High Speed Rail

[bobbyhawks]

Not sure if this is supposed to make sense, but it would make more sense to have STL to KC through Columbia, with a spur from Columbia through Jeff City, Springfield, and Joplin, that could ultimately head through Tulsa and OKC or down to Rogers area.

[KC0KEK]

Not sure if this is supposed to make sense, but it would make more sense to have STL to KC through Columbia

Agreed. But here's another wild card: Where would Columbia's station go? Even though there's an existing rail line (for the city-owned COLT freight line) that runs right into the heart of downtown, it doesn't continue on in the other direction out of Columbia. Even if it did, there's also the issue of delay because the HSR trains would have to plod through Columbia -- which is roughly the same size as San Francisco -- due to all of the at-grade crossings you'd need. The alternative would be to put the station on the outskirts so it could jet in and out, but then people still would have to drive or take a city bus to that station, an extra step that might cause some -- especially if they have lots of kids and luggage -- to say: "Fuck it. I'll just drive to Columbia Regional Airport, KCI or Lambert and fly instead."

Lots of tough issues to resolve even if MO got the money tomorrow.

[DaveKCMO]

the state has done a pretty good job pre-empting the CoMo v Jeff City war with a new route by requesting a lot of money for the existing route to boost speeds to 90-110mph in some stretches. reading the application for the new route closely, there is nothing that indicates Jeff City would be orphaned. if it was, however, it's likely that the existing route would still be used for a long time (to also serve hermann, washington, sedalia, warrensburg, and additional connection opportunities to the katy trail). it would make no sense to also send a KC-Columbia-STL train to Jeff City if you want it to be high speed.

all of the april 4 applications can be found here: http://www.modot.org/othertransportatio ... tyInfo.htm

[shaffe]

Columbia gets pretty wide open south of Nifong/Grindstone and not too far north of 70.  As far as the actual station, I think that somewhere near Grindstone and 63 would be a good placement.  Run the line in along the south edge, and you're 15 miles closer to Jeff City than if you go along the north side.

[KC0KEK]

Columbia gets pretty wide open south of Nifong/Grindstone and not too far north of 70.  As far as the actual station, I think that somewhere near Grindstone and 63 would be a good placement.  Run the line in along the south edge, and you're 15 miles closer to Jeff City than if you go along the north side.

The Grindstone-63 location has enough space for a station and a large park-and-ride lot, but to get the line and out of it, you'd have to buy out a lot of commercial and residential properties from one end of the city to the other. Plus you'd also have a lot of at-grade crossings.

[phuqueue]

It's true that when you build new infrastructure, it has to be maintained.  On the other hand, passenger rail will take cars off the highway and planes out of the air, reducing reliance on those modes.  I'm not saying it'll be a wash (I don't have any numbers here, so I have no idea what the total effect will be), but investing in an alternative like rail relieves some of the stress on existing infrastructure and means you won't have to pay as much to maintain it.  A + B doesn't equal C, more like B.5.  Consider the environmental costs of driving or flying, consider the economic impact of rising fuel prices, etc.  There's a reason rail has been embraced by so many other countries.

Don't want to beat a dead horse since this discussion has already kind of run its course, but I thought this article was fairly on point and worth sharing.

Short-haul flights across Europe could be replaced by high-speed rail under ambitious European Union proposals to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from transport by 60% over the next 40 years.

According to the EU, Heathrow's congestion problems could be eased by cutting domestic and European flights, while demand for new runways could be suppressed by building new rail networks.

...

"At Heathrow there are no new runways, but we desperately need to increase capacity and you can do this if you reduce short-haul flight connections," said Kallas. The commissioner added in an interview with the Guardian that the UK should look at the example of Spain, where high-speed rail has hit demand on a previously popular flight corridor.

"This has happened in Madrid and Barcelona, where 50% of the market has moved to high-speed rail. It is comfortable for everybody. Airlines can put emphasis on long-haul flights, which is better for their business."

[mlind]

The California saga continues...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 1J4N7O.DTL

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 1J5GQ6.DTL

[shinatoo]

Latest round of awards announced.

http://www.fra.dot.gov/roa/press_releas ... 7-11.shtml

Would have loved to see more/some investment between KC and STL but I'm happy with what they are doing.

[DaveKCMO]

Would have loved to see more/some investment between KC and STL but I'm happy with what they are doing.

you will see new trainsets! KC-STL is probably one of the eight midwest corridors that will use them.

[bobbyhawks]

you will see new trainsets! KC-STL is probably one of the eight midwest corridors that will use them.

Bring on the wifi, please... (I'm not sure about the current KC-STL route, but I know the KC-Chicago route does/did not have wifi)

[DaveKCMO]

Bring on the wifi, please... (I'm not sure about the current KC-STL route, but I know the KC-Chicago route does/did not have wifi)

not sure if they will retrofit the current equipment for wi-fi, but the new trainsets will surely have the capability before they go into service. the bigger question will be if amtrak can maintain free wi-fi. i think they have to if they want to keep up with megabus/bolt.

[phuqueue]

Missouri ? Merchant?s Bridge Replacement ? $13.5 million to advance the design of a new bridge over the Mississippi River on the Chicago to St. Louis Corridor, replacing a bridge built in the 1890s

If this is the bridge I'm thinking of, crossing it is fucking terrifying -- it looks completely rusted through and the whole way across you're just expecting the train to fall through.  Glad to see they're replacing it.

Good news that they're still getting some money through and making things happen, but god I really wish the government would get serious and actually give this some real money.  $2 billion is like 1.5% of what they need just to properly upgrade the NEC alone.  I'll definitely take this over no improvements at all but we're really only inching forward here.  Here's hoping the Dems surge back in 2012 so HSR can maybe get more than what would amount to a rounding error in the federal budget here.

[mlind]

The money that Florida rejected is being redistributed to other states. 

My daughter was looking into taking the Acela from DC to NYC, but it's cheaper to fly. 

I looked into booking some travelers on the train from DC to Boston, but the schedule didn't work and it took forever. 

I'm a big supporter of high speed rail, but I'm afraid I won't see it in my lifetime (I'm old).

BTW, many years ago, my son traveled from California to Israel without ever setting foot on a plane.

[KC0KEK]

the bigger question will be if amtrak can maintain free wi-fi. i think they have to if they want to keep up with megabus/bolt.

Does Megabus' Wi-Fi work? A lot of the reviews I've read complain about not being able to connect.

[KCMax]

Maybe all those lines ahead of us will decline. Wisconsin and Ohio already have and those other states are in dire financial straits as well. Off course, so is Missouri, although not quite as bad as say Michigan or Illinois.

Report: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to Spend up to $2 Billion on New Roads

[pash]

.

[KCMax]

High speed rail in Florida has a champion in Republican John Mica, chair of the Transportation Committee - of course he may stand to profit personally from the deal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/us/po ... wanted=all

[DaveKCMO]

High speed rail in Florida has a champion in Republican John Mica, chair of the Transportation Committee - of course he may stand to profit personally from the deal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/us/po ... wanted=all

commuter rail is the focus of the article. HSR in florida was already canceled by their dim-witted governor.

[KCMax]

Senate panel OKs limited funds for high-speed rail

[KCMax]

Congress about to kill high-speed train program

Republican lawmakers are claiming credit for killing the program. But billions of dollars still in the pipeline will ensure work will continue on some projects. And it’s still possible money from another transportation grant program can be steered to high-speed trains....

But Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., an Obama ally and high-speed rail supporter, said he is confident some money will be found to keep Obama’s train program going through the Transportation Department’s TIGER program, which makes grants to projects that achieve critical national objectives.