New Amtrak Routes (Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati: car insurance, house, calculation)

[Karl Lagos]

Originally Posted by SonySegaTendo617

Brightline only expanded service north to Orlando, like since last year? Plus others are in the planning stages, like Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga and also Houston to Dallas. To me I'd wait several years till trains have began running to look at their ridership, before calling it a failure.

This thread reminds me, I should look up the proposed route of the California high speed rail between SF to LA. Whatever route was proposed for that. It's too bad Amtrak never came to an agreement with whoever owns the freight railroad south of Bakersfield(the Tehacaipi(sp?) Pass area), to allow San Joaquins Amtrak passenger trains(between either Sacramento or somewhere in the east bay area(Oakland, I forget?) to LA, but train service only goes south to Bakersfield) to run through there. Right now Amtrak trains aren't allowed to run through there, with the rare exception being if the Coast Starlight has to detour through there. For all the years Amtrak has ran San Joaquin train service due to this rule, Amtrak has had to bus passengers between Bakersfield to LA. It's too bad they have to do that.

Brightline has already been covered in this thread. They lost around 200 million in 2023 with 2.2 million ridership. Guessing they need to hit about 5 million to break even. Besides the NE corridor if passenger rail makes sense it would be between Miami and Orlando 2 of the biggest tourist destinations in the US and huge destinations for international tourists.

[otterhere]

Originally Posted by ferraris

Do we have an actual estimate on how long these trains will take to make the trip? I'm willing to sacrifice some time if it means a lower stress or lower cost trip, which doesn't apply to flights of this distance.

The timetables for the individual trains are on the Amtrak site. Yes, they take longer than driving or flying because they share the rails with freight (which, I think, take priority). But you can lounge in the observation car and drink wine and look at the scenery, so there's that!

[Karl Lagos]

Originally Posted by otterhere

The timetables for the individual trains are on the Amtrak site. Yes, they take longer than driving or flying because they share the rails with freight (which, I think, take priority). But you can lounge in the observation car and drink wine and look at the scenery, so there's that!

It's 5-6 years away if it ever happens. Probably won't.

[PerryMason614]

Originally Posted by otterhere

The timetables for the individual trains are on the Amtrak site. Yes, they take longer than driving or flying because they share the rails with freight (which, I think, take priority). But you can lounge in the observation car and drink wine and look at the scenery, so there's that!

I don't mind lounging a little bit, but the lounging is way too much.

To me, the only thing that makes sense choo choo wise is bringing back the old interurbans. I think there might be a market for people from places like Athens and Chillicothe wanting to take the train into Columbus. Though it probably should dump people off at Easton and skip downtown. I have no interest in spending 10 hours on a train to go to Chicago.

[cheech14]

Originally Posted by PerryMason614

Then do it right or not at all.

Like I've said in other posts, this doesn't work unless you can bring your car along. It doesn't work as a slow train. It doesn't work as a glorified bus stop in a downtown area. They should also make it possible to ship your car on these trains so that you have transportation when you get to your destination. It also eliminates the need for finding a place to charge and battery range. Of course, battery cars are so much heavier than ICE vehicles that there is another nuance that may have to be solved. It may not be possible to ship so many battery cars on rail.

We can't do it right because a bunch of Boomers who childishly refer to rail transit as a "choo choo" still make dishonest arguments about it and its effectiveness.

[cheech14]

Originally Posted by PerryMason614

I don't care about all that. My car is pretty reliable and I've already spent the money for it. Why should I spend double the money on a choo choo?

Columbus to Cincinnati is 35 bucks in gas, maybe 40.

Thanks for admitting you don't really care about the true costs of transit and are simply being hypocritical in selectively applying those concerns to rail because you have a different preferred choice. No one bashing rail on costs wants to talk about how roads make no money and require billions in subsidization every single year.

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by cheech14

We can't do it right because a bunch of Boomers who refer to rail transit as a "choo choo" still make dishonest arguments about it and its effectiveness.

Agree totally... Anyone who uses the term "choo-choo" is a rail hater (and I'm not really sure why; I suspect there's a cultural aspect I won't even get into, here). Guys like aren't worth holding a discussion with. Best to ignore him and focus on those of us who are serious and care about moving the ball forward with quality passenger rail in this country; and the good news is that Brightline, Texas are showing it CAN happen... And look at New Mexico. The RailRunner is a 90-odd commuter rail line connecting Albuquerque and Santa Fe, to small cities in a low population state. And idiots in Ohio act like, somehow, it can't happen here?

Geeze.

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by cheech14

We can't do it right because a bunch of Boomers who refer to rail transit as a "choo choo" still make dishonest arguments about it and its effectiveness.

Agree totally... Anyone who uses the term "choo-choo" identifies themselves as a rail hater (and I'm not really sure why; I suspect there's a cultural aspect I won't even get into, here). Guys like aren't worth holding a discussion with. Best to ignore him and focus on those of us who are serious and care about moving the ball forward with quality passenger rail in this country; and the good news is that Brightline, Texas are showing it CAN happen... And look at New Mexico. The RailRunner is a 90-odd commuter rail line connecting Albuquerque and Santa Fe, to small cities in a low population state. And dinosaurs in Ohio act like, somehow, it can't happen here?

Geeze.

[Karl Lagos]

Originally Posted by cheech14

We can't do it right because a bunch of Boomers who childishly refer to rail transit as a "choo choo" still make dishonest arguments about it and its effectiveness.

It's up to government/Amtrak not people who post here.

[JR_C]

Originally Posted by Karl Lagos

It's up to government/Amtrak not people who post here.

I don't know if it was you or one of the other anti-train people, but one of you seemed pretty sure that the future of Ohio's expanded rail service depended on the political whims of the current elected officials? So, doesn't that equate to the people posting here?