Snow Paralyzes The Northeast !

[jonriv]

One of my "powerball" dreams is to own a private rail car. Hate an Pdad you are invited if I win the lottery

[jonriv]

Gnerally speaking -speeding up trains and increased frequency reduces incremental costs and increases revenue(since fixed costs remain relatively flat)

PDAD- would it have made more sense electrifying and improving the line from LA to San Jose the Coast Starlight uses with "Pendolino" trains doing 120 than the current HSR Plan (shorter distance, less cost, more population centers and intermediate destinations) ? I certainly see your point on the distance of the current HSR plan (not sure what kind of intermediate stops Fresno & Bakersfield are) added to that the difficulting of getting HSR rail into the LA Basin



W

[jonriv]

Back to weather-

Expecting another major storm this weekend, but the real news is that there is advanced reports of a major storm leading up to and perhaps at the time of the Super Bowl-- I can't wait. As my HS Football coach used to say "This is football weather baby!"

Althought it will stink for those atteneding(IMO no REAL fans anyway ) It will make for some great TV ratings

[jonriv]

http://www.weather.com/sports-rec/super ... y-20140122

[PDad]

Gnerally speaking -speeding up trains and increased frequency reduces incremental costs and increases revenue(since fixed costs remain relatively flat)
Generally speaking, hogwash. Take off your train engineer cap and put on your financial visor.
- Speeding up trains generally requires a huge incremental investment in new trains and upgrading the track.
- The least expensive way to increase capacity is to add cars and second is to add trains (aka routes).
- Increasing frequency does not necessarily result in a significant increase in revenue - often it mainly redistributes ridership on the routes. It varies depending on the type of service (e.g. commuter, local mass transit or longer distance travel), frequency of current schedule and ridership levels.
- There has to be reliable evidence to justify the ROI of making the huge incremental investment, not pie in the sky estimates.

PDAD- would it have made more sense electrifying and improving the line from LA to San Jose the Coast Starlight uses with "Pendolino" trains doing 120 than the current HSR Plan (shorter distance, less cost,
Starlight makes the trip in 10 hours with 8 stops along the way (4 are in the first 95 miles between LA and Santa Barbara). I don't know the actual distance the train travels, but it's around 375 miles by car along that route. Yahoo maps says 6 hrs, but it's probably more like 5 if you don't stop along the way. Using the 375 miles makes the average train speed only 40-43 MPH after subtracting 5-10 minutes per stop. The 120 mile stretch between Santa Barbara and Paso Robles is the slowest (32-33 MPH) and takes almost 4 hours (3:50) with only 1 stop, so there must be some speed restrictions with the track there. I don't see it as a viable alternative because even with 120 MPH trains, you're not going to get the time down enough for people to use the train instead of flying or driving.

more population centers and intermediate destinations) ? I certainly see your point on the distance of the current HSR plan (not sure what kind of intermediate stops Fresno & Bakersfield are) added to that the difficulting of getting HSR rail into the LA Basin

Offhand, I'd rate the cities along the CHSR route a little above the ones along the Starlight route.

Public support for CHSR has dropped from 53% to 43%. Hopefully it will be scrapped before they waste more money on it. I have more confidence in projects where private enterprise is interested in taking risks to do them and they've been far more interested in doing HSR to Las Vegas.

[PDad]

Party trains are private cars on the end of amtrak, (booze and food don't stop)

Looks like the Vegas X Train party cars are about to start service - Club X Train's First Luxury Rail Cars Head to Las Vegas

[Safebyahare]

Party trains are private cars on the end of amtrak, (booze and food don't stop)

Looks like the Vegas X Train party cars are about to start service - Club X Train's First Luxury Rail Cars Head to Las Vegas

Your link did not work for me, but I did look it up.
I maybe interested with a 4-5hr trip via rail to Vegas,,,now the price$.
I must have a bar stool or lounge chair,,,,or both, with a view. or a room.
It's just how I roll,,a rail cruise in style.

[jonriv]

See nasty ice and snow hitting Texas, Louisiana and the south. Hey pale rider, do you guys even have heat down there Or just a pancho liner and some heating tabs(and lots of coffee)

[hit4power]

Well, I got up this morning, here in Houston, expecting to see snow, ice, high winds, a regular meteorological apocalypse. After all, we shut down the whole city, closed schools, offices, even my gym and golf course, dammit. What do we have? Some clouds, a light breeze, and a few raindrops...GMAFB.

The local news sent their reporters out across town to cover the impending doom... One reporter catches up to a guy getting into his car:

Reporter: Excuse me, sir. Aren't you worried about the weather and the risk of ice on the roads? (or something like that)
Joe Citizen: Are you kidding me? I'm from New Jersey, this is a joke...

I nominate Houston as the wussy city of the year....

[tnkrbell13]

I nominate Houston as the wussy city of the year....

LA might give you a run for your money on that award:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7HDhmQuSLR ... HDhmQuSLRg