Our beloved transit authority just might get some ideas:
If Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid has his way, someday a superfast hovering train will whisk tourists from family-friendly Disneyland to the what-happens-here-stays-here city, Las Vegas. But so far, the Nevada senator’s fascination with magnetic levitation — the futuristic technology that would power the train across the desert at 300 mph — has managed only to levitate a steady stream of money out of the federal budget: $54 million and counting.
Few others are climbing aboard. The Transportation Dept. rejects MagLev for its steep price tag, which a 2005 study says eclipses the cost of current high-speed rail by "fourfold to ninefold." Even Nevada’s other senator, Republican John Ensign, questions the value of spending an estimated $12 billion or more on a 269-mile Anaheim-to-Vegas train line.
But Reid has pressed ahead, earmarking $9 million between 2000 and 2004 and winning a $45 million authorization in last year’s federal transportation bill.
This is pretty much the poster child for How To Piss Away Money On Stupid Crap. And yet, it’s got all kinds of advantages over Metrorail:
| ReidRail | Danger Train | |
| Top Speed: | 300 mph | 66 mph |
| Track Location: | Desert | Your Left Turn Lane |
| Bum Stink: | Nonexsistent | Overpowering |
| Can Get You: | To Vegas | Killed |
| Cost Per Mile: | $44.6 million | $43 million |
Sounds like a better deal than what we’ve got now.
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Only 4,597 more to go Eric.
Harry Reid is a moron. Obviously, some special interest/lobbying group is pushing his button on this. He belongs in Disneyland, best suited for the role of Dopey in the Snow White section.
This would be a great example of money well spent. You know how everyone in Vegas is looking for some good old wholesome family fun.
This would be the equivalent to our METRO light rail, which is/was/always will be, a big waste of money for taxpayers, and will line the pockets of a few. Great idea Harry. Let’s build one between Mexico and the USA also. Wonder what kind of “bird dog” is in it for Harry?
I thought the Dems were against lining the pockets of corporations…
Dear Matt:
As one financial dude to another - I have always in my wish lists wondered if high speed would bring back rail
However, government just needs to keep out and let the market work, if I or someone can convince a consortium that train travel is a profitable investments and BTW with oil futures going to 100, getting more feasible all the time
Or if we give Reid the 300,000,000 would he promise to stay in disneyland and never come back?
Does anyone read this thing anymore?
I thought your connection to metrorail was, as usual, about as bright as Danny Glitter’s afternoon show. God help us now that he is on the way to Austin.
Metrorail bad! Big highways good! Lower property taxes and pay for big highways with fantasy money! Increase school funding with magic fairy dust! Put in a stealth income tax that will punish small business for employing people! Brilliant!
I wonder which one of Dungy Harry’s relatives is getting in on that $54 million action…
he does have a habit of funneling the bucks to his relatives…
#5 - It isn’t economically feasible to spend billions from an area the size of harris county and come up with a train that runs between the Astrodome and the Medical Center. There’s your fairy dust money.
I can hear Harry Reid now trying to inspire the illegal Mexicann RR workers.
More than ever, and growing daily. Thanks for your inquiry.
Highways aren’t paved with property tax dollars.
I assure you, I don’t want to increase school funding with magic fairy dust. I don’t want to increase school funding at all.
Don’t want that either.
I get that a lot.
Let’s see - 8-lane Interstate highways cost around $50 million per mile. They also create significant air and noise pollution. Plus, they don’t include the costs of fuel or the vehicles themselves, which consumers pay for themselves.
On the other hand, construction of MagLev infrastructure is $44.6 million per mile, MagLev systems are significantly less expensive to operate and maintain than traditional high-speed trains, planes or intercity buses, and they can handle much higher volumes of passengers per hour than airports or 8-lane highways and do it without introducing any air pollution along their right of way.
I, for one, would love to see MagLev in this country.
Ranking Ethics Democrat Under Investigation
04/07/06
http://www.humaneventsonline.com/blog-detail.php?id=13881
# 11 TLC
And how, exactly, does this relate to this particular blog post?
tcabanski (#5) & B.Warren (#10), and assorted others:
At the risk of being hideously redundant, let’s walk through this issue, once again.
The light rail we have is, simply, not working. It cost $400million, it’s as likely as not to fail to operate whenever there is a significant rain (or large puddle), and there are concerns about what the underground electricity is doing to nearby concrete & steel structures. Not to mention the minor detail that ridership and revenues are, at best, poorly documented and perceived to be complete failures from a cost/benefit perspective.
Would this be a bad time to bring up the train/automobile accident ratio? (Do you really believe that so many drivers are incapable of obeying traffic signs?)
Look! This is not New York City. There, you have hundreds of thousands who need transportation to a very densely occupied area. This is Houston. It’s spread out. People want lawns and back yards. And the “business district” is not one location. It’s spread out all over the greater Houston area, and thanks to the technology of computers, fax machines, and telephones, the arrangement works rather nicely. For a rail system to work, it has to carry people, lots of people, from where they live to a centralized area where they want to go. And it has to do so in an economically efficient manner.
Light rail, in Houston, completely fails to do that, and has yet to submit plans which would indicate that it is approaching such an objective. At the cost of the existing rail line, there is no way to justify light rail as an improvement over bus service. Indeed, the proposed expansions of light rail continue to fail to address the most essential underlying logical element of public transportation: How do we move the most people from where they are to where they want to go, in the most economical manner?
So far, spending $400million on expanding the bus service would have been both a more reliable and more efficent expenditure. And considering the official proposals for light rail expansion, the bus system is still looking like a far, far, less expensive approach from a cost per passenger mile basis.
I’ll give you this: rail between Los Angeles and Las Vegas could well make good sense. But look at the reason why. It’s a system to move people from a very dense area to a location where they want to go. But it is, essentially, one origination point and one destination point. That’s not Houston’s demographics nor its geography.
I’ll support rail in Houston, as soon as someone can demonstrate a plan which makes it practical and economical. I have yet to see that plan.
– Ken
a “progressive texan” like you should know all about the
politcal cronyism of the democrats and Harry Reid…
How much of the money for building this rail will Reid pocket for himself and for his sons…
Check the link to refresh your selective memory…Mr. Warren :
http://www.latimes.com/media/acrobat/2003-06/8306315.pdf
# 13 Ken:
Have you actually tried using the light rail? It works just fine, and there’s a significant number of people riding it.
And, no, I don’t care that they have diverted bus routes in order to utilize the rail - they said they would do that all along. Plus, it takes buses and their polluting diesel engines off the road.
I live near downtown and see stupid drivers everyday. If they weren’t hitting the MetroRail, they would be hitting other drivers. I’d rather have them hit the rail and not injure anyone but themselves. The fact of the matter is that Houston has some of the highest insurance rates in the country because we have some of the worst drivers in the country.
Buses are dirty and inefficient in terms of their capacity, speed, timing and reliability. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a bus break down or actually been RIDING a bus that has broken down. The rail, by comparison, considering how often it runs, has very few problems.
The problem with density you mention are also somewhat made difficult by the fact Houston has no zoning (which is another issue entirely - and one of Houston’s greatest downfalls). It is not difficult, however, to build rail in corridors where people travel extensively. Downtown, the Texas Medical Center, the Museum District, and Reliant Stadium are all places people travel in large numbers at various times of the day. The proposed East-West line along Richmond also runs through some high demand destinations, such as UH, TSU, Univ. of St. Thomas, Shephard Plaza, Greenway Plaza, and the Galleria.
I just don’t buy the argument that rail is inefficient, even in this city. It’s going to be built and you’ll see then just how well it will continue to work.
#14 LTC:
Does this mean I should post about Bush’s illegal wiretapping everytime he’s mentioned in a post?
Or perhaps a more on-topic issue would be Sen. Ted Stevens’ bridge to no-where in Alaska. If we’re going to talk pork, let’s really talk pork.
And don’t sit there and talk to me about political cronyism. Bush certainly has found a way to provide for everyone and anyone who has helped him along the way.
Bobby, we’ve had a number of posts slamming the Bridge to Nowhere, which was introduced by a Republican who oughta be pumping gas somewhere. We’re all about equal opportunity.
you just did, Mr. Warren
refer to your post 16…
i would ride that train
The problem with light rail in Houston is that it can’t efficiently move people from the suburbs (where a lot of us live) to the “business districts”. Unless it can incent a lot of people to give up their cars, it’s useless, because then we have the expense of rail AND cars/insurance/highway taxes. And that’s not mentioning the very valid technical concerns that have been brought up here about the deterioration of rebar/building foundations in the area of rail lines.
Rail simply does not work in Houston.
Money and politics aside several problems exists for this MagLev solution. The San Andreas fault moves about a foot a year with the Disney land side moving North. How much will be set aside to reset the track every few years so that the train will properly run over the track. Also, the big haul to Las Vegas is Friday about noon and through Saturday and Sunday from Noon until 2AM Monday Morn. That does not include all of the folks from Central California, i.e. Bakersfield, Fresno, etc, that don’t hook up to the Interstate 15 until Barstow. I see a seven to ten mile backup past my house every Fri evening and every Sunday evening the same line coming from Barstow. How many maglevs are they going to build so that they can get all the folks up to and then back from. Has Sen Reid even seen the terrain that must be traversed between L.A. and L.V. Right outside of Barstow is an area of the most wicked train wrecks that happen due to earthquakes.