Obama Talks Up High-Speed Rail


Nice to see Eugene to Vancouver on the map.


4 responses to “Obama Talks Up High-Speed Rail”

  1. Hi Chris, I would like to get some pictures of Transit/cycling platforms used in Portland and info on how they are operating. I work for the City of Toronto and would like to get in touch with you but don’t have your contact info.

  2. They’ve already spent $8bn on “high-speed” rail since 1965. Today do we have it? Will another $13bn will bring us such a system? I highly doubt it. The federal government just wants to send our country into the gutter even faster than they already have been. The only way such a system would work is under private ownership and be competitive with air travel.

  3. Yawn.

    Vancouver, BC-Eugene has been a federally designed “high speed rail corridor” for at least 18 years; I believe it was first designated in ISTEA which was passed by the administration of George H.W. Bush in 1991.

    Portland-Eugene is simply a waste of money…there is little demand in the corridor as compared with other segments which could better utilize the federal funds. Installing commuter rail between Portland-Salem, for example, would be a far better use of money than trains between Portland and Eugene unless one truly wants Eugene to become a bedroom community for Portland (and thus beginning sprawl throughout the entire Willamette Valley – not unlike what Long Island is to New York City or San Bernardino County is to Los Angeles). Portland at least is dependent on Seattle for commerce which is clearly evident in traffic patterns for I-5, Amtrak and air travel between PDX and SEA compared to PDX and EUG.

    If Oregon wants to create a “green” transportation alternative between Portland and Eugene, it could implement hourly bus service this very minute, along with complementary bus routes throughout the Willamette Valley, to Bend, to the Coast, and to Southern and Eastern Oregon. Motorcoach travel is actually more “green” than Amtrak is, and especially given that Amtrak trains between Portland and Eugene typically run at only 10-30% of capacity – Amtrak is hauling more dead weight than people (while the complementary Thruway buses are typically running full – and are profitable, pay taxes to the state, and don’t require a subsidy from ODOT).

  4. Obama keeps talking and people keep losing their jobs and transit keeps falling apart.

    What a disappointment.

    Of course it doesn’t surprise me.

    I just hope that some of the outcomes that are circulating around the internet are nothing but fantasies.

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