January 28, 2010

More political payoffs - high-speed rail

Tone deaf. Obama is blowing $8Bn on building a high-speed rail system for the USA. Why? Nobody rides the train anymore -- it is for bulk cargo and that is it. From Breitbart/AFP:
Obama, Biden to unveil billion-dollar rail network
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will Thursday highlight eight billion dollars in economic stimulus funding toward a long-awaited US high-speed rail system. The announcement will apportion the funding among various state governments, with Florida Senator Bill Nelson saying in a statement Wednesday that his state expected to have part of their bid approved.

The administration had previously announced the figure for funding under Obama's 787-billion-dollar Recovery Act, but will offer more details at a town hall meeting in Tampa, Florida, an administration official said.
Just for shits and giggles, I looked at a trip from Bellingham, WA to Las Angeles: Here I can find my own way down from Bellingham to Seattle and spend 35 hours on the train for $98:
amtrack_trip.jpg
And here, I can fly out of Bellingham, spend four hours in the air and arrive in LA for only $103 to $203 depending on what day I wanted to leave.
allegiant_trip.jpg
The trains here run around 70MPH in rural areas. Assuming that the high-speed rail lines will run at about 150MPH (roughly the same as the other high-speed lines in the world). This means that for some fee higher than $133, I would be able to spend fifteen hours on the train. It might be fun once for the scenery but not for any regular mode of travel. This is pure pork for the unions and the political machines... Posted by DaveH at January 28, 2010 8:03 PM