Re: Amtrak to Phoenix He's under a lot of stress do to those "slow thinking'" "southern" types
Author: BOB2
Date: 07-29-2021 - 22:34
An Observer Wrote:
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> Since "LES" considers me clueless, guess I'll
> continue.The "ktar" article is interesting in that
> two points for their thrice daily service are well
> West of downtown and as such this
> effort is more a commuter line than one in which
> Amtrak would be involved. As to my Belen to Casper
> "corridor", there is way more political support
> for Front Range service than anything that the
> PHX-TUC corridor could develop. The key to any of
> this new pot of money is political so you need
> lots of friends. But, what do I know, I'm
> clueless.
So in the world of LES, you're clueless, and I'm one of those "slow thinking" "southern" types....
I guess if one has so few strong arguments to make the case for, and justify the self evident wholesale incompetence and the sheer waste of taxpayer funds on the scale of the CAHSRA fiasco, one needs to use a lot of sophistry and attack the critics....
Now, let's talk about the infrastructure bill and Phoenix....
I am very interested in the break down of the Amtrak share, and how that will be parceled out, and under what kind of match and eligibiliy requirements. That has ramifications for projects like Del Mar bluffs. I am also looking to see it there is any money hidden in the bridges and highways, to supplement the piss poor level of funding for grade separations in the rail portion.
I also saw several of these "press release" blurbs on "back to Phoenix", and on the Colorado project. And I agree with "clueless" people like you, who seem to suffer from too much experience with these kind of things, Phoenix is a long shot politically and it would be a very poor use of these scarce taxpayer funds, if it only restored direct thrice weekly service into Phoenix itself. Tucson makes a lot more sense, but UP will want seperate tracks, like with Coachella Valley. But, with that kind of front end investment cost, and very limited State match sources for rail in AZ, I don't see the numbers competing well against other more cost effective corridors, with more political support and local match.
But what do I know after 53 years in the business, I'm probably "clueless" too...