Recent content by Tokkyu40

Colorado has a number of proposals for upgrading transportation along the Front Range, but one of the more ambitious is HSR from Denver to Albuquerque. This idea has been rattling around for about ten years. I hope they do something with it. Cascadia HSR is a pretty good idea. Vancouver to...

To be clear, the current plan is to accelerate the construction of the line through the Valley, continue dither...I mean, planning the route from Bakersfield to Palmdale, and apparently wait for a magic transit fairy to drop money on his head before extending the line. It's taking too long and...

The dishonest accounting system is the main problem with most of the plans being put forward. Much of the infrastructure costs of the NEC are wrapped up in the general overhead and distributed among the routes according to route length. If you deduct the corporate overhead from the money losing...

Why not? You fly at 500 mph, and when they go into the ground they don't normally have survivors. At least at maglev altitude they hit the ground skidding like a sled, not straight in like a pile driver. Much safer.

I ran across this article from last year and was wondering what the latest news was. Has this idea been abandoned, or are they still working on it? http://seattletransitblog.com/2014/01/13/bostons-exciting-dmu-plans/

Adding a second locomotive to the trains increases acceleration and makes the trains faster, not slower. Much faster when one of the engines breaks down again. But it is expensive. They need DMU trains for a system that size.

Part of the long term (very long term) transportation plan is regional rail to Yuma over the Wellton Cutoff. If that happens then the Eagle and Sunset would return to Phoenix. First they need to stop planning the Phoenix-Tucson rail line and actually build it.

Cincinnati has a broad tree lined parkway in the middle of town that covers a subway. Sadly, inflation ate the money during WW1, and after the war they were never able to build out the system at their own expense. There was no outside money for rail projects back then, but the Feds would take...

Yes they did. When the line was first built they found the grades into Santa Fe were to steep to run the mainline, but once they were established they went back and ran a connection up the hill. Another "Pacific" that never made the full trip is the Iowa Pacific which still makes good money...

I think the first thing we need is to clear up the bottle necks where capacity is constricted and speeds limited. Then I would go for a national system of 125 mph DMUs (how long does it take to refuel a DMU?). Twice a day to begin, then keep increasing service to meet demand. Electrify when you...

JR Central and the Japanese export bank are talking about financing the maglev, so it's politically "free money", meaning you don't have to pay the bill until the next administration gets hit with the tab.

Of the viable candidates,Republicans have been the least dangerous, although lately they've been trying to prove me wrong. Kashkari was a real winner there. I voted for Brown. He's been doing pretty well.

A politician?

Pure ideology. Republicans are against rail travel, even if it's not publicly funded. As a Republican, I find my party a little embarrassing these days.

It's hard for a tax paying private company to shoulder strangling government regulation, build the infrastructure for their chief competitors and compete head to head with a government mandated, funded and constructed tax exempt opponent. A lot of streetcars converted to bus just to get out from...