Showing posts with label Amtrak. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amtrak. Show all posts

Monday, November 22, 2010

Rural Passenger Rail: Let a hundred Empire Builders bloom!

by RuralRoute

Yesterday we had freezing rain, this morning brought a dusting of snow. US Highway 14 received a bit of attention from MNDOT, resulting in a wet strip in the center in spots. The right hand ruts are iced up again though, and in spots the road is totally ice and snow covered. Thus on my 5 mile drive to get internet access at the Tyler library, 50 miles per hour was the fastest I drove. For the last couple days traffic along Minnesota Highway 23, viewable from my front window, has slowed to a crawl at times. The only drivers doing the 60 miles per hour speed limit are newbies to the frozen north and fools.The forecast for the next few days is for more snow... making the drive to visit the relatives for thanksgiving a frightening experience.

But the traffic on the parallel BNSF railway tracks has been moving at normal pace, in fact often outpacing the traffic on MN 23. A couple miles to the north, it's business as usual on CP's DM&E line as trainloads of grain, ethanol, and whatever move at a steady 40 MPH. But sadly, neither railroad carries authorized passengers on these lines... And those open coal and grain cars look like a pretty cold ride!



continued at Daily Kos....

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Sunday Train: Northeastern HSR Alignments & The Move to Tuesdays

by BruceMcF

Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence

This is a fairly short Sunday Train, but I thought I better get something posted, so I had somewhere to put this scheduling announcement:

  • Due to a new prep on Monday Morning this coming Fall term, the Sunday Train is temporarily moving to Tuesday Evenings until the end of year Holidays, starting next week (19 October)

The actual Sunday Train portion is about one element of the Amtrak proposal for a High Speed Rail corridor for the Northeast: the alignment. At the preliminary proposal stage, an alignment must be selected for study so that preliminary cost and patronage estimates can be performed. However, if the decision is made to go ahead, a range of alignments will be (and, indeed, must be) studied.

So tonight I take a brief look at the alignment options from the report.



continued at Daily Kos....

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Sunday Train: 1:36 NYC/Boston, 1:23 NYC/DC, $117b, 30yrs

by BruceMcF

Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence

As The Transport Politic reported earlier this week: Amtrak Unveils Ambitious Northeast Corridor Plan, But It Would Take 30 Years to be Realized

After months of sitting on the sidelines as states and regional agencies promoted major new high-speed rail investments, Amtrak has finally announced what it hopes to achieve over the next thirty years: A brand-new, 426-mile, two-track corridor running from Boston to Washington, bringing true [Express] high-speed rail to the Northeast Corridor for the first time.

Some questions and answers, over the fold.



continued at Daily Kos....