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Thompson's two biggest "achievements" as Governor of Wisconsin were welfare reform and as a cheerleader for transportation. Our highway program was expanded greatly and he also pushed for passenger rail. So when Bush was elected and Thompson was going to the cabinet, the two natural fits for...

Generally speaking, our HIGHWAYS do pay for themselves via state and Federal gas taxes. HOWEVER, all other roads are generally not using gas tax money, but property or sales tax revenue. That's a lot of county highways, country roads, city arterials, and residential streets that are not paid...

For all we know, Biden's affinity for trains is the reason we have more than $10 billion being allocated to medium-to-high speed rail this year. If rail needs to be a laughing stock to get $10 billion, then I hope rail continues to be a laughing stock.

I LOVE those two car ideas. You'll be better serving both the high end and low end of the sleeper spectrum. Amtrak really needs to meet the needs of passengers who simply want a horizontal place to sleep. They don't care about meals or privacy. I've traveled both coach and roomette, and the...

I agree with John 100%. RTT simply preserves a public ROW that still serves some transportation need, plus adds recreational value. And if in the far future we need the ROW back for rail or for some other public purpose, it is still there. I don't have any examples, and in the current cultural...

"Amtrak currently operates nearly half of its more than 300 daily trains at speeds of 100 mph or higher on their routes." That's not very comforting to anyone who lives outside the NEC. That whole press release is just a list of one NEC project after another.

That ad is really good. But of course the flip side is then Amtrak has to annul half the westbound trains from Chicago for a week because of equipment problems. Doh!

I think the best we can hope for in January will be "meets our expectations". I can guarantee that there will be no “dramatic and bold” from Amtrak unless you're talking negatively. My guess is we'll all be pretty disappointed come January. I base this on the not “dramatic and bold" but "a...

Remember, Wisconsin just purchased two trainsets from Talgo to replace the Hiawatha trainsets. So I don't think we'll see Superliners on the Hiawatha for a very long time.

I really wish the Hiawatha would allow roll-on bikes. Both Chicago and Milwaukee are great biking cities. I'd love to take my bike to Chicago on the train, but instead I have to drive it down there.

Yes, except that those private companies will be overtaken by other private companies and probably wither and die if they don't change that inertia. So while it is true that there are private companies with bad internal inertia, they won't last very long. But who's going to overtake a public...

Amtrak meals are certainly not the reason any heavier passengers are that way.

Surely the reservation system can be made smart enough so when your passenger B comes along, the website only gives roomette 7 as a choice. An algorithm should be able to decide when to give room choices to the customer. Obviously a full-route passenger would get the choice of all available...

1. The Talgo purchase is completely separate from the MKE-MAD line. The Talgos have already been approved for purchase. 2. The 3-C line three times as long as the MKE-MAD line.

The Chicago 2016 bid is centered around its compactness. Most of the venues will be very close. The Olympic village is adjacent to McCormick Place, which will hold some events. The United Center, Soldier Field, and temporary Olympic Stadium in Washington Park are all close. The aquatic...

There isn't going to be 110 mph service from CHI to MKE anytime soon. Wisconsin's plan is to first do the MKE-Madison 110 mph route. Then after that they will focus on the Madison-St Paul 110 mph line. But that hasn't even been studied yet and they're not even sure what route it will take...

Yes, that's the route the GRB train would take eventually. But that's a long ways off. I've been thinking about the Talgo train purchase and the more I think about it, the less excited I am. All coach, no cafe. Same seat pitch. Possibly no bike racks. If you're just looking for more...

The Hiawathas are unreserved. Buy a ticket and it is good for any Hiawatha in the next year.

I was at the Wisconsin Connections 2030 transportation plan meeting in Madison tonight. There I talked to Ron Adams of WisDOT, who has been working on the Talgos and the passenger rail plans for Wisconsin. Here's some information that I got from him. Of course after the meeting I kept...

The fact the the trains can go 220 mph (vs 110 or 125 or 150) had little, if anything, to do with the purchase. The Talgos were purchased because of the tilting design, the amenities, the 80 assembly jobs, and the likely "perks" Talgo gave to Doyle. I don't know what the political environment...