Election results and Amtrak

[John Bredin]

There's some talk of Rahm Emmanuel, formerly Chicago mayor and Obama chief of staff, for DOT Secretary.

 

[tgstubbs1]

I see no reason why Biden shouldn't have a bulletproof Presidential private car for riding the rails. Why deny him one of his favorite pleasures? I'm sure they can convert some back or side entrance to DC Union Station into the Presidential Secure Entrance. We already need to secure the tracks and the dispatching offices; in many ways it's a much smaller problem than securing a motorcade.

That would be cool.

Presidential tracks right under the White House!

 

[adamj023]

There have been Presidential trains before. Reagan last used the Ferdinand Magellan train in 1984 for the Heartland tour. The congress has used Amtrak train sets as well. However I do believe trains represent the past and not the future unless we figure out how to do high speed trains at low cost which can be profitable but airplane does much better for that and is having economic challenges itself right now. The election results have not been certified yet.

President Reagan on the Ferdinand Magellan for the heartland tour which was a bulletproofed train.

 

[Lonestar648]

With as many threats to the President no matter who is in office the Secret Service has and will veto certain trip due to the security risks, especially if the route will be published in advance. There is also the entire entourage that travels with any President and all the support comm equipment, medical services equipment and vehicles, all the military type protection response equipment and vehicles. Basically the President can not be out of position at any time without prearranging for the Vice President to be in position. For the Handlers, there would be a multitude of planning questions to resolve well in advance. Can it be done, absolutely, but at what costs? How does the President benefit from the trip? Coordination is a major obstacle just in Local, County, and State agencies, not including all the Federal Agencies that would be involved. How many miles would need to be secured? There is is another major issue, the President’s schedule, which is so jammed with meetings, is the President going to hold these on the train? If so, then those logistics have to be considered. Being consumed with meetings the whole trip really makes the trip by train pointless.

 

[Lonestar648]

Rahm Emmanuel as DOT Secretary is scary to me after living in Chicago to see the state of things when he left. He was definitely in over his head as Mayor.

 

[John Bredin]

Rahm Emmanuel as DOT Secretary is scary to me after living in Chicago to see the state of things when he left. He was definitely in over his head as Mayor.

IMHO, Emanuel inherited a city budget hampered by years of Daley buying labor peace by agreeing freely to union terms in negotiating various labor agreements. Daley was gone, "undefeated", and Emanuel was the "bad guy" when those agreements came home to roost.

Meanwhile, he got a fair amount done in the transportation field considering budget limitations. Not to mention as Obama's chief of staff he shepherded the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards (that Trump gutted because Obama). Tribune article. About the only transportation-related criticism in that article is supporting the Elon Musk/Boring Company "plan" for a tunnel to O'Hare, but that proposal involved NO government funding. IMHO it would be odd for Emanuel to oppose someone proposing to build and operate a tunnel at their own expense.