Public Works Project Idea - Railroads
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| Fri, 11-21-2008 - 12:41pm |
What do you guys think about the idea of letting the big 3 file for bankruptcy and using the taxpayer money that could have gone towards a bailout to fund a huge public works project like building modern, high speed, green railroad lines from coast to coast and modernizing the lines that currently exist? The way I see it, this could accomplish a couple of different things.
Number one, a lot of the same technology and skill sets that are involved in manufacturing cars could be transferred into the railway construction project so that many laid off workers from the automobile plants could find jobs. Secondly, the taxpayers would actually get something for their money - a decent and hopefully cheaper alternative to air travel. Thirdly, if this project is done correctly, we could use the railways to reduce air and automobile traffic (a boon in itself) and could reduce emissions.
There are probably a myriad of reasons why this would not work, especially since I am NO expert in business, manufacturing, or the cost that would go into such a project. But I, for one, would love to see the US get a functional rail system that would rival Europe's. If you've ever traveled through Europe then perhaps you share my impression of the ease, comfort, and cost-efficiency of rail travel as compared to air travel. It may take a little longer to get where you are going, but if high speed limited stop rail trips are available and offered for less than 1/3 of the price of air travel - I think it's a reasonable trade off.
Think about how the interstate highway public works project has fundamentally changed the fabric of America. Now think about how the railways could do the same. Here are some quotations I found about the interstate highway project - and they really got me thinking about the power of human ingenuity and drive. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/quotable.htm If we could come together to make something as unique and powerful as the interstate highway system - why not do the same for rail travel?
What do you guys think? I am truly interested to hear any opinions of this idea.



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I'm certainly not an expert either, but I really like this concept. I think that bankruptcy and restructuring is the route the big 3 should go, but
Chrissy
mom to Aidan 8/21/03
Grayson Blaine 12/30/07
~Ashley~
~Ashley~
You never know. They post some of the ideas and comments on their blog at change.gov so apparently someone's reading them! :-)
Chrissy
mom to Aidan 8/21/03
Grayson Blaine 12/30/07
I agree that we should let the Big 3 file chapter 11.
I strongly disagree that we should funnel the money into rail service.
Amtrak Boston/NY/DC has it's problems for sure, but it does get passengers.
I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure
You've put your finger on one of the issues though - the # of major cities that are 2-3 hours apart.
Once you get out of the Northeast, the number of places that works drops dramatically.
Yeah, it isn't going to work everywhere.
Why would we want to adopt the notion of setting the taxes so much higher?
Remember, in Europe the car was always much more of a luxury than in the US - it's that distance/population density
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