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Brown calls for Sunset Limited’s return
While Mr. Warner pays attention to those selected stories, I will in turn pay (and call) attention to stories such as these:
“A court in Beijing on Monday gave a former Chinese minister of railways, Liu Zhijun, a suspended death sentence after finding him guilty of taking bribes and abusing his powers, state-run media reported.” – http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/08/world/asia/ex-rail-minister-in-china-gets-a-suspended-death-sentence.html?_r=0
“How a High-Speed Rail Disaster Exposed China’s Corruption” – http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/10/22/121022fa_fact_osnos
I would simply like to suggest that there are two sides to every story, and while pro-passenger-rail advocates are typically eager to promote the idea that we’re woefully behind the “rest of the world” in passenger rail development, I would suggest as well that we are also woefully behind places like China in degree of political turmoil, manipulation, corruption, failed political policies, and the like. For now. We can certainly catch up, if we so chose and entrust our politicians with more money and power.
Does anyone else find it humorous that she said “There are over 207 cities in the U.S. that if they didn’t have train service, they would have no service – no bus, no air service. It is very important that our country is hooked up” none of which exist on the route she’s proposing that Amtrak resume service on?
Maybe she hasn’t had a geography lesson in a while, but I-10 kind of takes care of the transportation issue between Houston and Jacksonville and last I checked (just right now) Greyhound travels between the two cities as well.
I’m just pointing out my observations…
I Love Her.
David you wouldn’t love her if you lived in her district down here in Florida and saw what an embarrassment she is to us. As much as I hate to say it, the chances of the Sunset Limited being reinstated are slim and none. And Slim went home
I spoke to an Amtrak employee about this and the issue lies within the fact that CSX did not restore the track to standards needed for the Sunset to keep it’s schedule. By-the-by, it only went as far as NOLA when the EsPee ran it.
And, Congresswoman, where is Amtrak supposed to get the money to resume this service? Your appropriations? Raise fares to cover the cost? Why not a shorter train from New Orleans to Jacksonville instead of trying to achieve the impossible (running through from LA on time)?
A new route that would be ideal is direct train service between Houston and New York via Washington, Roanoke, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Huntsville, Memphis, Little Rock, Longview and Palestine. This would fill a tremendous void in passenger train service to the lower Appalachian region, the Tennessee Valley, and east Texas.
Babies have been born and grown into middle-aged adults since most of these cities along the route had passenger train service.
I find it interesting, to read these stories:
. Mexico to build 360 miles of high speed rail;
. Britian to spend 1.8 Billion for 30 nine car train sets (I assume pounds and remember for the Brits Billion is more than our Billion, as they have 100 million then a Billion);
. Brition to spend 8.8 Billion to upgrade 800/801 series fleet;
. Montana whine’s over a Billion dallor to bring sevice to areas of population; and
. Florida whines over 8 billion to restart the sunset limited.
Can I get you some cheese with that.
Instead of a reinstatement of the Sunset, why not run a day train between New Orleans and Jacksonville. Run it daily, use equipment that would become available once the new cars are built for the MW corridors…no diner or sleepers, just snack service. I would think this would have more potential riders than an overnight train…it would give residents of the gulf coast an option that would not require them to board the train in the middle of the night and it would have lower costs than an overnight train.
4 Billion? Why that’s 4 days of budget for the DoD.
207 cities with no service if it wasn’t for Amtrak. Are there that many cities along I-10 between Jacksonville and New Orleans? Which brings up another point. I-10 exists, therefore transportation exists. And the last time I checked, there are more than a few farmers and ranchers with their own private air strips. Taking a stab in the dark here, I suspect most to all of these 207 cities in question have some kind of airport facility. Granted, it may not be up to the socialist elitist standards of the congresswoman. But if you can get a puddle jumper in and out, it counts as an airport. And who is to pay for this? Not the users, of course. Instead it will be paid for by the provider class to subsidize the welfare transportation class.
@STEPHEN KARLSON - I thought the amusing part was that Guse thinks the problem is solved merely by the presence of an airport, as if viable common carrier passenger services will just mysteriously start all by themselves if only “socialists” recognize that small airports can support such infrastructure.
The phrase “Cargo cult” (oddly appropriate) springs to mind.
FWIW my opinion as a Florida resident is this:
- I think it’s high time Florida had its major cities linked by rail.
- I don’t think a three times a week train that’s in some ways intended to be a rail version of a cruise ship is an appropriate way to do that. In that sense Brown is wrong about the Sunset Limited.
The SL is exactly the kind of train Amtrak shouldn’t be running, or if it does it should be figuring out a way to profit from it. It’s too irregular, slow, and its route too arbitrary to be useful.
This is not to say I wouldn’t welcome a train from Miami to New Orleans, but I suspect a day train, run at least once a day, making few stops, would be a better approach and would be considerably more attractive.
Paul Harrison: how much potential is there for a trans-Florida service (Miami to Tallahassee, Tampa - St. Petersburg to Jacksonville, exchanging passengers at Orlando)? Britain’s Inter-City Cross Country with Penzance to Edinburgh and Glasgow to Southampton exchanging at Birmingham comes to mind.
I’d suggest any reader who suggests that regional airports offer a cost-effective alternative to Passenger Rail or the intercity bus look at the Essential Air Service subsidy.
Just when I though the Sunset Limited east of New Orleans had been forgotten Representative Brown shows it hasn’t been.
Just when I though the Sunset Limited east of New Orleans had been forgotten Representative Brown shows it hasn’t been.
Just when I though the Sunset Limited east of New Orleans had been forgotten Representative Brown shows it hasn’t been.
And she wants us to be more like China?
No thanks. I’ll rather keep all the private money coming that is flowing into CSX and the other profitable lines in the USA. They’re providing the service we really need, and at a price users can pay.
I agree with Jim Cox. Bring the train back.