Amtrak Wreck

[fskimospy]

USPS has a monopoly and was losing money long before the republicans made it worse. At the very least, why not let the competition in to help reduce the problems of USPS?

Amtrak is worse for sure though. But, if you think cable monopolies need to be kept because of the possibility that they would build too many cable lines, imagine what will happen to rail if you make it private. You might get 20 lines going to the same house. LOL

I was thinking more like privatize the operations, not the rails themselves. (Which of course already carry lots of other private freight)

As for USPS it was net profitable for quite a long time, and the weight of the prepayments congress put on it were truly insane. Additionally I think the guarantee of nationwide letter and package delivery is worth subsidizing.

I mean there's nothing stopping fedex and ups from exactly emulating the post office's delivery areas and delivery types already.

 

[realibrad]

I was thinking more like privatize the operations, not the rails themselves. (Which of course already carry lots of other private freight)

As for USPS it was net profitable for quite a long time, and the weight of the prepayments congress put on it were truly insane. Additionally I think the guarantee of nationwide letter and package delivery is worth subsidizing.

I mean there's nothing stopping fedex and ups from exactly emulating the post office's delivery areas and delivery types already.

The competition is not allowed to do some of those things though.

Due to the postal monopoly, they are not allowed to deliver non-urgent letters and may not directly ship to U.S. Mail boxes at residential and commercial destinations.

 

[fskimospy]

The competition is not allowed to do some of those things though.

There's nothing really stopping them from delivering letters though in a practical sense. I could ship a letter by UPS today if I wanted to, same as you. They have also never expressed any interest in handling bulk mail that I am aware of.

Also, plenty of companies aren't allowed to use their competitor's infrastructure.

 

[CZroe]

1) The train just left a station 10 minutes previously. The engineer was on the train from Union Station (DC)
2) They do not FOLLOW other trains. Safety reasons
3) If there was a freight train ahead; it would have been switched to a siding well in advance.


The black box recordings will provide a better understanding of his actions.
we know via NTSB reports, the

• the posted speed on the track
• the speed at which he was going
• when the emergency brake happened
• the speed decrease before the crash

They did say his phone was off and in his bag as required and he surrendered it immediately. We can add that. Doesn't mean he didn't sneak in an iPad or another distraction though.

 

[K1052]

Amtrak should consider cutting some of its non-profitable lines first. Why keep dumping money into a money pit? People use the NEC. People don't use a lot of the other lines. 40 or so of the 44 lines are not-profitable.

Unless Amtrak is a public service that the government must subsidize to keep in existence then we should not pour money into it until the make their own internal cuts. Doesn't make sense. $60 of every ticket sold on Amtrak is funded by the taxpayer - and this was from an article in 2008. I don't know if the source is biased. Use Google if you doubt the validity.

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2008/07/07/editorial3.html?page=all

Every time they want to cut money bleeding long distance routes the same Congress that demands they be self-sufficient or continually debates cutting their budget freaks out because they all of a sudden remember that they have constituents served by the routes who would be extremely displeased if that came to pass. For many rural areas it is an essential transportation asset.

Thus the agency lives in continual limbo of just enough support to keep it alive but not enough to actually improve anything in the face of mounting capital needs.

 

[Linux23]

I took the train from Penn station in NJ to Dillon South Carolina where some of my family live and let me tell you it was the longest trip i've ever had. The train was slow, made frequent stops along the way, was sidetracked multiple times due to freight coming through. Basically I could hop in my car, drive down there in about 9 hours, 10 with traffic, including gas and food, compared to the 12 1/2 hours it took on Amtrak.

 

[CZroe]

I took the train from Penn station in NJ to Dillon South Carolina where some of my family live and let me tell you it was the longest trip i've ever had. The train was slow, made frequent stops along the way, was sidetracked multiple times due to freight coming through. Basically I could hop in my car, drive down there in about 9 hours, 10 with traffic, including gas and food, compared to the 12 1/2 hours it took on Amtrak.

I never really thought of trains as a faster option than driving. Less tedious and more affordable, sure. You can get stuff done during the transit time when you aren't foruced on driving and stops too.

 

[berzerker60]

Really the US should be investing in better trains, but politically we're in the clutch of the Baby Boomers, who've never seen a national problem they couldn't foist off onto the next generation, so good luck with that.

Trains fit a completely different niche than cars in the American transport ecosystem. They're more like short-distance airplanes than cars, really, but less expensive, slower over long distance, and more relaxing. If you're crossing the country, drive or fly. If you're going from central Virginia to DC, or Boston to NYC, a train is often the fastest option once you take into account traffic and airport security lines / baggage claim. And none of the stress of traffic or air travel - get your work done / cruise the Internet while you travel.

 

[piasabird]

Trains go the same route every day and they haven't figured how to use autopilot to control speed or use a GPS control system to slow down the trains in the proper locations. All these computer, and the best technology is a dead man switch that does not work.

A simple rock can kill a train. They think this is all caused by kids throwing rocks at trains.

So maybe the result is people throwing rocks should be charged with assault and possibly attempted murder and given a $5k-$50k fine.

 

[Brian Stirling]

There are some Amtrak trains that make the trip between NYC and DC in under 3 hours. A plane can cover that distance in less than an hour, but when you factor in the time it takes to get to/from the airports the total trip time is likely to be longer than Amtrak. Driving a car would also take more than 3 hours. In addition, many of the business folks that do take the train spend a good deal of the trip working so it isn't a big time hit for them.

I once took Amtrak from West Palm Beach Florida to NYC and then Metro North from NYC to where I lived upstate NY. The total time from FL to NYC was almost exactly 24 hours and faster than I could safely drive that distance.

I've been to Japan a couple times and taken a number of trains there including the Shinkasen and the difference is night and day. All the Japanese trains fucking blow all the American trains away and by a wide margin -- not even close. It appears that most European trains are similarly superior to our trains.

I'm not sure what we should do to fix our trains. In many places the freight trains have preference given the more profitable nature of freight versus passenger.

At another time business would have pushed for improvements in our infrastructure, but given there abandonment of the USA they are not nearly as interested in making investments here. Just milk what we have...


Brian

 

[berzerker60]

At another time business would have pushed for improvements in our infrastructure, but given there abandonment of the USA they are not nearly as interested in making investments here. Just milk what we have...

Businesses would still like infrastructure improvements, but the Boomers who leeched off of the infrastructure and government services built by their parents for their entire lives are now dedicated to slashing taxes no matter what and running the country into the dirt, fetishizing selfishness above all else. Business benefits from both parties, but the Republicans haven't been the party of business and smart spending - a necessary and useful balance to a Democratic party of change and using stronger business for the improvement of citizens' lives - for 20 years. They're the rump party of "NO!" to any improvement or change, but without any actual positive policy objectives, other than always more spending on the military and clinging to power via voter disenfranchisement and gerrymandering.

 

[Brian Stirling]

Businesses would still like infrastructure improvements, but the Boomers who leeched off of the infrastructure and government services built by their parents for their entire lives are now dedicated to slashing taxes no matter what and running the country into the dirt, fetishizing selfishness above all else. Business benefits from both parties, but the Republicans haven't been the party of business and smart spending - a necessary and useful balance to a Democratic party of change and using stronger business for the improvement of citizens' lives - for 20 years. They're the rump party of "NO!" to any improvement or change, but without any actual positive policy objectives, other than always more spending on the military and clinging to power via voter disenfranchisement and gerrymandering.

The Republicans used to be champions of infrastructure improvements and much of the interstate highway system is the result of Eisenhower making that a priority. He saw the amazing roads the Germans had built and realized how important that might be to a nation in time of war.

The build out of the interstate highway system was a huge factor in the rise of American industry as it hugely improved the efficiency of product transport. For every dollar spent building it the economy benefited to the tune of hundreds of dollars -- huge ROI.

Not sure I'd put the decline in infrastructure investment to Boomers but it's certainly the case we haven't been making adequate investments in decades.


Brian

 

[pcgeek11]

Really the US should be investing in better trains, but politically we're in the clutch of the Baby Boomers, who've never seen a national problem they couldn't foist off onto the next generation, so good luck with that.

That's right! We planned it all around dumping it on your poor shoulders. Suck it up Nancy.

You kids today sure are a whiny lot.

 

[pcgeek11]

Businesses would still like infrastructure improvements, but the Boomers who leeched off of the infrastructure and government services built by their parents for their entire lives are now dedicated to slashing taxes no matter what and running the country into the dirt, fetishizing selfishness above all else. Business benefits from both parties, but the Republicans haven't been the party of business and smart spending - a necessary and useful balance to a Democratic party of change and using stronger business for the improvement of citizens' lives - for 20 years. They're the rump party of "NO!" to any improvement or change, but without any actual positive policy objectives, other than always more spending on the military and clinging to power via voter disenfranchisement and gerrymandering.

Did your parents or grandparents beat you when you were small? You need some anger management help. All the boomers are out to get me. The sad part is you haven't a clue of what you are talking about.

 

[werepossum]

Aside from getting assaulted by Democrat ads from your link, did they bother to actually check if other systems were in place? No, I don't think so. It takes a certain kind of retard to keep latching on to the infrastructure and budget issue.

Here's infrastructure for you:

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/inve...-Installed-Philadelphia-Amtrak-303848591.html

The ATC was not installed either when it should have. Is this also because of Boner and the GOP?

What you fail to understand is that with "proper funding", there would be so many employees that they would massively overflow the buildings and thus the chances of not having one standing at this particular location would be negligible.

That's right! We planned it all around dumping it on your poor shoulders. Suck it up Nancy.

You kids today sure are a whiny lot.

lol

Two modes, denouncing our huge irresponsible debt and demanding more free stuff.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

Republicans effectively caused this wreck? Is that what I'm hearing? Wow.

 

[boomerang]

Republicans effectively caused this wreck? Is that what I'm hearing? Wow.

That's how Democrats win elections.

 

[nickqt]

Republicans effectively caused this wreck? Is that what I'm hearing? Wow.

That's how Democrats win elections.

Watching you two having a conversation is like watching cleverbot debating a toddler.