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just saw this on Twitter:

House Committee rejects bill to increase Amtrak infrastructure funding, hours after deadly derailment (CNN)

We must live in one of the world's most f'd up countries you'd think by letting this sink in.....Hell there were members of the House on that very same train!!!!

bluehenbillk wrote:just saw this on Twitter:

House Committee rejects bill to increase Amtrak infrastructure funding, hours after deadly derailment (CNN)

We must live in one of the world's most f'd up countries you'd think by letting this sink in.....Hell there were members of the House on that very same train!!!!

Reports are saying that the train was going over 100MPH on a 50MPH curve.

If a dumbass wrecks his car going over 100MPH on a 50MPH curve, we don't whine about nor blame the accident on the lack of spending on infrastructure do we?

^This.

How much money do taxpayers currently sink into Amtrak?

Don't get me wrong I'd love for the US to have an awesome train system, but Amtrak doesn't exactly scream efficiency. At this point I just view it as another bloated and failed government program/department.

We need awesome passenger rail because that's how Europe does it.

Oh, and train dudes need to slow down in curves.

I won't charge any of you for these tidbits of wisdom.

Congress needs to repeal Newton's Second Law of Motion.

From Philly.com

"Amtrak crews have been installing "Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement" on the Northeast Corridor and other Amtrak rail routes, and were to install the system this year in the Philadelphia area.

The system is designed to prevent collisions, automatically slow speeding trains and enforce speed restrictions.

Positive Train Control, which includes Amtrak's system, is required by federal law to be installed on all passenger and major freight railroads by the end of this year.

But many railroads have asked for more time to install the expensive systems, and Congress is considering extending the deadline to 2020."

Look people can debunk climate change - I do for the most part, people can debunk if Social Security will be there or not when we're old enough for it, but you can't have a sane mind & debunk the fact that the infrastructure of our roads & rail system is screaming to be paid attention to. People in the Northeast use trains every day - for many it beats fighting the traffic in this part of the country. Whether it's the aging rail system here or bridges collapsing in multiple areas of the country, or more potholes than ever from a harsh winter, heads can only remain in the sand for so long until people lose their heads.

CID1990 wrote:We need awesome passenger rail because that's how Europe does it.

Our train system is almost third-world compared to what you find in Europe or Japan.

bluehenbillk wrote: Look people can debunk climate change - I do for the most part, people can debunk if Social Security will be there or not when we're old enough for it, but you can't have a sane mind & debunk the fact that the infrastructure of our roads & rail system is screaming to be paid attention to. People in the Northeast use trains every day - for many it beats fighting the traffic in this part of the country. Whether it's the aging rail system here or bridges collapsing in multiple areas of the country, or more potholes than ever from a harsh winter, heads can only remain in the sand for so long until people lose their heads.

Diasgree, apples and oranges. None of those examples have anything to do with infrastructure, and I keep the same “cut/reduce, be more efficient” attitude towards Amtrak as I do every other bloated and wasteful government entity.

Amtrak’s model is broken. The heavily used, profitable routes don’t come close to covering the money losing rural/long distance routes and therefore there is no money left to reinvest into infrastructure. So now Amtrak goes hat in hand to the taxpayer for MORE money. No thanks. Until Amtrak pulls its head out of its ass (not happening, see government entity) or is privatized (not happening, yay big government) I will always support rejecting any Amtrak funding requests.

bluehenbillk wrote:

CID1990 wrote:We need awesome passenger rail because that's how Europe does it.

Our train system is almost third-world compared to what you find in Europe or Japan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ra ... present%29" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The US doesn't seem to have a monopoly on train derailments.

When you look at the size of our country compared to Europe...

Cripes, Spain's name comes up a lot (they had a big derailment recently, speeding around a curve)..and my family will be traveling by train on the plains in Spain, hopefully not in the rain, this summer.

SDHornet wrote:
Amtrak’s model is broken.

Just another government bureaucracy gone bad.

Pwns wrote:Congress needs to repeal Newton's Second Law of Motion.

This thread should have ended after this post.