Most American politicians are desperately afraid to have a system that is any way near as successful as the rest of the free world. It would be so “Un American” to follow the rest of the world’s lead!!
Most American politicians are desperately afraid to have a system that is any way near as successful as the rest of the free world. It would be so “Un American” to follow the rest of the world’s lead!!
They don’t seem to have too many problems building HSR in other countries, and I see the modern generation leaning more toward transit than previous ones, so there is hope.
I can absolutly see why the local officials would oppose the trains running thru their towns without stopping. The Miami-Orlando HrSR seems more a real estate development at the selected station developments, than a transportation project. If they want buy-in from the intermediate points, they need to offer some local service.
@GEORGE E BENSON - While I’m talking primarily about direct coverage, there’s also been heavy use made of, for example, TCPalm’s “reader submitted news” feature where “anyone” can submit news and it appears as news, even triggering Google News alerts, unless you look at it closely. About the only clue reading the articles is that they’re poorly written.
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2014/apr/29/florida-not-all-aboard-rally-is-may-4-37463/ would be an example, although TCPalm’s own coverage of the same event, while better written and slightly less inflammatory, did nothing to address the claims made:
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2014/may/04/murphy-commissioners-attend-anti-all-aboard-florid/
FWIW, AAF doesn’t seem to be pushing back particularly well. They’re certainly not engaging the campaign directly beyond a token FAQ type thing on their website, and even that seems awkward. I think the notion something so clearly beneficial to Florida would attract such irrational yet mainstream opposition genuinely took them by surprise.
@CHARLES A MORTENSEN - Funnily enough, when one of the newspapers hyping the anti-train campaign did an online poll arguing if people would support AAF if they had a stop on the Treasure Coast, the opposition collapsed.
Which is what makes the whole thing all the more idiotic. AAF has been very public about the fact this route is the first step of a broader state wide express train project. Pretty much the only way any passenger service will ever serve the Treasure Coast is if AAF is a success. They’re throwing their rattles out of their strollers because they’re not getting the service now…
There’s a horrendous NIMBY campaign going on here (I live in Martin, and the combination of the counties involved is known as the Treasure Coast) and really I don’t know what to do about it. The newspapers are whipping up hysteria, being careful to amplify opposition claims while avoiding presenting any facts that would challenge them.
They’re absolutely convinced that a less-than one-in-sixty chance of being subject to a 30 second delay crossing the tracks constitutes some kind of horrific “disruption”. Actually, they’re probably not, I think the politicians know damned well the project won’t cause any disruption, but they’re too scared of an absurd anti-rail campaign to tell the truth.
Part of me thinks the arguments are so absurd there has to a third party involved in this, whipping up hysteria. And then part of me knows that this is Martin County, a county that bans pretty much any new development that isn’t a golf course surrounded by quarter-million-dollar-and-up HOA homes.
The real hope I have is that AAF doesn’t need these clown’s support in any way. I’d like them to turn around after all the claims, and say “Oh you don’t like it? Well, you’re wrong, you’re lying about us, and quite frankly, we don’t care: it’s our track, we’re going ahead, and BTW, if you wanted our help getting Amtrak to serve you idiots like you said in the past, you might want to ask why we would under the circumstances.”
Never wanted to move away from such a backward group of anti-progress idiots before in my entire life.
Typical NIMBYs; they hate trains but don’t seem to mind the constant dim of traffic on crowded highways Oh, yes; build sound walls thus providing taggers with canvasses.
It would be relatively easy to stop this rail proposal in its tracks (no pun intended). These are the county supervisors. They may not set property tax rates directly but you can bet that if not, they have serious influence with those who do. What say a ten thousand dollar per linear foot tax on all rail ROW with passenger service moving at over ten miles per hour? Then FEC is perfectly welcome to put in the service, if they are willing to pay this tax.
Sounds win-win to me…and perfectly legal.
The board members are NIMBYs. I’ve just spent three weeks in Europe riding and photographing trains operating at speeds of from 125 to 186 mph. The routes are unobtrusive, largely grade separated, and virtually noiseless. Suggest the board members get their heads out of the sand and take a look at the wider world - 110 mph is higher speed rail - not high speed - and can be readily managed if people actively work toward positive development instead of saying it can’t be done. I’m typing this from a home about 125 yards from a line with line speeds of abut 90 mph operated by diesel multiple units and the sound when a train passes about every 15 minutes is barely perceptible. A Harley Davidson motorcycle makes more noise!!
I’m from old railroad families in Alabama and grew up on railroad welfare and loved the beautiful passenger trains of my youth. I nearly cry when I think of all of the beautiful cars made by Budd, Pullman-Standard, ACF et al that have gone to hell, one might say. I live in nicest part of WPB only two good blocks west to FEC roadbed. We don’t need the new scheme. It would be extremely dangerous through here. Please don’t.
@ANNA HARDING - Great idea. They can do that, and then the FEC can immediate close, causing the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and chaos as the entire state’s east coast freight activity moves over to roads.
Also I think you and I have different definitions of fair FWIW…
Another reason the US train system is the butt of so many jokes in the rest of the world. Rail service in the US is influenced by too many petty political kingdoms.
I think this entire anti-train activity is preposterous. Don’t these people (certain Florida County Commissioners) realize that they have virtually no control over the FEC railroad that passes through their counties? The railroad and its right of way were there long before any real development occurred in their Counties. The FRA controls the railroads in the US and I think you can bet that anytime a privately owned railroad takes on a project like this at their own expense that all facets of the National Government, including the FRA, are going to be thrilled and very supportive.
Various Counties all along the route have their noses out of joint because the high speed train is not going to make stops in their precious Counties. (At present, I believe the FEC has said there will be stops only in Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach – and they have very sound economic reasons for not stopping more frequently.)
I live in Brevard County, east of Orlando where the new route will curve to the west to go to the Orlando airport. Our Commissioners in Brevard are likewise upset about the lack of stops but so far have not been foolish enough to imply that they might try to stop something over which they have virtually no control.
I think this high speed train is a phenomenal opportunity for our country to determine whether high speed rail links can ever be self supporting, or whether they will always require government subsidies in order to work. With the state of finances at all levels of government today, I think it highly unlikely that high speed rail has much future in the US if it requires government support. We should all be applauding this effort by a sound, well run and managed railroad to see if they can make it work. They certainly seem pretty convinced that they can!
Bill Heink
Merritt Island, FL
What are the county officials afraid of? That the freeway won’t wear out as fast and cut into their repair kickback income?
Here’s another example of the local media whipping up hysteria:
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2014/jun/09/stuart-city-commission-unanimously-approves-all/
In this case the actual resolution, that you can read here: http://stuartpublic.novusagenda.com/CoverSheet.aspx?ItemID=435&MeetingID=147 , says nothing of the sort: Stuart is actually meh on the proposal, in part because while it thinks there may be downsides it recognizes AAF is pretty much necessary if Stuart is ever to get rail service itself, something it’s been campaigning for for decades. So it’s made some requests about upgrading the bridge. Which, BTW, AAF is likely to do anyway…
In this case, the article isn’t a “guest” thing but actual editorial from the Stuart News itself. The newspaper is lying in order to promote controversy.
This is what passenger rail advocates along the Treasure Coast are having to put up with.
Since 1830 haven’t people in this country ALWAYS lived by railroad tracks? And these Floridians who purchased their property decades after the tracks were laid in their communities surely knew what came down those tracks. While traffic may or may not have picked up by their homes since they bought, they knew the possibilities when they bought or inherited their land. To gripe now after the mule is already in the tent seems out of place. Those who live by highways howl too when the traffic picks up. But what are they gonna do about it? Solution: If you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen. Move. You may lose a fortune but then again, you chose to live there, and nothing remains static!
Since 1830 haven’t people in this country ALWAYS lived by railroad tracks? And these Floridians who purchased their property decades after the tracks were laid in their communities surely knew what came down those tracks. While traffic may or may not have picked up by their homes since they bought, they knew the possibilities when they bought or inherited their land. To gripe now after the mule is already in the tent seems out of place. Those who live by highways howl too when the traffic picks up. But what are they gonna do about it? Solution: If you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen. Move. You may lose a fortune but then again, you chose to live there, and nothing remains static!
I apologize for so many repetitious emails. My computer seemed out of whack. Regrets for your trouble.
Since 1830 haven’t people in this country ALWAYS lived by railroad tracks? And these Floridians who purchased their property decades after the tracks were laid in their communities surely knew what came down those tracks. While traffic may or may not have picked up by their homes since they bought, they knew the possibilities when they bought or inherited their land. To gripe now after the mule is already in the tent seems out of place. Those who live by highways howl too when the traffic picks up. But what are they gonna do about it? Solution: If you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen. Move. You may lose a fortune but then again, you chose to live there, and nothing remains static!