States Make Pitches For High-Speed-Rail Money

I've said it before and I'll say it again. This is a horrible waste of money!

I think that it is a great idea, but a poor plan on how to acheive it. I do like the idea of making major Amtrack corridors 120mph, but then what?

Firstly, we need to make it so that passenger and frieght trains don't need to stop to let the other pass (Bush gave priority to frieght at all intersections).

Then we need to figure out micro-transport at each city the train stops. Unless your in new york area or chicago, you must provide tons of parking and rental car lots at each stop, otherwise people are stranded.

Why are we following instead of leading? Trains are so 1900's. It's almost 2010, where the hell is my flying car?

I would much prefer upgrades to existing interstates, so that i can put my car on autopilot and travel at 120mph.

I like the idea of improving railways in the US, but the article brings up some valid criticisms. The speeds of the trains will not be that fast compared to other countries. If it's simply a matter of the engines, and not the tracks, I think that would be acceptable, as long as the trains are upgraded in the future, and the tracks are initially engineered for the higher speed trains. Also, the cost of riding would need to be more reasonable than it is now. I have considered taking Amtrak in the past since it is a much shorter drive for me to the train station, but for every trip I've planned the cost of taking the train has been much more expensive that flying. I think that in terms of the economy investing in new rail infrastructure is a great idea as well. It will create so many jobs, it could be our new TVA.

State to State zipping has to be validated by economic renewal or shared economy. I am an unemployed Architect in MA and I graduated #1 in my class at MIT MArch in 1998. In the state of MA where I live there are laws for hiring first the graduates of that state, there are laws of supercession to overcome the ignorance of out-of-staters, and there are laws for keeping state money in the state. Of course the whore Attorney General, Martha Coakley, never learned that at Suffolk Law since her pink slip was blowing in Boston Common rater than her eyes tired in the Library. If the law were actually followed, that kills your inter-state idea since the bullet train is for commuter and tourist traffic. Per capita, people can not afford bullet travel, so you are down to inter-state commerce. Law says, first employ those in state first. The trainees that I know are all inter-state commerce people who can not match my skill level and become employed due to the rail backing them. This is illegal, but real. At my Unemployment meeting in Attleboro, MA they shared the Rhode Island subsistence and programs for RI residents on MA unemployment. It was hillarious: they even buy you new cloths, send you to Brown or any school in RI, get you transportation and housing if you were put on UE by MA while a RI resident. What an insult, here these folks steal jobs from people like myself more qualified and the state of residence offers to give them freebees for being shown the law. How does that effect you. Well, talk to the AMtrack and commuter people and the Italian MOB they run MA so new work is new work to them. They don't care if you ruin the world with your idea. My opinion, try and realize what the rail is for before you shoot off a neural net Harvard idea that got spawned by the MA National Guard air wave. You might become a citizen soldier all of a sudden chatting NG frequencies everywhere for their folly and end up in a psych ward.

I like speed rail. Here is my idea: in MA since the central artery failed and it takes 1-2hours to travel 30 miles into Boston on the new system; fill the artery with water and make it a Whale Aquarium and use elevated bullet rail from the outer perimeter to bring people to work out of park+share+ride lots. If this goes, then you can add your illegals from out of state to your idea without anybody noticing. I call them the state import tax that is never levied.

Kiernan Quinn
MIT 1998
Architect