20 April 2009

Obama Briefing on Rail

Wow. I just watched this video from Thursday. Years from now, I hope that this will be seen as the day that transport in this country began to change for the better. It is a 23 minute video in which he compares a new rail strategy to both the transcontinental railroad and the Eisenhower freeway system, and quotes Burnham "make no small plans". I have transcribed part of Obama's words:

...but if we want to move from recovery to prosperity, then we have to do a little bit more. We also have to build a new foundation for our future growth. Today our aging system of highways and byways, air routes and rail lines is hindering that growth. Our highways are clogged with traffic, costing us $80 billion a year of lost productivity and wasted fuel.

...We are at the mercy of fluctuating gas prices all to often. We pump too many greenhouse gases into the air. What we need then is a smart transportation system equal to the needs of the 21st century. A system that reduces travel times, and increases mobility. A system that reduces congestion and boosts productivity. A system that reduces destructive emissions and creates jobs.

What we're talking about is a vision for high speed rail in America. Imagine boarding a train in the center of a city, no racing to an airport, and across a terminal, no delays, no sitting on the tarmac, no lost luggage, no taking off your shoes, imaging whisking through towns at speeds over 100mph... walking only a few steps to public transportation....and ending up just blocks from your destination. Imagine what a great project would be to rebuild America.

Now all of you know this is no fanciful pie in the sky vision of the future. It is now. It is happening right now. It has been happening for decades. The problem is that it has been happening elsewhere, not here.

In France high speed rail has pulled regions from isolation and ignited growth. remade quiet towns into thriving destinations. In Spain, the high speed line between Madrid and Seville is so successful that more people travel that line than by both car and air combined. ....
...
There is no reason we cannot do this. This is America. There is no reason that the future of travel should lie somewhere else beyond our borders. Building a new system of rail in America will be faster cheaper and easier than building more freeways or adding to an already over burdened aviation system, and everybody stands to benefit.

And that's why today, with Sec LaHood, adn VP Biden, I'm announcing my administrations effort to transform travel in America with an historic investment in high-speed rail...


Watch video here

Via The New Deal Rail Plan

4 comments:

Radarman said...

Breathtaking. No kidding.

kid-cincy said...

Facts are stubborn things:

http://tinyurl.com/de34m5

And do you really believe people are going to drive their cars downtown, park, and carry their kids and baggage to the train station?

O said:

Imagine boarding a train in the center of a city, no racing to an airport, and across a terminal, no delays, no sitting on the tarmac, no lost luggage, no taking off your shoes, imaging whisking through towns at speeds over 100mph... walking only a few steps to public transportation....and ending up just blocks from your destination.Wait, we already have that -- its the nearly deserted Greyhound bus station down on Gilbert. I don't know anyone, anyone, who has ridden the Dog in the past 20 years. (OK, it only goes 75 MPH).

Passenger rail died in the 1950s and 60s for a reason -- nobody wanted to ride it anymore. Automobile travel and air travel won out because people wanted it, and voted with their wallets.

CityKin said...

^Don't even get me started on Randall Otoole, what an idiot. His statistics are so flawed and selective. I just skimmed your link, and all of his points are refuted by some googling.

Tell me this... If the ONLY reason passenger rail died in the US is because that is what people wanted, why has it thrived in other countries? Maybe it has something to do with the power of GM, lobbyists, big oil, political will etc..

FlyingDutchman said...

"And do you really believe people are going to drive their cars downtown, park, and carry their kids and baggage to the train station?"

Don't they do this at the airport? And every where else they need to transport their kids. Why wouldn't they do it for a train station?

Thanks for posting CityKin. That excerpt from Obama brings a little tear to my eye..