News: President picks Florida to announce HSR grants

[Harry]

President Obama and Vice President Biden are speaking at the University of Tampa during a town hall meeting Thursday, Jan. 28, beginning at 12:30 p.m., to announce the recipients of $8 billion in ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) high speed rail grants awarded by the Federal Railroad Administration. According to the Tampa Bay Business Journal, the event is open to the public, with a limited number of tickets available. Announcements will be made concurrently in other states.

The White House has confirmed that the grants will be announced Thursday. “Thirteen major corridors will receive awards on Thursday to help develop new high speed rail infrastructure or begin the transition to high speed rail,'” the White House said in a statement. “In addition, smaller awards will also be made for improvements to portions of existing rail lines.

Overall, 31 states will benefit from the awards, which will lay the groundwork for a nationwide high speed rail system. The $8 billion in Recovery Act awards is part of an overall $13 billion high speed rail investment the President announced last year as part of his strategic plan for high speed rail. The other $5 billion would be funded through the annual budget process.”

Read more: http://www.railwayage.com/breaking-n...sr-grants.html

[nhrrwtby]

Originally Posted by Harry

President Obama and Vice President Biden are speaking at the University of Tampa during a town hall meeting Thursday, Jan. 28, beginning at 12:30 p.m., to announce the recipients of $8 billion in ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) high speed rail grants awarded by the Federal Railroad Administration. According to the Tampa Bay Business Journal, the event is open to the public, with a limited number of tickets available. Announcements will be made concurrently in other states.

The White House has confirmed that the grants will be announced Thursday. “Thirteen major corridors will receive awards on Thursday to help develop new high speed rail infrastructure or begin the transition to high speed rail,'” the White House said in a statement. “In addition, smaller awards will also be made for improvements to portions of existing rail lines.

Overall, 31 states will benefit from the awards, which will lay the groundwork for a nationwide high speed rail system. The $8 billion in Recovery Act awards is part of an overall $13 billion high speed rail investment the President announced last year as part of his strategic plan for high speed rail. The other $5 billion would be funded through the annual budget process.”

Read more: http://www.railwayage.com/breaking-n...sr-grants.html

He ignored his advisors, who told him not to spread it out over so many different projects but concentrate the funding so that some projects can be completed. Now he'll have to go back to Congress for more funds to complete some of these things, probably when the political circumstances are less favorable.

[lilbluefoxie]

plus with todays climate and nimbyism run rampant, how are they going to realistically make a high-speed rail network from scratch.

[Forest Glen]

America isn't the superpower that it once was. It's not developing its infrastructure like countries in Europe and Asia. This HSR will never happen.

[AgedPolaris]

I think HSR has been an idea in Florida for a while, and a plan was voted through and then subsequently shot down. Plus, having visited there recently, at least in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area, it's not transit-friendly at all at the moment. I think Orlando has a better system.

[Grand Concourse]

Originally Posted by Forest Glen

America isn't the superpower that it once was. It's not developing its infrastructure like countries in Europe and Asia. This HSR will never happen.

America's cities are spread far apart and can be accessed by plane. European and Asian cities are densely packed close together making flying impractical for such a short distance and why they have HSR.

[metsfan]

Originally Posted by Grand Concourse

America's cities are spread far apart and can be accessed by plane. European and Asian cities are densely packed close together making flying impractical for such a short distance and why they have HSR.

The other way around, the rail lead to such development.

- A

[Grand Concourse]

Our rail system is obsolete and flying is more practical to get from San Francisco to NYC than by rail.
England to France have the Chunnel and that's more practical than flying.
That's my point.

[nhrrwtby]

Originally Posted by Grand Concourse

England to France have the Chunnel and that's more practical than flying.

...unless of course it's cold and snowing when the train enters the tunnel.

[metsfan]

Originally Posted by nhrrwtby

...unless of course it's cold and snowing when the train enters the tunnel.

Or when a bird takes out all the engines on a plane...

- A

[captain82]

Originally Posted by Grand Concourse

Our rail system is obsolete and flying is more practical to get from San Francisco to NYC than by rail.
England to France have the Chunnel and that's more practical than flying.
That's my point.

I see where he"s going with this. Look at our HSR system and then look at other countries system. yes we have the Acela which can reach 150mph but only in certain areas north of New Haven. The remaining stretch will only see 90 to 125. To the rest of the world, thats pretty slow. not only that but much of it is about a century old with lots of rebuilding needed. Now look at Europe and Asia who have systems that can reach damn near 300mph and thats with heavy traffic and freight so of course they can compete with the airlines.

[Grand Concourse]

Acela also shares tracks with freight trains and has to navigate thru a series of curves. I read that if all the curves along the NE corridor were taken out, you could have enough tracks to make the train circle around 10 times. What is needed is a strait shot from Boston to NYC and to DC. But that would be very very expensive.