OPINION

The letter from Gregory Motte is ill informed. Amtrak has contracts with the freight railroads and pays for the use of the track. In what way does that make Amtrak "more of a guest than a renter"? Answer: It doesn't.

Also Mr, Motte, the railroads were given all this land by the United States just like the Airports are all built by the United States.

Gregory is correct. HSR requires its own track, even banked for that matter. How to bring that about is anyone's guess.

Amtrak expansion will be the best thing this state has done for transportation in a long, long, time. We have gone the asphalt and concrete route for years, lets try something different this time in the Lone Star state. Rail is the answer.

And let's not forget how Texas A&M and The University were founded and funded by the State of Texas.

Also,Texas A&M was funded in part by the Federal Government as a Land Grant College to teach new agricultural methods and prepare young men for military duty in the ROTC.

Note to AgsForever:Everytime you rail about
"Creeping Socialism",I guess you forgot how
your old alma mater,TAMU,was partially created by the Federal Government!!

The old Texas and Pacific from Texarkana to ElPaso-now part of the UP-was partially funded by
the State of Texas.

Probably the only railroad in the US that wasn't funded in part by the Federal Government was the Great Northern from St.Paul to Seattle.

Being an amatuer railroad historia,I've read quite a few books about the railroads that once served our state.

And fifty years ago,Dallas Union Station had quite a number of trains heading in each dirction-
North;South;East and West.

If you wanted to travel by train from Dallas-Houston in 1960,you could've taken the Sam Houston Zephyr on the Fort Worth and Denver;
The Texas Chief on the Santa Fe or The Twin Star Rocket on the Rock Island.

If you wanted to go from Dallas-San Antonio,you could've ridden the Katy's Texas Special.
If you wanted to go to Abilene or ElPaso,you could
ride the Texas and Pacific's Texas Eagle.

Even as recently as 1995,Amtrak ran a Dallas-Houston section of The Eagle.

In California,Amtrak has a big presence with several trains leaving LA bound for San Diego
and Sacramento daily.

And from what I've read and seen,theyr'e not high speed rail but conventional Superliner equipment.
Yet they seem to run on time and are comfortable
and heavily patronized.

In New Mexico,the Roadrunner Commuter Train fron Albequerque to Santa Fe runs down a stretch of the I25 Median.

While I'm not real big on HSR,I'd love to have more passenger rail service with either upgraded
or brand new conventional equipment.

Whenever we go to Houston to visit my family in Houston at Xmas,my wife and I would love it if we
had an alternitive to driving I45!!!

Gustatus Similis Pullis
Federal Government

Yes, all those passenger trains ran at one time. But economics forced the railroads to stop them.

Pew released a report in October 2009 that found 41 out of 44 Amtrak routes operate at a loss. The losses run from $5 to $462 per passenger with an average loss of $32 per passenger. This is just what we need for Texas.

http://reason.com/blog/2009/10/27/riding-the-subsidized-rails-of

JR:

It appears that the airlines also run at a loss per passenger. Didn't we bail them out after 9-11 so that customers wouldn't sue them for neglect?

Perhaps the railroads, buslines and airlines would all do better if we stopped our obsession with the concept of "automotive freedom", treating as if it were a constitutional right for every American. Driving a car is a privledge, not a right. Drunk drivers for example, should lose their licenses indefinitely. Those who operate cars need to make up their mind whether they want to text, talk on the phone or operate their car in a manner that respects everbody else's right travel our streets and roads safely. If they insist on talking on the phone or texting, then they probably do need to invest in a bus or train ticket. Then they can text or talk on their cell phones to their heart's content, but endangering other people's lives while driving a car is not a constitutional right.

Just Asking,

I don’t know if there was anything for the airlines after 9-11 or not. I don’t think there was, but I wouldn’t make a bet either way.

I do know that Amtrak’s subsidies go on year after year after year.

Every form of public transportation is subsidized by government, from the airlines to sidewalks. As we speak, the government is paying for a new runway at Miami International Airport that is costing all of us $5 billion. Taxpayers also pay for the air traffic control system. Furthermore, Amtrak recovers 80% of its operating cost through ticket sales and other revenue, which is a better return than any other national passenger rail system in the world. Rail works everywhere else in the world and will work here if we give it a chance and if false and misleading objections can be exposed.

Why not passenger rail in Texas ?

If we are going to have to deal with thousands of Texas baby boomers crowding our jammed roads at age 80, lets give them an alternative to driving. I'm 62(baby boomer) and will gladly park my car when I feel it is not safe for me to drive. Please give our generation an alternative besides airplanes or cars. Bus service is not available either where I live. The nearest airport is 60 miles away from me. There is no way to get there, but a car. I would like to give my portion of the highway funds to passenger rail expansion in the future.
I'm letting my Texas elected officials know my view. I'm sure many more of us baby boomers will do the same. Yes, it cost money, so does all the asphalt and concrete we continue to pour each day on our Texas roadways.

I have two vehicles, but want an alternative to driving. Rail is that alternative, and I fully support its expansion.

OH YAY!!! DO WE GET TO RIDE THE SHINEY CHOO-CHOO TWAIN!!!! I'm sure the loss of roadside economic tax revenues will add to the big revenue win of only losing 20% of operating revenue. Just because it may suck less, doesn't make it good. Where the hell do some of you people get your business and economic sense?

Oh well....AS LONG AS WE GET TO RIDE THE SHINEY CHOO-CHOO TWAIN!!!! YAY TWAIN!!!!!!!!!

After 9/11 when the planes were all grounded, the trains were still running. Think about that Dman.

So was my car.

JR, I sometimes wonder if we are related? I was going to say the same thing.

I've ridden the"Shiny Choo Choo"a few times and it was enjoyable.

Now Amtrak's Eagle wasn't very shiny but still it was nice to ride.

Fifteen years ago,I rode a UP Fan Trip from Houston-Smithville and back.
Now the UP Fan Trips really are Shiny Choo Choos!!
They use a fleet of restored cars from the 40's and 50's ane either a set of E9 Units from the 50's or a couple of steam locomotives.

I rode DART from Ft.Worth to Dallas a few years ago.
It was a very smooth ride with some very nice equipment and it ran on time with no delays!!

Now I was annoyed by a JFK Conspiracy Nut on Dealey Plaza who wanted me to buy his Propaganda
Paper!!

I told him"Chief,Why Don't You Get a Real Job??".
Wound up that nice young man got a job on Fox News!!

Glenn Beck,if your'e reading this,you owe me for the advice I gave you in 2003!!!
My Attorney will be in touch!!!

But that has nothing to with trains,it just seemed like a good story!!!

I also rode a fan trip from Fort Worth to Quanah two years ago and it was a nice ride as well!!!

Basically,I'd ride more trains if they went where I'd like to go!!!

Dman1B,

What can I say. Great minds!

The degree to which we practice automotive freedom is made possible in part by our willingness to put the lives of our young men and women on the line defending oil lanes in the Middle East. This helps to keep gasoline selling at a rate that makes our degree of automobile use possible. Don't believe for one minute that we would have had a military presence in the Middle East over the past 50 years if it were not for the oil over there. Converting a tribal country like Iraq (or any Muslim country for that matter) into a democracy is an absolute joke, and a lie. It is not our mission to give them "freedom". There are non-democratic countries all over the world that we don't send our troops into to fight for democracy. We're there because of the oil, and this subsidy for cheaper oil costs us more in three days than rail service costs us in an entire year. It is ironic that a man like Bush, who used the National Guard as a way to get out of Vietnam, is the one who made the decision to go into Iraq. Are his kids over there?
To anyone who thinks that we are right to go to fight there, I say this....There is a local conscription station in your town....Go sign up and fight it yourself.

One of the reasons we are so dependent on Middle Eastern oil is because we're not allowed to drill and for oil here. There's plenty of oil, but certain segments have hissy fits if you even look like you might want to think about suggesting drilling for it.

If we'd utilize our resources, use coal (properly scrubbed and filtered, of course), nuclear energy, drill and transport the oil from where it is IN OUR COUNTRY to where we need it, we could tell those middle eastern despots to eat the stuff.

As Ronald Reagan once said"Facts Are Stupid Things!!".

All we hear is that same old mantra"Drill Baby Drill!!"or"There's Enough Oil In(Take Your Pick)
ANWR/Shale Formations in Idaho/Colorado/Wyoming"/
Governor Perry's Hair"to last a thousand years!!!

Now contrary to popular belief,searching for oil
isn't as cut and dried as Jed Clampett shooting for some food and up from the ground came some bubblin'crude!!!

Thrity years ago,at the same time as the Iranian Hostage Crisis,in South Central Texas there was a great oil boom going on in the Austin Chalk formation.

Now mind you,this was in our own back yard,yet the price of oil and gas went up until Reagan cut a"Deal With The Devil"-aka-OPEC to lower the price of oil in order to bankrupt the Soviet Union,then the price of gas and oil went down lower than John Edwards and Mark Sanford's Morals!!!

And let's not forget how Reagan and Bush the Elder traded guns for hostages as well as supplying Iraq with"Spare Parts"!!

And how future VEEP Dick'Pull My'Cheney brokered the sale of ammunition;chemical warfare equipment
and'spare parts'to Saddam Hussein!!

Right up until the August 1990 Invasion of Kuwait,
Saddam Hussein was our"Ally"in evrerything but name!!!

Also,watch"Black Gold"on TruTV sometime.
You'll see that drilling for oil and gas
is a very dangerous and dirty occupation!!

Drilling for oil and gas is a hit and miss occupation,much like stem cell research!!
For every gusher there are three dry holes!!

Just like for every 100 embyronic stem cells,only 2% of them actually fertilie an egg and cause a
pregnancy while the other 98%die!!

But yet,we love to proclaim how"Pro Life"we are by destroying some of God's handiwork while protecting embyronic stem cells!!!

But I digress!!!And as long as the Bush Family are on the payroll of the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia,things'll never change!!!

TEB,

I’ve spent over thirty years drilling oil and gas wells over a good portion of the world. The TruTV series Black Gold is hands down the most ridiculous portrayal of the drilling industry that I’ve ever seen. There is no truth in it. I’m actually embarrassed to watch it.

You’ve been getting your facts from too many left leaning sites, but I don’t want get into a political argument here. You are correct about drilling our way to energy independence. We have increased our ability to produce natural gas quite a bit over the last several years. This has been from drilling long horizontal sections and very large frac jobs in rock that wouldn’t produce at all in a vertical well. Oil, however, is a completely different story. We do need to drill to help offset global production decline, but we probably will never produce enough to allow ending oil imports.

You need to learn how to crawl & walk- before gaining the ability to run. To run comes with experience, requiring physical enhancements whether bodily or if in the business of transportation; by building an interlocking system capable to allow high speed trains.

Passenger trains in this country continue to crawl at speeds lower than were those operated during the 60's. Western Pacific allowed high speed travel when crossing the desert west of Salt Lake City. Union Pacific had an excellent trackage built for 80 plus, as did Santa Fe, Southern, Central of GA. and Illinois Central to name a few of great companies that cared to give speedy service.

Since then the railroads have made great strides in rebuilding the rail infrastructure, but to handle tonnage, not excessive high speed. As slower freight trains tend to impede fluid operation of passenger trains, when operated along the same trackage corridors.

To all interested passenger railroad management: The better utilization of allocatable funds suggests adding capability to operate with more seats available for sale, while wherever possible enhancing the physical plant. Whether by gaining your own trackage, and maintaining it at speeds of min. 80 to 110 max. for the ENTIRE system; as anything faster is only for those with experience and a multi-decade long budgets dedicated for true high speed transportation.

These are but my opinions, and if you were to take the time required to check and consider, the obvious assumption suggests keeping a reasonable plan of future passenger rail utilization, and not something too futuristic!

K L
You have it correct. Excellent post and from someone who knows passenger rail and its history in the USA.

Unfortunately, many of the posters on here are to young to have the historical background to understand passenger trains in America. They are tied to their planes and autos and could care less about a total transportation system for our beloved country, and state. However, the tide is turning. North Carolina, California, Illinois, and other states are starting to see the value of the passenger train.They are funding them. In time, Texas will be there. This is not a Republican or Democratic issue, but an American one that needs to be addressed in our state, sooner rather then later.

K L
You have it correct. Excellent post and from someone who knows passenger rail and its history in the USA.

Unfortunately, many of the posters on here are to young to have the historical background to understand passenger trains in America. They are tied to their planes and autos and could care less about a total transportation system for our beloved country, and state. However, the tide is turning. North Carolina, California, Illinois, and other states are starting to see the value of the passenger train.They are funding them. In time, Texas will be there. This is not a Republican or Democratic issue, but an American one that needs to be addressed in our state, sooner rather then later.