Why does the Amtrak train still look like a 1950's body style design ?

[Manonthestreet]

So you can return to the thrilling days of yesteryr when trains were cool......that costs extra btw

 

[Political Junky]

So you can return to the thrilling days of yesteryr when trains were cool......that costs extra btw

Trains are cool again.

 

[Manonthestreet]

Not from what I've seen

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Only idiot liberals can come up with a reason to build high-speed rail that will never make money and just suck tax dollars right out of your wallet.

. You sure it won't make money ? How do you know ? If it is fast and sleek enough, you would ride it out of curiosity now wouldn't you ? I know I would.

Studies have been done. The numbers simply do not work.

. All depending on the studies, and who conducted those studies right ?

Nope. Any idiot can see that it would be a huge boondoggle to spend tax dollars to support something no one would use simply because it would never be cost effective without incredibly costly infrastructure and massive operating subsidies.

In Jacksonville, FL, we have a Skyway that runs through downtown. It became known as the "Riderless Express" because no one used it. It was costing the taxpayers millions in subsidies, so what did they do? They made it free! Ridership increased, but so did wear and tear on the system, requiring even more money to operate. Now it is entirely taxpayer supported.

I figured the existing rail system could be upgraded, and new technology employed to really modernize something that already exist. I'm not advocating or bloviating about something brand new to be created. Is this your way of responding to an idea, otherwise by just muddying the waters in order to make someone appear to have said something that matches your rebuttal ? Are you having a conversation with yourself about such a thing ?

There is your false assumption. There is an incredible difference in train tracks rated for passenger and freight trains that may travel at highway speeds and those who approach speeds similar to flying at low altitude.

Believe it or not, watch a TV series like "Hell on Wheels" on AMC and see how that the method for laying track has not significantly changed in about 150 years. Ties, spikes, and rails really have not changed that much.

Imagine how many curves would need to be straightened out in order to allow high speed trains to navigate a curve!

 

[Political Junky]

i looked up the flights from Paris to Marseille. It takes 1 hour 20 min. and costs $114.20 -$142.20 plus your taxi to and from the airport, security, etc. That's compared to 3 hours 20 min. by train starting at $98. no taxis needed or security checkin.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

The Right won't allow modern high speed rail.

Only idiot liberals can come up with a reason to build high-speed rail that will never make money and just suck tax dollars right out of your wallet.

You'll get to Paris faster from London by the TGV through the Chunnel, because you go from city center to city center. No taxis from city to airport or from airport into city.
I took that trip and it was great. The Underground takes you from hotel to train or train to within a couple of blocks of your hotel.

Now, just imagine the cost of trying to do that from the city center of Los Angeles to the city center of San Francisco. How much will that cost?

 

[Political Junky]

The Right won't allow modern high speed rail.

Only idiot liberals can come up with a reason to build high-speed rail that will never make money and just suck tax dollars right out of your wallet.

You'll get to Paris faster from London by the TGV through the Chunnel, because you go from city center to city center. No taxis from city to airport or from airport into city.
I took that trip and it was great. The Underground takes you from hotel to train or train to within a couple of blocks of your hotel.

Now, just imagine the cost of trying to do that from the city center of Los Angeles to the city center of San Francisco. How much will that cost?

Don't know.

 

[candycorn]

It is permissible for Americans to develop greater technology than the French and Japanese, no? You develop stronger engines and you can put more freight on the train. With the upticks in online shopping and the like more packages than ever are going to be shipped from port cities...the demand will be there.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

It is permissible for Americans to develop greater technology than the French and Japanese, no? You develop stronger engines and you can put more freight on the train. With the upticks in online shopping and the like more packages than ever are going to be shipped from port cities...the demand will be there.

So, you propose spending billions on a project, knowing that the technology does not yet exist?

Again, you do realize that these trains are powered electrically using magnetic levitation to avoid losses due to friction. Weight means more power, which means bigger transmission lines, which more losses due to resistance, which means more power, etc..

Take a good high school level physics class and perhaps you will understand.

Your simplistic liberal mental meanderings are not based in reality.

 

[candycorn]

It is permissible for Americans to develop greater technology than the French and Japanese, no? You develop stronger engines and you can put more freight on the train. With the upticks in online shopping and the like more packages than ever are going to be shipped from port cities...the demand will be there.

So, you propose spending billions on a project, knowing that the technology does not yet exist?

Again, you do realize that these trains are powered electrically using magnetic levitation to avoid losses due to friction. Weight means more power, which means bigger transmission lines, which more losses due to resistance, which means more power, etc..

Take a good high school level physics class and perhaps you will understand.

Your simplistic liberal mental meanderings are not based in reality.

Earth orbit rendevous didn't exist when Kennedy committed us to going to the moon. The concept was invented before we knew we could do it. Turns out Americans can do it when challenged. Docking two spacecraft flying close to one another at what, 17,000 miles per hour....I'm sure some idiot like you was sitting around saying it couldn't be done, praying silently for failure, etc...

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

It is permissible for Americans to develop greater technology than the French and Japanese, no? You develop stronger engines and you can put more freight on the train. With the upticks in online shopping and the like more packages than ever are going to be shipped from port cities...the demand will be there.

So, you propose spending billions on a project, knowing that the technology does not yet exist?

Again, you do realize that these trains are powered electrically using magnetic levitation to avoid losses due to friction. Weight means more power, which means bigger transmission lines, which more losses due to resistance, which means more power, etc..

Take a good high school level physics class and perhaps you will understand.

Your simplistic liberal mental meanderings are not based in reality.

Earth orbit rendevous didn't exist when Kennedy committed us to going to the moon. The concept was invented before we knew we could do it. Turns out Americans can do it when challenged. Docking two spacecraft flying close to one another at what, 17,000 miles per hour....I'm sure some idiot like you was sitting around saying it couldn't be done, praying silently for failure, etc...

The concept was there. We just had not done it yet. There is a huge difference. Congratulations on yet another failed attempt at using liberal logic.

 

[rightwinger]

The Northeast Corridor from Boston to DC is highly profitable

The Acela is the current high speed rail and it goes about 140 mph. Problem is that once you go 140mph, the next section of track will slow you down to 40mph

A true high speed link would eliminate much of the air congestion in the region

 

[beagle9]

It is permissible for Americans to develop greater technology than the French and Japanese, no? You develop stronger engines and you can put more freight on the train. With the upticks in online shopping and the like more packages than ever are going to be shipped from port cities...the demand will be there.

So, you propose spending billions on a project, knowing that the technology does not yet exist?

Again, you do realize that these trains are powered electrically using magnetic levitation to avoid losses due to friction. Weight means more power, which means bigger transmission lines, which more losses due to resistance, which means more power, etc..

Take a good high school level physics class and perhaps you will understand.

Your simplistic liberal mental meanderings are not based in reality.

Earth orbit rendevous didn't exist when Kennedy committed us to going to the moon. The concept was invented before we knew we could do it. Turns out Americans can do it when challenged. Docking two spacecraft flying close to one another at what, 17,000 miles per hour....I'm sure some idiot like you was sitting around saying it couldn't be done, praying silently for failure, etc...

. What gets me is all this everything is about money, money, money all the time, yet look at how much waste goes on. If we truly wanted to modernize this nation we could, and we could be just as cool and magical as Dubai is. Like I say always, is that we have the natural resources to be the most modern nation on earth, but artificial budgets and cries of this nation being broke just stops everything except for what certain groups don't want stopped, and then there is plenty of money.

 

[candycorn]

It is permissible for Americans to develop greater technology than the French and Japanese, no? You develop stronger engines and you can put more freight on the train. With the upticks in online shopping and the like more packages than ever are going to be shipped from port cities...the demand will be there.

So, you propose spending billions on a project, knowing that the technology does not yet exist?

Again, you do realize that these trains are powered electrically using magnetic levitation to avoid losses due to friction. Weight means more power, which means bigger transmission lines, which more losses due to resistance, which means more power, etc..

Take a good high school level physics class and perhaps you will understand.

Your simplistic liberal mental meanderings are not based in reality.

Earth orbit rendevous didn't exist when Kennedy committed us to going to the moon. The concept was invented before we knew we could do it. Turns out Americans can do it when challenged. Docking two spacecraft flying close to one another at what, 17,000 miles per hour....I'm sure some idiot like you was sitting around saying it couldn't be done, praying silently for failure, etc...

. What gets me is all this everything is about money, money, money all the time, yet look at how much waste goes on. If we truly wanted to modernize this nation we could, and we could be just as cool and magical as Dubai is. Like I say always, is that we have the natural resources to be the most modern nation on earth, but artificial budgets and cries of this nation being broke just stops everything except for what certain groups don't want stopped, and then there is plenty of money.

The best idea should win. It's that simple. It seldom does.

 

[rightwinger]

It is permissible for Americans to develop greater technology than the French and Japanese, no? You develop stronger engines and you can put more freight on the train. With the upticks in online shopping and the like more packages than ever are going to be shipped from port cities...the demand will be there.

So, you propose spending billions on a project, knowing that the technology does not yet exist?

Again, you do realize that these trains are powered electrically using magnetic levitation to avoid losses due to friction. Weight means more power, which means bigger transmission lines, which more losses due to resistance, which means more power, etc..

Take a good high school level physics class and perhaps you will understand.

Your simplistic liberal mental meanderings are not based in reality.

Earth orbit rendevous didn't exist when Kennedy committed us to going to the moon. The concept was invented before we knew we could do it. Turns out Americans can do it when challenged. Docking two spacecraft flying close to one another at what, 17,000 miles per hour....I'm sure some idiot like you was sitting around saying it couldn't be done, praying silently for failure, etc...

. What gets me is all this everything is about money, money, money all the time, yet look at how much waste goes on. If we truly wanted to modernize this nation we could, and we could be just as cool and magical as Dubai is. Like I say always, is that we have the natural resources to be the most modern nation on earth, but artificial budgets and cries of this nation being broke just stops everything except for what certain groups don't want stopped, and then there is plenty of money.

We always find the money for a good war. That money is flushed down the toilet
We spent $2 trillion on Iraq/Afghanistan
At least with modern infrastructure you have a lasting improvement that lasts generations

 

[longknife]

This

versus this

 

[airplanemechanic]

Can we not take a lesson from Concorde? Faster is not always better. That thing operated for decades and NEVER was profitable. Now we're going back to slow airplanes that carry more people. The airplanes flying today are no faster than the 727 of the 1960s. They are only far more fuel efficient.

Lesson to be learned: Don't do it faster, do it better.

Just like bullet trains, it's gorgeous:

But even at $10,000 per seat, was not profitable.

What is a profitable design? This:

 

[beagle9]

Can we not take a lesson from Concorde? Faster is not always better. That thing operated for decades and NEVER was profitable. Now we're going back to slow airplanes that carry more people. The airplanes flying today are no faster than the 727 of the 1960s. They are only far more fuel efficient.

Lesson to be learned: Don't do it faster, do it better.

. Yes Concorde was ahead of it's time, and the technology was probably rushed to get something to amaze at the time. Your right doing technology to fast or releasing it to fast is a problem, so doing technology more slower in order to lessen the mistakes that are to be made, and to do it better is always good. Now the ignoring of improvement because of a fear of failure or of the cost associated with trials and possible failures involved, is just down right un-American I think. If do tech slow and precise, then of course the release will go smoother, but the Amtrak has been ignored for to long now, and we as a nation can do much better than that.

 

[airplanemechanic]

We as a nation can't afford to run Amtrak. How can you justify spending MORE money in an arena already proven unprofitable?

Me thinks you never ran a business. Stop saying because it works overseas it will work here. That mindset will bite you in the ass.

You need to read this. Sit down, grab a coke, and read it.

Replacing Amtrak: A Blueprint for Sustainable Passenger Rail Service

http://cagw.org/sites/default/files/users/user1/haswellAmtrakquote.pdf

It is estimated that 84000 people use Amtrak daily. Sounds like alot. It's nothing. In the USA alone, 1.73 MILLION people per day fly.

If anything, Amtrak needs to die. As of 1997, the gov't had poured 22 BILLION dollars in subsidies to keep it operational.

 

[beagle9]

We as a nation can't afford to run Amtrak. How can you justify spending MORE money in an arena already proven unprofitable?

Me thinks you never ran a business. Stop saying because it works overseas it will work here. That mindset will bite you in the ass.

You need to read this. Sit down, grab a coke, and read it.

Replacing Amtrak: A Blueprint for Sustainable Passenger Rail Service

http://cagw.org/sites/default/files/users/user1/haswellAmtrakquote.pdf

It is estimated that 84000 people use Amtrak daily. Sounds like alot. It's nothing. In the USA alone, 1.73 MILLION people per day fly.

If anything, Amtrak needs to die. As of 1997, the gov't had poured 22 BILLION dollars in subsidies to keep it operational.

. Why is it unprofitable ? It's unprofitable because it has been ignored and not upgraded as it should have been... No different than roads that have been ignored, and have become to dangerous or bad to ride upon, so what do people do ? They choose another route until the road is payed some attention to again.... Now do we trash a road or improve the road in order that it is used and enjoyed again ?