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Re: Texas Central HSR (Houston - DFW Dallas Fort Worth)

 by Jadebenn ¦  Sat Jun 25, 2022 10:24 am ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: High Speed Rail HSR (Houston - DFW Dallas Fort Worth) (FKA Texas Central ) ¦  Replies: 302 ¦  Views: 97953

Optimistically, if they're not looking to sell, they might be in a "holding pattern" situation: Reduce the footprint to the minimum possible and wait until conditions improve. There is political risk to this strategy, though. The opponents - having lost in court - are likely to redouble th...

Re: Texas Central HSR (Houston - DFW Dallas Fort Worth)

 by Jadebenn ¦  Wed Jun 15, 2022 5:22 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: High Speed Rail HSR (Houston - DFW Dallas Fort Worth) (FKA Texas Central ) ¦  Replies: 302 ¦  Views: 97953

I find it doubtful. Often, companies like this will insist they're still solvent until the very last moment.

I think the best-case realistic outcome at this point is an XpressWest situation.

Re: Texas Central HSR (Houston - DFW Dallas Fort Worth)

 by Jadebenn ¦  Tue Jun 14, 2022 4:59 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: High Speed Rail HSR (Houston - DFW Dallas Fort Worth) (FKA Texas Central ) ¦  Replies: 302 ¦  Views: 97953

Can't agree with your conclusion, but I do agree that the private interest is just not going to be there without at least partial federal backing - and even that probably wouldn't even be enough in this economy. In regards to the choice of JR: I think there may have been an understanding with the Sh...

Re: Texas Central HSR (Houston - DFW Dallas Fort Worth)

 by Jadebenn ¦  Tue Jun 14, 2022 8:15 am ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: High Speed Rail HSR (Houston - DFW Dallas Fort Worth) (FKA Texas Central ) ¦  Replies: 302 ¦  Views: 97953

I'm hearing that as of today, the executive team has resigned. Hard to read that as anything but the project being dead. I have some thoughts on the matter, but most of them would be inappropriate for this forum. The sanitized version: It's unfortunate many Texas politicians who did not even have th...

Amtrak to STB: We Want New Host Railroad Rules

 by Jadebenn ¦  Sat Jun 04, 2022 5:46 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: Amtrak to STB: We Want New Host Railroad Rules ¦  Replies: 2 ¦  Views: 608

Amtrak to STB: We Want New Host Railroad Rules The authority vested in the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to decide issues concerning passenger trains has been expanding lately. On May 27, Amtrak asked the Board to intervene in a dispute with Canadian National (CN) over a number of issues, incl...

Re: Amtrak seeks to Dispatch Canadian National

 by Jadebenn ¦  Sat Jun 04, 2022 5:37 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: Amtrak seeks to Dispatch Canadian National ¦  Replies: 33 ¦  Views: 3427

FRA has no right to regulate train length or makeup. Private business can use their properties how they see fit. They paid for it, they maintain it. Good thing there is absolutely no precedent of regulatory control over private infrastructure, especially not when said infrastructure is deemed criti...

Strange. Foreign power on the FEC is the only reason I can think of, then.

I must admit, as much as I'm glad they're keeping the ATC around (engineering nerd in me likes these kinds of systems), I'm not sure what benefit they hope to get from it.

Ah. I'm guessing the Tri-Rail service is driving that. If they went for cab signal integration, all the Tri-Rail rolling stock to run on the FEC would need cab signal receivers as well. As-is, they can get away with the bog-standard I-ETMS. Though, it's interesting to hear they're going to keep the ...

Can you explain in a bit more detail what that means?

Re: Amtrak New Gulf Coast Service - New Orleans to Mobile AL

 by Jadebenn ¦  Mon Jul 26, 2021 2:08 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: Amtrak New Gulf Coast Service - New Orleans to Mobile AL ¦  Replies: 429 ¦  Views: 70929

As gokeefe points out, railroads are still common carriers. Their obligations have been greatly reduced post-Staggers, but not eliminated . The whole grand bargain Amtrak represented was that the feds would release them from their obligations of passenger service in exchange for allowing them to run...

Re: Amtrak New Gulf Coast Service - New Orleans to Mobile AL

 by Jadebenn ¦  Sat Jul 24, 2021 8:17 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: Amtrak New Gulf Coast Service - New Orleans to Mobile AL ¦  Replies: 429 ¦  Views: 70929

Nope, zoning isn't a good example. When you buy a piece of property, you know how it is zoned, and it doesn't typically get re-zoned without your consent once you've made improvements to it. In the rare event it is downzoned, suing for damages is possible. Yet not a single property owner who owned ...

Re: Amtrak New Gulf Coast Service - New Orleans to Mobile AL

 by Jadebenn ¦  Fri Jul 23, 2021 3:18 am ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: Amtrak New Gulf Coast Service - New Orleans to Mobile AL ¦  Replies: 429 ¦  Views: 70929

Opportunity cost isn't a taking. Zoning is a good example of why that argument would hold no water in court. Hell, zoning is honestly way more arbitrary and financially impactful. Amtrak's legal rights are very clearly defined and have been upheld by the courts many times over the past half-century....

Re: Amtrak New Gulf Coast Service - New Orleans to Mobile AL

 by Jadebenn ¦  Sat Jul 10, 2021 5:20 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: Amtrak New Gulf Coast Service - New Orleans to Mobile AL ¦  Replies: 429 ¦  Views: 70929

David Benton wrote: Sat Jul 10, 2021 4:13 pm Let's also not forget ,many of the railroads were facing bankruptcy, there was an excess of track capacity, And Amtrak payments provided needed cash for the struggling railroads.
Yeah, basically the reverse of the current situation where the railroads cut too much capacity post-Staggers (IMO).

Keeping the Sprinters and buying these locomotives makes a lot of sense if you plan to keep the existing services plus adding a substantial number of regional services in the northeast. An interesting point, and probably current management's thinking. However, I can't help but wonder if the amount ...

Re: Amtrak New Gulf Coast Service - New Orleans to Mobile AL

 by Jadebenn ¦  Sat Jul 10, 2021 2:57 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: Amtrak New Gulf Coast Service - New Orleans to Mobile AL ¦  Replies: 429 ¦  Views: 70929

As rohr points out, it would be extremely difficult (read: impossible) to argue that the legislative intent of Amtrak was to fail. Sure, realistically, we know that there were two camps behind Amtrak: The pie-in-the-sky idealists who genuinely thought Amtrak could be made profitable, and the cynical...