[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Mail]  [Sign-in]  [Setup]  [Help]  [Register] 

Utopian Visionaries Who Won’t Leave People Alone

No - no - no Ain'T going To get away with iT

Pete Buttplug's Butt Plugger Trying to Turn Kids into Faggots

Mark Levin: I'm sick and tired of these attacks

Questioning the Big Bang

James Webb Data Contradicts the Big Bang

Pssst! Don't tell the creationists, but scientists don't have a clue how life began

A fine romance: how humans and chimps just couldn't let go

Early humans had sex with chimps

O’Keefe dons bulletproof vest to extract undercover journalist from NGO camp.

Biblical Contradictions (Alleged)

Catholic Church Praising Lucifer

Raising the Knife

One Of The HARDEST Videos I Had To Make..

Houthi rebels' attack severely damages a Belize-flagged ship in key strait leading to the Red Sea (British Ship)

Chinese Illegal Alien. I'm here for the moneuy

Red Tides Plague Gulf Beaches

Tucker Carlson calls out Nikki Haley, Ben Shapiro, and every other person calling for war:

{Are there 7 Deadly Sins?} I’ve heard people refer to the “7 Deadly Sins,” but I haven’t been able to find that sort of list in Scripture.

Abomination of Desolation | THEORY, BIBLE STUDY

Bible Help

Libertysflame Database Updated

Crush EVERYONE with the Alien Gambit!

Vladimir Putin tells Tucker Carlson US should stop arming Ukraine to end war

Putin hints Moscow and Washington in back-channel talks in revealing Tucker Carlson interview

Trump accuses Fulton County DA Fani Willis of lying in court response to Roman's motion

Mandatory anti-white racism at Disney.

Iceland Volcano Erupts For Third Time In 2 Months, State Of Emergency Declared

Tucker Carlson Interview with Vladamir Putin

How will Ar Mageddon / WW III End?

What on EARTH is going on in Acts 16:11? New Discovery!

2023 Hottest in over 120 Million Years

2024 and beyond in prophecy

Questions

This Speech Just Broke the Internet

This AMAZING Math Formula Will Teach You About God!

The GOSPEL of the ALIENS | Fallen Angels | Giants | Anunnaki

The IMAGE of the BEAST Revealed (REV 13) - WARNING: Not for Everyone

WEF Calls for AI to Replace Voters: ‘Why Do We Need Elections?’

The OCCULT Burger king EXPOSED

PANERA BREAD Antichrist message EXPOSED

The OCCULT Cheesecake Factory EXPOSED

Satanist And Witches Encounter The Cross

History and Beliefs of the Waldensians

Rome’s Persecution of the Bible

Evolutionists, You’ve Been Caught Lying About Fossils

Raw Streets of NYC Migrant Crisis that they don't show on Tv

Meet DarkBERT - AI Model Trained On DARK WEB

[NEW!] Jaw-dropping 666 Discovery Utterly Proves the King James Bible is God's Preserved Word

ALERT!!! THE MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION WILL SOON BE POSTED HERE


Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

Satans Mark/Cashless
See other Satans Mark/Cashless Articles

Title: How Amtrak could do more
Source: [None]
URL Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/gull ... 07/amtrak-buys-new-locomotives
Published: Jul 25, 2011
Author: Gulliver
Post Date: 2011-07-25 01:28:21 by socalv8
Keywords: amtrak, tax money, waste
Views: 4986
Comments: 6

LATE LAST MONTH, news broke that America's federal government plans to loan Amtrak, the country's government-run passenger rail company, $563 million for new equipment and capital improvements. Amtrak will use most of the money to buy new locomotives for the Washington-New York-Boston corridor and Pennsylvania's "Keystone" route. The bulk of the money—$466 million—will be used to buy just 70 locomotives at approximately $6.7 million each. Blogger Alon Levy isn't impressed:

"The locomotives are an [Federal Railroad Administration]-compliant version of Siemens’ EuroSprinter product, which has recently been sold in Europe for €3.7-4 million per unit, as has Bombardier’s competing TRAXX locomotive (in fact, the TRAXX even sold for €3.2 million). Amtrak is paying a premium of about 35-50% for these locomotives, depending on exchange rates."

The price premium isn't even the worst part of the deal. As Streetsblog DC notes, there's a reason (a bad one) the trains are more expensive. Federal Railroad Administration rules require American trains to be far heavier than their European and Asian counterparts. In a few years, those rules will no longer apply. Amtrak could wait a bit and save millions (or buy a bunch more equipment):

Europe and Asia have realized the benefits of lighter and more nimble trains – cost, speed, and energy consumption among them – but Amtrak’s planned purchase is further proof that the U.S. is not quite there yet. One easy cost-saving move would be to wait two years for Positive Train Control, an anti-crash safety technology, to be fully installed along the Northeast Corridor. By 2015, Amtrak will no longer have to comply with the Federal Railroad Administration’s requirement that trains be able to withstand crashes with enormous freight trains. Free to buy lighter off-the-shelf foreign designs, Amtrak could then save 35-50 percent off the cost of the locomotives, as Alon notes.

An even more radical modernizing and cost-cutting measure (at least in the long run) would be to transition the Northeast Corridor Regional fleet from locomotive-hauled trains to electrical multiple units, or EMUs, in line with best practices in Europe and Asia. EMUs are, like subways in the US, individually-powered carriages, and standard models can be as cheap as the inflated price that Amtrak pays for its unpowered passenger railcars. The locomotive purchase locks Amtrak into buying more of these unpowered carriages in the future, making Amtrak’s decision to go with locomotives all the more important.

Another good idea would be to invest more money in the transition to Positive Train Control so that Amtrak can move to lighter, cheaper trains and EMUs earlier than expected.

There are other things to worry about in this plan, too. In its press release on the contract [PDF], Amtrak says it projects that "improved ticket revenue from more reliable locomotives can fund the debt service payments to repay this loan." How sure are lawmakers that Amtrak's projections are reasonable? Or do they just not particularly care? Gulliver has long supported increased funding for Amtrak. But that shouldn't come in the form of loans that the company may or may not be able to pay back.

Matt Yglesias says "I don't particularly want Amtrak to do more with less. I’d like it to do much more with more. But either way, it would be better to act cost-effectively." In other words, Democrats and Republicans should both want to change Amtrak's poor purchasing choices. Instead, both parties seem to be largely ignoring the issue. That's too bad.

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

#1. To: socalv8 (#0)

By 2015, Amtrak will no longer have to comply with the Federal Railroad Administration’s requirement that trains be able to withstand crashes with enormous freight trains. Free to buy lighter off-the-shelf foreign designs, Amtrak could then save 35-50 percent off the cost of the locomotives, as Alon notes.

China buries smashed train cars 2 days after wreck.

China Rail Stox crashing.

mcgowanjm  posted on  2011-07-25   9:07:08 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: socalv8 (#0)

Another good idea would be to invest more money in the transition to Positive Train Control so that Amtrak can move to lighter, cheaper trains and EMUs earlier than expected.

Pie in the sky.

mcgowanjm  posted on  2011-07-25   9:08:39 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#3. To: socalv8 (#0)

"improved ticket revenue from more reliable locomotives can fund the debt service payments to repay this loan." How sure are lawmakers that Amtrak's projections are reasonable? Or do they just not particularly care? Gulliver has long supported increased funding for Amtrak. But that shouldn't come in the form of loans that the company may or may not be able to pay back.

Double Standard for passenger trains.

AMTRAK is seeing record passenger rates.

Amtrak only gets bigger as highway/planes go by the wayside.

mcgowanjm  posted on  2011-07-25   9:10:38 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: socalv8 (#0)

Matt Yglesias says "I don't particularly want Amtrak to do more with less. I’d like it to do much more with more. But either way, it would be better to act cost-effectively." In other words, Democrats and Republicans should both want to change Amtrak's poor purchasing choices. Instead, both parties seem to be largely ignoring the issue. That's too bad.

First:

The GOP has been trying to kill AMTRAK from Day 1. So they're out.

The Dems have been doing Benign Neglect.

That AMTRAK has even survived is akin to a near strangled baby given a small pox infested blanket to keep warm.

mcgowanjm  posted on  2011-07-25   9:12:43 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#5. To: socalv8 (#0)

$563 million for new equipment and capital improvements.

Put into perspective:

USAToday:

"In the first full accounting of the 28-year-old Airport Improvement Program, USA TODAY found that Congress has directed $15 billion to general-aviation airports, which typically are tucked on country roads and industrial byways."

mcgowanjm  posted on  2011-07-25   9:15:18 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#6. To: mcgowanjm (#5)

The rails are a mess. Shouldn't they fix the rails before buying the 70 German locomotives? ($6.7 million/ea.)

socalv8  posted on  2011-07-25   10:55:47 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Mail]  [Sign-in]  [Setup]  [Help]  [Register] 

Please report web page problems, questions and comments to webmaster@libertysflame.com