The president received a standing ovation as he spoke about spending billions to build high speed rail in several parts of the country. According to him, this will stimulate the economy by creating jobs while improving our rail transportation system.
It did sound good, until the facts and figures got in the way of this ambitious plan. It appears we won't be breezing trough the country side at break neck speeds, as they do in other parts of the world; 170 plus m.p.h. at maintained speeds during the journey.
Here, we will increase it to 110 only for stretches; that will increase average speeds from 53 to 62 m.p.h. Billions spent and only 9 miles gained. I wouldn't call that a wise way to invest our tax dollars. Besides, these so called high speed trains will continue to share the same rails with freight trains, so that even tho they may hit 110,they still have to pull over for the frieght trains. The average will remain the same as before because freight trains have the right of way over passenger trains.
Instead of wasting money on a quick fix, that will only benefit another big corporation by having the rails fixed at tax payers expense; find out if America is ready to give up their love affair with the auto and airplane as their basic mode of travel to switch to rail as an alternative method.
Only then should we invest in high speed rail. However, not the ones they are proposing now, but the ones that are traveling 200 plus around the globe. Invest in ones that make a profit for the investors; rather than sucking up tax dollars as Amtrak does now.
A new phenomena has occurred in this country, as we now throw money at ideas that only sound good to us, rather then ideas that are really good for us. Govenmeant has perfected this to an art form, since they spend billions before realizing they have made a mistake.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
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