Comments on: ODOT eyes high speed rail

By: Gregg Tunison

Gregg Tunison — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:33:31 +0000

If high-speed rail service is so great and so cost effective, then why hasn’t private industry taken up the cause? Please, tell me one thing that the government does that is cost effective. The government supplements Oklahoma’s Hartland Flier because there is not enough demand to cover the costs of operations. That means, you and I (assuming that you pay taxes) are paying some of the ticket price on behalf of each passenger. This is what is also being done with Amtrak since it has never covered its operating costs.

Do we need another subsidized business? Isn’t the new Government Motors (GM) enough for right now?

By: escaswv

escaswv — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:05:27 +0000

when i was a kid, dad took us on one of the last trains on the route to Kansas City. we rode to Bartlesville, had breakfast and caught the return train.

a few years later, i rode one of the last passenger trains from OKC to Tulsa. actually, it was a passenger car on a freight train.

in 1989 and 1991, my trips to Europe relied on trains for intra-continental travels. their trains are reliable, comfortable and a real value.

we need to think of the trains in our future as the backbone of a real mass transit system. in france, we rented a car because we wanted to go to the beach. biggest mistake we made on that trip. when we left the beach, there were 5 buses parked, ready to take people back into the city. we turned the opposite way and drove out to the coast. that road ended in a cul-de-sac in a small village, which was also a bus stop. we turned in our rental the next day.

i would actually prefer taking a train to Austin, Texas, to the dreary drive or the uncertainty of air. connections north could get me to the station in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, and connections south could get me to Pensacola.

no, it wouldn’t help on most of my sales trips. but, hey, it’s not all about me.

By: lexslamman

lexslamman — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 05:20:59 +0000

One 75-foot wide highspeed rail corridor can handle as much traffic in each direction as 16 lanes of interstate highway, and costs 1/20th as much to maintain. Its just a matter of talking the tea-totaling minority party to join the 21st century. Check out the bipartisan Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009 – I think congress should send this bill to Obama’s desk, and I think we should get out congressmen and senators to make it happen. Who’s with me?

By: jim harper

jim harper — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:53:59 +0000

Well, its not rocket surgery. They have high speed rail in Turkey. It costs as much as a new divided highway. Maybe $20 million per mile between T-town and OKC. Its a lot, but we can certainly afford it. If you have to pay $10 million just to straighten out the existing track you might as well go all the way. With federal receipts in the 2700 billion per year range not even counting payroll and social security tax, $2 bil for a HSR to T-town isn’t even chump change.

But 900 miles to San Antonio? Sorry, but high speed rail works up to about 350 miles. After that, you might as well take the airplane. That’s what airports are for.