I think this is a two-way street. If the state of Florida and the city of Tampa genuinely wanted more rail service, I'm sure they would find a way to get it.
This is an understatement. There is so much stinkin' shopping real estate at most Japanese train stations as well as relentless and countless adverts inside the train and on the platforms. Quite frankly, I love the tranquility of American stations, but it ain't makin' anyone any money.
I assume that when you say state of Florida and city of Tampa you are referring to the governments of each entity? If so, that is my point. Why should the availability of rail service depend on government? And on those politicians that have the influence to bring such services to their areas (or remove it from other areas lacking the political clout)? I am saying that Tampa had 3 daily trains at one time and to my knowledge had the passenger count to show that all three were supported by the local populace. Yet because of the way Amtrak is setup being a political animal (not focused on service first but satisfying congress), 2 of the trains were rerouted or cut back.
Hey, blame the little guy. That's the American way.
The above post has been edited in this post to reflect the correct quoted poster...
I agree with you about Amtrak service in Florida. Jacksonville had as many as 10 trains and has been down to 4 since the Palmetto was cut back to Savannah and the Sunset Limited suspended between New Orleans and Orlando. I don't believe Amtrak will ever operate a train from Jacksonville to Miami via the FEC line. I do believe that once the Miami to Orlando AAF line is operating and sucessful, AAF will expand service to Jacksonville as an intrastate operation. I think they could expand to Tampa at some point too, because the market is there. I just heard someone yesterday talking about how bad the traffic on I-4 between Tampa and Orlando was and they wished there was a fast train as an alternative. You are right that the current 1 train daily which might even by pass Tampa with bus alternative is not good service.
Public utilities, and in most states a railroad is a public utility for this purpose, have the right of eminent domain. Examples: pipelines, telephone cables, electric transmission lines.
Name a single major long distance route in the US that suffers no catastrophes. For that matter, name a single major long distance route in the US that suffers anything more catastrophic and routine than Japan. All things considered if it's designed well and well maintained it should be as robust as any other conventional transportation scheme.
This isn't actually true; at least for JR Central it's some added gravy, but by far the vast majority of their profit is from high speed rail fares. It actually seems to be on the iTunes model, being operated simply at cost with only a small profit. The main revenue draw of TOD isn't the commercial leases, its the people who take the train to it because that's by far the most convenient means of travel.
The disclaimer states that the poll results are not scientific. (but they are encouraging)Trees are only a small part of the problem. And, no the northeast is not as likely to be hit by a hurricane as Florida, not even close. Any look at the history of hurricane landfalls should illustrate that. Huricanes would be a disaster for overhead electrification. Don't think anybody has tried third rail above around 1000 volts, plus there are major safety issues just by having the source of major shocks so handy.
But there are plenty of eletrified railroads in areas that are as typhoon prone as Florida is hurricane prone. Yes hurricane will damage infrastructure including catenary. but it is no more a disaster for catenary than it is for houses, that was my point. But if course if you disagree, i'll simply say OK if you say so, and shut up.
True. I would like to find out how they come out when one does hit. Guess I was not thinking too well, being as I spent quite a few years living in such a place. I really can't remember how long the railroad was not running after a typhoon hit compared to how everything else did. Generally not much of any thing was moving for a while, but I can't think of any problems they had that were related to the electrification without a lot of other things being down and out. But then they had lots of practice with getting things going again after a typhoon hit.But there are plenty of eletrified railroads in areas that are as typhoon prone as Florida is hurricane prone. Yes hurricane will damage infrastructure including catenary. but it is no more a disaster for catenary than it is for houses, that was my point. But if course if you disagree, i'll simply say OK if you say so, and shut up.
If a major hurricane hits, there will be many reasons besides broken catenary why train services will be disrupted.
If rail service is cut back for whatever reason, then either the local populace (by petitioning and putting pressure on their representatives to bring back that service) can do something about it (even if that involves spending tax money), or they believe that the market should decide on the required service level, and thus admit that the reduction in service they are unhappy about is actually caused by the market. If they stand by the latter philosophy, they shouldn't complain that the market is changing things. What is actually happening is that people are complaining that service isn't as frequent as they want, but they're not prepared to read out for their wallets to do something about it. You can't have it both ways.
Ok so you are saying that a more powerful politician from let's say, a NE corridor state, wants to cut back service to the southeast (without increasing spending on Amtrak by the way) in order to improve or maintain NE corridor service, and his constituents don't have to pay more because the money is being shifted from Florida to say New Jersey, then that is okay in your opinion? And that the people here in Florida should just accept it because obviously it is because "the market will not support trains"? Why should people here in Florida not receive the same benefits that people in the NE do? I do remember back in the late 1990's that the Palmetto was a popular train here in Tampa. It was cut back to Savannah in order to move equipment onto the NE corridor if I recall correctly. I want to see the people in the NE corridor pay their fair share if that is the threshold that you put on other states such as Florida. And I do not believe that the NE corridor as presently run by Amtrak is anywhere near profitability. That is my main complaint with Amtrak in that it is a 100% political animal. No way around that and I believe that All Aboard Florida will show Amtrak how to really run trains.
This is also why government has to be involved in railroads. And "private" toll roads. The problem of building railroads or through route roads without eminent domain was unmanageable.
Not generally, but see the railroad *delegated power of eminent domain*. I wonder how that looks under the "non-delegation doctrine" which the corrupt judge Janice Rogers Brown recently attempted to use to sabotage Amtrak. I wonder how the existing railroads would like to lose that power.
No, I'm not saying its OK to rob Florida to put more money into the NEC. On the contrary, I think the same rules should apply to everybody.
The Silver Palm was running in the late 90's, as I rode it several times back then. It was cut back in the early 2000's to Savannah and renamed the Palmetto. And that cut back wasn't to provide equipment to the NEC, as the NEC uses Amfleet I's and the Palm used Amfleet II's.
