Biden Amtrak article 11/15

[jis]

Even if he manages to get Congress to fund the states adequately through things like CRISI a few significant service extensions could come to pass

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/ch...ce-in-n-c--with-major-projects-in-development
https://www.cpr.org/2020/12/04/fron...h-2b-price-tag-as-rtd-looks-to-jump-on-board/
A few of them could be used to later weave together into improvements in LD service and potentially additional services too.

 

[Dakota 400]

I hope the report on Axios is correct and that the President-Elect would choose to ride the rails into Washington in order to report for duty. It would be good PR for Amtrak and encourage those of us who support passenger rail.

I am not surprised at the possibility that the Inaugural festivities are going to be scaled down. Doing so would be much more "in tune" with the campaign that the Vice-President-Elect and he ran. Besides, after the Inaugural ceremony and the traditional luncheon in the Capitol (and I wonder if that will be held), the new Administration can still have a good part of the afternoon to get to work doing the business of the Country.

 

[MARC Rider]

The Big Question for Biden and Amtrak is if those Dems in Congress will support his agenda. I think by expanding the network to include many more in Congress, Biden has a better chance to get Congress behind him. Unfortunately, the strong Rep districts and states probably will not change, but there is always hope.

Support from the Dems won't matter much if a certain senior senator from Kentucky remains Senate majority leader and obstructs anything proposed by the White House. But it seems that support in Congress for Amtrak is bipartisan to some degree. There is service in red states as well as blue states. In fact, I suspect that any deal to increase funding for urban corridor service will need to be accompanied by increased funding for the national network in order to get rural lawmakers on board. My favorite idea is developing new/increased corridor service co-located on parts of national network routes. That allows cost-sharing for infrastructure that should improve the bottom line financial performance of the long-distance train and more connections from the corridor trains to feed the long-distance patronage. And it gives passenger rail greater viability as a real transportation alternative along the corridors.

 

[tgstubbs1]

I have read some people think this pandemic shutdown could give us an opportunity to 'reboot' our systems. Things might never be quite the same so maybe it's a good time to reformulate transportation.

 

[Dakota 400]

I have some people think this pandemic shutdown could give us an opportunity to 'reboot' our systems. Things might never be quite the same so maybe it's a good time to reformulate transportation.

There may be some support for your suggestion in the Ohio Department of Transportation. An article in the Dayton Daily News today concerned a proposal of a 67 mile by-pass of Cincinnati connecting I-71 and I-75 in Kentucky with I-75 North of the Cincinnati area, not far from Dayton. It is considered to be a $7.3 B boondoggle by U.S. PIRG Education Fund and the Frontier Group which included this bypass on their 6th annual list of highway U.S. boondoggles. The ODT firmly rejected the idea in January stating that the region has other transportation funding needs. The bypass proposal is part of an ongoing study by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.

 

[TRoberts]

There may be some support for your suggestion in the Ohio Department of Transportation. An article in the Dayton Daily News today concerned a proposal of a 67 mile by-pass of Cincinnati connecting I-71 and I-75 in Kentucky with I-75 North of the Cincinnati area, not far from Dayton. It is considered to be a $7.3 B boondoggle by U.S. PIRG Education Fund and the Frontier Group which included this bypass on their 6th annual list of highway U.S. boondoggles. The ODT firmly rejected the idea in January stating that the region has other transportation funding needs. The bypass proposal is part of an ongoing study by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.

I can't comment if $7.3 B is an appropriate amount, but that by-pass is needed. Getting through Cincinnati is not fun.

 

[Dakota 400]

I can't comment if $7.3 B is an appropriate amount, but that by-pass is needed. Getting through Cincinnati is not fun.

I don't disagree. The debate about another bridge across the Ohio River has been going on for a very long time. If there was another way of getting to/from Cincinnati (i.e. rail) for those who work in the metro Cincinnati area, that would help to reduce auto traffic, I think.

 

[WWW]

Getting a bridge across the river would also help the air travelers too.
Little known fact the Cincinnati International airport is located across the river in Covington Kentucky.

In some cases for folks living north of Cincinnati the option is to drive to Columbus or Dayton.

As the population increases the demand for transit structure also increases - there is a realistic
amount of roadway space for vehicles aka gridlock - think New York City other confined cities.

It is only a matter of time - - -

 

[Lonestar648]

The “new”normal could be a lot less business and pleasure travel for a good part of this decade. People and businesses have to have money to travel. Zoom may be the new business travel acceptable meeting. What I’d travel stays at 50% of what it used to be?

 

[Dakota 400]

Little known fact the Cincinnati International airport is located across the river in Covington Kentucky.

If one flies into this area of Ohio, please consider flights that use DAY. We have an excellent, uncrowded airport that was designed to serve as a hub airport for Piedmont Airlines. Even a terminal was built for Delta when Delta once considered DAY for a hub airport. (That terminal has been mothballed for sometime, but, I am sure, the bonds issued to pay for it have yet to be paid off.) Airport parking prices keep dropping, thanks to Covid.

As the population increases the demand for transit structure also increases - there is a realistic
amount of roadway space for vehicles aka gridlock

That's true. The ODOT's position is similar to that as well. The more roadways that are built, the more traffic that will be generated.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

If one flies into this area of Ohio, please consider flights that use DAY.

As home of the Wright Brothers, Dayton should have the busiest airport in the world!

 

[Siegmund]

Little known fact the Cincinnati International airport is located across the river in Covington Kentucky.

Curious airline travelers tend to learn that fact after wondering why the hell Cincinnati's IATA code is CVG rather than CIN

 

[WWW]

Curious airline travelers tend to learn that fact after wondering why the hell Cincinnati's IATA code is CVG rather than CIN

Yes some are very obvious and yet others mysterious - Canada all begin with a "Y".
But then take Amtrak and throw in the cities served and a befuddlement of new strange codes with one or more letters
solving the puzzle - where are we ? are we there yet ?

 

[west point]

It will not happen even in 4 years but in the unlikely event that a major increase in Amtrak trains and service especially on current routes I would expect that there will be at least temporary slowing down of the whole system outside the NEC, Many reasons too many to list.

 

[Brian Battuello]

Speaking of Biden, there was a report in the Boston Globe about Biden announcing a new key member of his staff. The article had absolutely nothing to do with Amtrak, but I loved the picture they happened to use for the story....



In another era, that would be grounds for blackmail!