No mention of trains in Obama's inaugural speech?

george matthews wrote:I would hope he will act in a more rational fashion than that. His scientists will be telling him that he has to persuade people to use much less oil and coal. That implies a much greater use of public transport - its reinvention. Some kind of rail network is the logical consequence of that thinking. (Not necessarily the present network, or its expansion).

Rail will be one solution which hopefully will happen for transportation. Conservation is another. The public will be forced to use less electricity by economics when electric costs triple or more because of the construction of solar and wind generation, and massive transmission investments. Those higher electric costs will unfortunately adversely affect potential electric traction initiatives, such as electrification of some more Amtrak corridors.

buddah wrote:Well yes there was no mention of train, but I believe Amtrak will get some good under the table funding... Amtrak is the lovable mutt that you cant resist, even when everyone tells you don't feed him anything extra over his kibbles and bits.

Somehow, I think this is probably the most accurate statement on modern Amtrak funding I've heard in a long time.

Anything specific to Amtrak we can draw from the inaugural speech?

-otto-

Otto Vondrak wrote:

buddah wrote:Well yes there was no mention of train, but I believe Amtrak will get some good under the table funding... Amtrak is the lovable mutt that you cant resist, even when everyone tells you don't feed him anything extra over his kibbles and bits.

Somehow, I think this is probably the most accurate statement on modern Amtrak funding I've heard in a long time.

Anything specific to Amtrak we can draw from the inaugural speech?

-otto-

I have read it twice, and see not even an inference. However, the brand new White House website lists transportation as an "Additional" issue, not a major issue, and reads as follows. Railroads are mentioned, so there is hope, but roads and bridges specifically mentioned twice which either is an indication of perceived importance or pandering to the vast majority who own cars, but may not have any interest in railways:

"Transportation

As our society becomes more mobile and interconnected, the need for 21st-century transportation networks has never been greater. However, too many of our nation's railways, highways, bridges, airports, and neighborhood streets are slowly decaying due to lack of investment and strategic long-term planning. President Obama and Vice President Biden believe that America's long-term competitiveness depends on the stability of our critical infrastructure. They will make strengthening our transportation systems, including our roads and bridges, a top priority."

I have to agree. The bottom line is Amtrak/the States would be well served to have rail specific infrastructure improvements in their "ready to bid" lists.

I think my hopes for the next 4 to 8 years are realistic:

A) An end of attempts to kill Amtrak or reduce the already bare bones network

B) An order for new single level sleepers, diners, Amfleet coach replacements, and perhaps NEC electric power to begin replacing AEM-7's

C) Some additional 110 mph track, such as on Chicago - Detroit and Chicago - Springfield routes

D) Federal support for California high speed rail. (Not Amtrak related unless Amtrak California is the likely operator, but I think Ca HSR has the potential to give the nation its first TGV style dedicated high speed rail system.)

We can move this over to the General Discussion if there was no Amtrak content in Obama's speech...

The nuts-and-bolts of transport infrastructure and operations are hardly the sort of thing which captures the imagination of the segment(s) of the public President Obama counted on most directly for his victory. But the pre-inaugural trip from Philadelphia and the election of a Vice-President exposed to rail service on a daily dasis is more than adequate compensation.

If we can merely make our leaders more cognizant of the potential for addressing many of our challenges by use of rail technologies......if, to borrow an advertising slogan from more years ago than I want to remember, we can make/keep America railroad-aware, the natural flow of both human progress and opinion should take care of the rest.

Folks,

If you believe that the new regime in Washington will give more than a "New York Minute" worth of consideration to Amtrak, then I have some swamp land in Florida to sell you.

I, too, would like to see an fully intergrated transportation policy with a focus on affordable public transportationo and a functional mass tranist policy that does not place more importance on highways but rather a balanced approach that creates long term sustainable funding for Amtrak. But, our new regime in Washington has so much more on its plate to focus on right now and well into the four years of this regime that Amtrak will be lucky to get even "table scraps".

200 million for an inaugration party?.... maybe this is were all the amtrak moeny went.

Amazing, my wish is that democrats will quit putting a smiley face on socialism and all these so called Public Safety Nets. None of it is a good deal. With Obama at the throttle hopefully people will see the darkside of being liberal when his train derails. The real question should be "Is there gonna be any money left after we're done giving everyone a free lunch?"

I'll second your comments of socialism and the New Left

UPRR engineer wrote:Amazing, my wish is that democrats will quit putting a smiley face on socialism and all these so called Public Safety Nets. None of it is a good deal. With Obama at the throttle hopefully people will see the darkside of being liberal when his train derails. The real question should be "Is there gonna be any money left after we're done giving everyone a free lunch?"

Sarah Palin's Alaska with it's oil checks for all residents is the most socialist state in the country and Bush's no strings attached multibillion socialist bailout for Wall Street would make Milton Freidman blush.

I'm not gonna turn this into a nitpick debate where you pick out one small fact (Alaska).... followed up by another one in which you failed to look all the way back to see where the problem really started. Socialism isnt good for people or business, or passenger railroads. Amtrak makes a good point that it doesnt work. Hopefully after we see the end result of the biggest welfare prop up ever everyone will be smarter.

Socialism isnt good for people or business, or passenger railroads.

Seems to me that France, England and Germany have pretty good passenger rail networks. They're also relatively Socialist governments. I'm not quite seeing the connection between less government=better passenger rail.

C-Span has been broadcasting the Hearings from the Transportation Committee all day. There has been much testimony favoring mass transit and Oberstar has been pro-transit as usual. He did mention why the Amtrak funding has been cut from the stimulus package.


Oberstar: Funding for mass transit projects got nixed for tax cuts.»
The House is expected to vote next week on the $825 billion economic stimulus package. Republicans are demanding that Obama reduce some of the investments in spending currently contained in the package. But, as Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) noted, “Right now, what would be considered traditional infrastructure constitutes about 7.5 percent of the total $800 billion-plus expenditure.” Approximately 33 percent of the stimulus is for tax cuts. Rep. Jim Olberstar (D-MN) revealed that funding for mass transit projects was cut to make room for the tax cuts:

The reason for the reduction in overall funding — we took money out of Amtrak and out of aviation; we took money out of the Corps of Engineers, reduced the water infrastructure program, the drinking water and the wastewater treatment facilities and sewer lines, reduced that from $14 billion to roughly $9 billion — was the tax cut initiative that had to be paid for in some way by keeping the entire package in the range of $850 billion.