I wish Amtrak was more practical.

[CCC1007]

The simple answer is $$$ as the current infrastructure and equipment pools and crew and station facilities simply can't provide that type of service! While it would be great to have that type of setup, it will take at minimum a decade before any similar network can be put in service. If the funding came available tomorrow, and I were in charge of where it would go, there is already some work that I have done to prepare for some system such as that. My estimate of the cost of it for a 125 MPH nationwide network of new passenger only tracks is ~$30 Billion.

How did you calculate that estimate, if I'm correct Brightline in Florida is costing a few billion just for 125 MPH service for only a few miles, with most of it being 110 MPH and 79 for a portion. I would love if it only cost 30 billion, it could be financed completely by some of the rich folks like Warren Buffet if he was willing to put forward 30 billion dollars. But I think it would cost more than that, mostly due to the legal fees and controversy.

Yeah I don't understand this either. How did you get that figure?

Ok, ~10000 miles of track built to the high speed standards that France uses costs approximately $3 million per mile, therefore the track itself could cost as little as $30 billion.

 

[jis]

All these numbers that are being bandied about is using dollars from which year? Can France actually build a new mile of double track LGV for $3 million today or even $6 million for that matter, specially when cost of real estate is factored in? I doubt it very much. So I consider the $30 billion number as wishful thinking, until I am convinced otherwise of course.

 

[Lonestar648]

When you see how little mileage the main Freight Railroads get for their billion dollar investments and they are not having to purchase ROW, I just don't see $1M per mile. Labor is a huge expense to get the steel and concrete installed to replace the existing lower grade steel and wood ties.

 

[dlagrua]

When nearly all of the Amtrak passenger trains use the freight tracks of the private railroads, don't expect travel times to make huge improvements in the future but there is talk that the freight industry is looking to upgrade some track corridors to move freight trains faster. That could help Amtrak.

Do you know any specific cases of interest of any of the major host railroads wishing to upgrade service? The CHI-STL corridor is certainly being upgraded but any others?

The key is that there is '' talk" about upgrading some freight corridors. My remarks came from a Trains Magazine article of a month or two ago. I'll try to find it and pass on details but it would seem logical that freight service moving faster allows for more tonnage to be shipped.