Amtrak Part II

[cannon_fodder]

quote:Originally posted by Gold

Good thread and Mr. Westcott's thoughts are much appreciated.

+1.

I too was impressed that an elected official took the time to inform the public.  Thank you.

[inteller]

we have to be careful though or they'll start ribbing him at city hall about being an 'interweb geek' and he won't get back on here.

[Transport_Oklahoma]

There will be a meeting November 10th, 7:00 pm, Starbucks @ 35th and Peoria to try and get somethiong going on Tulsa Amtrak service.

[PonderInc]

Sounds like Biden and Obama are both Amtrak supporters.  Doesn't hurt that Biden's son is Vice Chairman of Amtrak's board.

Article on Bloomberg.com:
Amtrak Rider Joe Biden Pledges `First-Class' Railroad

[ARGUS]

Thank you Mr. Westcott.
Your input is appreciated and welcomed. Thank you for the opinion on fixing our terrible streets. Your lone opinion influenced my vote in that matter.

[Transport_Oklahoma]

Stimulus will have $8 billion in grants to states for intercity passenger rail.  This will be the largest single investment ever in U.S. rail development.

Oklahoma is eligible to apply for some of this.

More later.

[Townsend]

quote:Originally posted by Transport_Oklahoma

Stimulus will have $8 billion in grants to states for intercity passenger rail.  This will be the largest single investment ever in U.S. rail development.

Oklahoma is eligible to apply for some of this.

More later.

What do you think OKC will do with Tulsa's share?

[TheArtist]

quote:Originally posted by Townsend

quote:Originally posted by Transport_Oklahoma

Stimulus will have $8 billion in grants to states for intercity passenger rail.  This will be the largest single investment ever in U.S. rail development.

Oklahoma is eligible to apply for some of this.

More later.

What do you think OKC will do with Tulsa's share?

Oh I am sure we will get our usual "fair share" of 5-10% [B)]   Oh, and a promise that we will get more later, after the urgent stuff in OKC is done.

[TURobY]

quote:Originally posted by TheArtist

Oh, and a promise that we will get more later, after the urgent stuff in OKC is done.

Don't forget about Newton, KS.

[dioscorides]

found this on huffington post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/18/map-of-potential-high-spe_n_167804.html

*just noticed that the map is dated 2005 (oh well)*

-------------------------
After much clamoring by energy hawks, who knows what it was that finally brought high-speed rail to the stimulus -- perhaps a little nudge from ol' Amtrak Joe? -- but it got in, to the tune of $8 billion.

And now the question is, where will the expansion be? Matthew Yglesias reports on possible new high speed rail expansion:

   In a last-minute change, the total quantity of funds available was increased. But there's no special plan for Las Vegas. The money will be spread all across the country. As it happens, I think an LA-Vegas HSR line is a perfectly reasonable project. But in practice the areas that will get a leg up should be the Federal Railroad Administration's officially designated high-speed rail corridors. As it happens, LA-Vegas doesn't make the cut. But guess who does have such a corridor? Ohio!

[SXSW]

It makes no sense Houston and Dallas are not connected.  Houston-Dallas-OKC-Tulsa is a viable corridor for sure, as is San Antonio-Austin-Dallas-OKC-Tulsa with an extension to Kansas City or St. Louis to connect to the Midwest network.