roller. The curved portion of the side rail contacts this roller and the car is forced to its realignment. The effect of this change on the passenger is mitigated by several design elements that can be varied; they are speed of the vehicle, spacing of the side rollers and the elliptical radius of the rails at the front and rear of the vehicle. Increasing the radius alters the time duration of load transfer to the roller."

http://www.tubularrail.com/questions_answers.htm

Sort of like how a Nascar track is angled at the corners to keep the cars on the track even though centrifugal force (or is that centripetal) might seem to want to fling the cars off into the stands. In Nascar, the track does most of the work of keeping the car going round. Same idea here except it would be *all* and not *most* of the work.

Or you could go MagLev and travel at speeds up to 3,500 km/h!!! London to Tokyo in 3 hours!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIwbrZ4knpg&feature=related
... Germans built one in China between Shanghai and its airport 30 miles away

[Kennah]

2. I'll pick the conductor's brain again tonight on the Sounder

BNSF freight and Amtrak passenger service both operate on the rail lines the Sounder runs on.

It's just two lines, and I'm given to understand they will NOT be adding dedicated tracks but instead run freight and HSR on the same lines.

In the Northwest, HSR will only be somewhere between 110 MPH and 128 MPH, depending upon whom you ask.

[txlibdem]

3. Please do

But remember that some employees of a corrupt and money losing system do not want to voice their true feelings, nor tell the actual truth of just how bad the system is run. They fear being fired or "singled out" as a trouble maker. So you might have to ask several different people to get at the truth.

Freight rail owns the tracks and high speed rail has no chance in that scenario.

That is why I am a proponent of PRT. The cost per mile is far less and you only ride with others if you choose to (meaning that you know them or work with them).