Presidential Trains (Inauguration, Campaign, Etc.)

SouthernRailway wrote:

electricron wrote:

SouthernRailway wrote:The Queen's representative in Australia, the Governor-General, also kicked out an elected government in the 1970s and had new elections done.

The Queen is too savvy to try to govern, but she does have substantial powers "in name only" (which she doesn't exercise, and practically speaking cannot), and she is the head of state of 16 countries, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Plus she and her family are global celebrities. I'd say that she needs to be kept safe, with a high degree of security--and the UK believes that commuter trains are safe enough for her, then something less than Air Force One should be safe for Pres. Trump.

You must be kidding, when's the last time somebody tried to kill the Queen? When's the last time the queen faced rioting protestors? Since she has been queen, four Presidents have been shot at: one wounded seriously and another killed! A non armored car, train, plane will never provide enough security for the President of the USA.

I'm not kidding. I'm literate.

The last time someone tried to kill the Queen was in 2014, when there was a plot to stab her. Prince Charles was attacked recently while in his car in London with Camilla.

Try Google or BBC.co.uk.

In August 1979, the IRA murdered her cousin and friend, Lord Louis Mountbatten (along with his grandsons, 14 and 15 years old, and the 83-year old mother of his son-in-law) by blowing up Mountbatten's fishing boat.

They almost succeeded in blowing *her* up when she was opening an oil terminal in 1981 but the detonator malfunctioned. There's probably been a foiled assassination attempt every couple of years for most of her reign.

And once again, I'll note that the PM travels not just on commuter trains, but the British equivalent of the Acela and the Regionals, quite frequently-- including on trips from London to Edinburgh. He's even forgotten his briefcase on it! http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... blic-trai/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"He" must have left a bit more than his briefcase on the train, the British Prime Minister is now a woman.

While this "News Analysis" appears within the Opinion section of this past Sunday's Times, it does outline the disruptions caused to the General Aviation industry whenever the President, any president, visits a populated area. The security concerns of a president riding a train may not be as disruptive as portrayed:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/18/opin ... skies.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fair Use:

When you think of security around the president of the United States, you most likely think of Secret Service officers in sunglasses, talking into microphones hidden in their cuffs. You probably don’t think of the large bubble of restricted airspace that follows the president wherever he goes. These are essentially no-fly zones reaching up to 17,999 feet within a 30-nautical-mile radius of the president (a nautical mile is just over a regular mile). If you fly into that ring without permission from federal authorities, fighter jets will be on your wing before you can hum a few bars of “Hail to the Chief.”

This policy, in place since the Sept. 11 attacks, is causing more disruption than usual because President Trump has homes in some of the busiest airspace for general aviation in the country — metropolitan New York and South Florida. The first lady still lives in New York, and President Trump is scheduled to spend his third weekend in a row at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, which he and his aides have taken to calling his “Winter White House.”

Many years ago the Amtrak train I was was awaiting in Texas was delayed by several hours due to it and everything else on the railroad being held for a President traveling by train (President Reagan if I recall correctly). In addition every rail bridge over a road was inspected and closed to vehicular traffic for hour(s) until the train passed. Amtrak customer reps at the station provided this explanation.

Have to agree with Ken W2KB. The days of surface transportation being not much more than running an advance on the line are GONE. A POTUS special, be it a train or a motorcade, shuts down railroads and roads for hours.

Here are some details on temporary flight restrictions. The inner 10 mile radius is most disruptive. https://www.nbaa.org/ops/airspace/alert ... ctions.php

I suspect for Presidential train movement law enforcement and military would have to be posted on short spacing along the entire route.

When POTUS motorcades from KCI to KC, the main interstate from Omaha to KC gets closed down an hour before he drives. Every overpass is given police coverage. Every ramp is blocked with police.

I can think back to '09 when Former President Obama was visiting Martha's Vineyard, and I was flying from BOS to ACK on Cape Air. Because President Obama was there at the time, the Cessna 402C had to head East on a heading of 085 to a VOR at Provncetown. Then heading of 185 to ACK landing on RWY 15. A direct heading.BOS-ACK would be about 125.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/en ... 82715.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A 2011 piece on the retirement of Irish Rail's Mark II #5408 (Presidential Carriage), although I think it had been out of traffic for almost a decade before the RPSI got their mitts on it.

https://www.axios.com/joe-biden-inaugur ... 8229f.html[*]

From the URL above...

There's talk within Bidenworld of the president-elect ditching the typical flourish of arriving in Washington on an Air Force plane, pulling in instead on the same Amtrak train he rode to and from Delaware for 30 years as a senator...

The Biden campaign declined to comment on his plans.

That's going to be one logistical challenge. If it was going to happen, it'll go from Wilmington to DC... which means stopping traffic on the 19th or early on the 20th...

nnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggghhhhhhh I got flashbacks from when Biden was VP and visited Union Station DC, which suspended boarding and made a ton of Brunswick MARC riders unhappy because their train left w/o boarding any passengers because of it.

He and President Obama did that ride in 2008, with private car Georgia 300 on the rear of the train.

Obama Special on Jan 17, 2009 with Georgia 300

And "The Rest of the Story; Jan 20th 2017

First we had "Broadway Joe" of football fame, now we have "Amtrak Joe" of presidential fame.