Tampa Bay Times/Bay News 9 poll: I-4 voters wanted high-speed rail – Tampa Bay Times

A majority of I-4 corridor voters did not like Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s decision to cancel plans for a high-speed rail line that would have linked Tampa and Orlando, according to a new Tampa Bay Times/Bay News 9/Central Florida 13 poll.

Fifty-one percent said Scott should not have rejected $2.4 billion in federal money to construct the rail line, compared to 39 percent who supported Scott’s decision and 10 percent who were unsure.

 

Tampa Bay Times/Bay News 9 poll: I-4 voters wanted high-speed rail – Tampa Bay Times.

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Filed under: Passenger Rail Politics, Regional USA Passenger Rail, United States High Speed Rail

Florida East Coast proposes Miami-Orlando service

This is interesting and I have added a link (right hand column). This is not part of the Amtrak system and would be privately operated.

Filed under: Regional USA Passenger Rail

Legislators lobby to bring Amtrak service into Shreveport/Boss – KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather & Sports

I have roused myself to past this from the Shreveport paper because it could impact the Amtrak service into Arkansas (presuming there is any service remaining by this time next year). Brace yourself. The story contains several misinformed usages of the word “profitable” in connection with Amtrak.

Readers here know that I support good rail service and a balanced transportation policy, but “profitable” does not apply to any Amtrak service anywhere. That is why it is a government service. In complete fairness, and my elephant friends will not much like this very much, highways are not profitable either and the commercial airlines are often bleeding red ink. Amtrak is the usual political whipping boy because the money is all out in the open.

Anyway, this is another exercise in deck chair rearrangement on the good ship Titanic. I am so sick and offended every day one of the stoies comes up about a “study.” The only people who have been served by the proliferation of studies is the consultants who write them. There will never be one single mile of European style high speed rail built in the USA for the next 100 years. The only people who have a say on such things are the truckers , big oil, auto manufacturers, and airlines. Anyway, just for grins, here is the story.

Legislators lobby to bring Amtrak service into Shreveport/Boss – KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather & Sports.

Filed under: Amtrak, Passenger Rail Politics, Passenger Rail Transportatio Policy, Regional USA Passenger Rail