Don't get me wrong. I am dead against the way our politicians are hustling every pet project they can think of in order to get them in front of Mr. Obama for a piece of the "economic stimulus" pie.
But I am attracted by the fantasy of having some favorate Passenger Rail-related projects funded, so I am going to start on my wish list.
Dear Mr. Obama:
Please print money for the following projects to stimulate the economy.
1. Passenger Rail service along the front-range corridor from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to El Paso, Texas.
2. At least two daily trains each way on this corridor.
3. Passenger Rail service that would get me from Albuquerque to Phoenix in under 24 hours, without going part way by bus.
4. A short intra-state local running Las Cruces to Las Vegas, NM.
5. Passenger Rail from Albuquerque to Las Vegas, Nevada.
Next time: Wish lists for other areas.
©2009 - C. A. Turek - mistertrains@gmail.com
3 comments:
I would like to see NJ Transit rebuild the tracks that once existed between Winslow Junction and Redbank, NJ. This would allow for passenger rail service between Atlantic City and New York City.
ACES service between Atlantic City and New York City is to begin on February 6. This, however, is costly express service. The trains will use the Amtrak Northeast Corridor between NYC and Philadelphia. The train will reverse in Philadelphia and use the NJ Transit Atlantic City Line between Philadelphia and Atlantic City.
Denver-Albuqurque and Albuqurque-Pheonix are the two big markets you mentioned. Cheyanne and El Paso are more afterthoughts, as judged by the numbers. So your probably really talking a Denver-Albuquerque-Phoenix run (twice daily, let's say, with each train running overnight on one side or the other of Albuquerque.
Then we'll add connections to the Southwest Cheif out of Denver early in the morning and getting into ElPaso late in the evening for a third run between ALB and Denver.
Once you've got to Phoenix, there are big travel markets between Phoenix and San Diego and Phoenix and Los Angles. (Also between Phoenix and Las Vegas).
So our trains from Denver could be extended into California.
At the other end there's a big travel market from Denver to Omaha (but Denver to Chicago is, interestingly, not such a big market, nor is Omaha to Chicago).
So now we've got a route for two new Chicago-LA/SAND trains via Denver that would fill out by serving all the local markets along the way but would also add all kinds of longer distance opportunities. Want to go Las Vegas NM to Lincoln Neb? Not many do, but add up all those trip combination and you'd get a sizable amount of riders to add on top of the local business. You'd even get some folks going all the way from LA to Denver or Chicago to Phoenix.
The way these possibilities work is why long distance trains financially outperform shorter corridors.
Maybe BNSF would be interested in a new route into Phoenix and Sand Diego to run intermodals and freight?
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