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But the principle is still the same: a large number of taxpayers consider (passenger) rail a valuable enough service to merit paying (part of) the cost out of tax revenues, if that's what it takes to keep the service around. I'll agree, there are those using passenger trains that believe so. But wh...

I've never seen a subsidy that actually makes tax-payers better-off. (I'm assuming that by "subsidy" you mean gov't subsidy") Does that include: * Police protection * roads (including maintenance, plowing, traffic lights, etc.) * fire departments * military protection * public school...

As a mere passenger, I realize I don't see what the MNCR employees do behind the scenes, but my experiences with the passenger-facing people have been very good, and that goes regardless of whether they look 30 or 60. And as someone who deals with young people on and off, I'd suggest being cautious ...

I'm going to vote for my home commuter railroad, Metro-North (Westchester County.) Reliable, frequent, on-time 20/7 service, they fix things when they break, and the employees are friendly and respectful. Minus: the Westchester County bus system is, to put it mildly, not well coordinated with MNCR. ...

there are several plans to break up MTA , not only Quinn's, Albany is sick over power MTA has. (I assume by "take MTA" he means take NYC subway and busses.) Albany (and others) may be sick over MTA's power, but who would you give their "power" to? Local governments? Remember how...

The question is: why would NY state even want to overrule MNRR? For the same reason a CEO or Board of Directors "overrules" the employees they hire to run their company. In this case, MNRR's goals may be different from the state's overall goals (for example increasing speed/frequency to A...

On one hand, I'd like to say, "New York ultimately is in control" but the truth it, it seems the MNRR truly is the tail that wags the dog. The question is: why would NY state even want to overrule MNRR? The MTA, and thus MNRR, are the people the state hires to do their railroad-running fo...

The amount of third rail substations (one for every 3 miles) would be cost prohibitive. Third rail power can not without big losses be transmitted more than a mile and half each way. Why wasn't it cost-prohibitive to do so for the Harlem Line? (Not that I'm doubting your substation spacing. Just th...

... it's nice having a ride going express after Harmon or from 125st express to Harmon.... Unless you're going from north of Croton to someplace between Manhattan and Croton. Which a number of people I know do. FWIW, Tarrytown has bus connections to White Plains. Yonkers (Getty Square) is a bus hub...

I don't think the problems I've noticed are GPS problems, though. The destination displayed on the outside can't come from a GPS, since the whole point is that it's displaying a station that the train isn't at. The Croton-bound train that displayed "Southeast" was at GCT, not Southeast. Sa...

It would be a big help if there were a dedicated shuttle running from Staples Mill to Main St. for all the trains that don't stop at Main St. (all but 2 in each direction). Neither Amtrak nor the local authorities have ever been very interested in running one, however. Doesn't surprise me. My recol...

Amtrak said that the key is to arrive early, but that might not be the only solution with 16 trains leaving out every day. That's only a solution for the folks who arrive early. You get a space that someone else might have gotten. That other automobile still needs a home, and if it consistently doe...

Over the past month or so, I've noticed quite a few M7a's with incorrect destination displays. My line is the Hudson line, but I've gotten on trains that displayed Southeast. And the displays inside tend to be confused, too, showing the previous stop or one ahead. This morning, my express showed the...

What's running on the NEC now doesn't really fall under the heading of High Speed Rail. If money is going to be spent on a line capable of true HSR , I can't see wasting all those slots on a commuter train; there would have to be a hell of a long gap after a local before the next HS train could lea...

Without searching for that thread, I would assume it would have to do with the longer stopping distance needed by a HS train vs. a commuter train, which raises the question of why anyone would want to mix the two on the same tracks in the first place. It does sound impractical, but in the USA, we d...