High-speed-rail advocate Geoff Paddock reaches for common sense and almost makes it:
Before rail supporters set their sights on a sleek, new rail system to Chicago, they should focus on bringing Amtrak back to Fort Wayne for the first time in more than 20 years, said Geoff Paddock, co-founder of the Northeast Indiana Passenger Rail Association.
Paddock said the lunch
Comments
Good Lord, will they ever let the train thing just die? If it made sense (and made money) to have regular train service from Ft Wayne to Chicago it would have been done long ago.
Spending gazillions of taxpayer dollars so a handfull of well off shoppers can sip Chardonnay in a coach car on a monthly trek to Marshall Fields is absurd.
Tim:
They USED to have it...trains running ALL over the damn place...east to west, north to south, and ALL points in between.
Then the gov't wanted to "take over" all the lines that had been consolidated (to make things better - how's that working out for everyone?) - whatta joke.
Even inter-city lines (short lines) ran all around.
And most all of them were independantly-owned and operated.
And they served the working-class AS WELL as the well-off!
Then America got a "gas-ass", and left them all for the freedom of the highways.
Now, these new-age rail "enthusiasts" want to go and REINVENT the wheel...
Hell, I love the lure of the rails...been a big fan since little on up, took tons of slides and pictures, BUT...we can't toss BILLIONS at another possible crapshoot.
I say they HAD their chance (back in the 60's), and they didn't bother to keep it on the back burner, even...let it all alone (like the sleeping dog it now has become)
Too little...too late (imho).
Artificial stimulation is what has caused the problem. Take away artificial stimulation and we may be surprised at what happens.
Taxpayers bailout two worthless car companies, why? They had business plans. Now they are making money, but they are over valued.
Ethanol is tax subsidized which stimulates a sector of the economy for the purpose of promoting driving on roads.
Truckers have higher load limits that tear of the roads faster, yet pay too low of a tax to support the cost of maintenance they cause. Again artificial stimulation of trucks.
What would happen if we stopped "Spending gazillions of taxpayer dollars so a handfull of well off companies (trucking, GM, energy, ethanol, etc) in the premise of promoting economic growth?
If we did away with artificial supports and others like them, would trains be able to make a come back? My guess is we will never know.