by goodnightjohnwayne
Feds' rail money could slow down in NC House billhttp://www.wral.com/news/state/nccapitol/story/9346202/
Sadly, the proponents of passenger rail in North Carolina seem to be confusing HSR with commuter rail and even mass transit:
Rep. Becky Carney, D-Mecklenburg, said she believes high-speed rail is needed, especially with commuters paying more to put gas in their vehicles.The Raleigh to Charlotte service isn't directed towards "commuters" and it most certainly isn't "mass transit."
"We have got to continue moving forward progressively with mass transit in this state," she said.
In contrast, the opponents are putting forward coherent arguments about the state picking up the tab for increased operating costs. Again, it comes back to the same unanswered funding base issue as in Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin. How is North Carolina going to pay for the third daily round trip? It's pretty obvious that a 12-15 minute improvement to the schedule isn't going improve labor and equipment utilization enough to pay for the additional round trip.
It's a pity that the funding base issues are getting in the way of yet another grant. If only the grant applications had required a secure funding base for expanded services. Of course, if the issue had been addressed, before the grants were made, we wouldn't have seen a single state reject the HSR grant money, let along 3, or possibly 4!