Local view: Europe can keep fast trains, and we can keep our pickups
December 8, 2010 at 6:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
We’re just sitting on the sidelines while they are eating our lunch.” hose were words spoken by outgoing 8th Congressional District congressman and House Transportation Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar in a Nov. 17 article in the News Tribune. Oberstar had just come back from a short trip to France, where he made observations about their heavily subsidized rail-transportation system.
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If I want to live like a European, I’ll move there. Don’t bring Europe here.
The train from Duluth to the Twin Cities is a complete waste of money, money we don’t have. If you think it’s such a good idea, put your own money in to it, not mine. I’ll be putting money in gold and silver because cloud-cuckoo-land projects like the NLX in a non-dense population area like NE MN and the continued federal government over spending guarantee a precious metal winner, which is a lot more than I can say for the NLX or over spending ourselves into oblivion.
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Anyone notice that when they head 3 inches of snow all the trains stopped in Britain?
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Yes, I actually did take note of that and wondered why you can’t run trains with 3″ of snow…..I guess if that’s true that would put a huge problem in the way of us having trains especially up here.
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I suppose that means the Christmas Train won’t be going to Duluth this year? Funny, it’s stopping in Alexandria, and they’ve already had almost a foot altogether.
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European countries buy oil (meaning gasoline and diesel) on the same commodities market as the U.S. does yet the cost to consumers is OVER twice our price because the european governments have put backbreaking taxes on gas and diesel just to have money with which they can subsidize their railways. This is the direction Jimbimbo wanted to take us but the people said a resounding NO and it cost him his job. Why won’t local liberals learn the lesson that Jimbimbo has learned the hard way: Trains NO, cars YES. I firmly believe Americans will continue to own and operate their individual cars, albeit probably with yet to be developed power sources rather than gasoline or diesel. Pushing us onto trains will only slow/postpone development of such badly needed alternate power sources. Power sources which will benefit the whole world. So for the good of the entire world we should continue using automobiles to encourage alternate power source development.
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Yes, as long as we Americans can have what we want, let’s let the rest of the world worry about conservation.
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I agree, lets keep our cars and freeway between Duluth and the cities AND throw down some new moderate speed rated steel tracks, railroad ties and some steel engines and passenger cars…that’ll show the rest of the world how serious we are about conservation. Conservation means looking at the big picture. We don’t live in closely spaced major population densities…trains are not as good of a substitute for cars here as they seem to be in Europe. So having both is many things, but is isn’t conservation. We are better served maxing out our efficiency standards with the automobile.
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Prime examples of our love affair with the automobile.
I suppose it’s understandable. Some of us were concieved in them, some of us were even born in them!
We eat in them, we carry on phone conversations in them, we can sleep in them, we can be entertained in them while driving, and there’s a few places we can even go and see a movie or two in them. We get obese in them. We can come and go as we like without having to worry about any kind of schedule.
I think that’s the biggest bellyache about public transportation in this country. We might have to follow someone else’s schedule, (trains, busses, etc), and we would have to walk a little more than from our car to the store or workplace.
And, I suppose there wouldn’t be a lot of ‘status’ in driving the V10 Ram to a parking spot in a light rail lot, would there?
But, when it comes to air travel, no one seems to mind a bit. Unless, of course, they don’t like the new security in place. But, I guess air travel is different?
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Well you’re close; those of us who value our time (meaning, we actually have lives to live instead of waiting for others) learned a long time ago that using public transportation requires that we sacrifice convenience, flexibility, capacity for accomplishment, and effective use of our time.
When I was in college, I learned that a walk across campus to catch a bus to the mall, then waiting most of an hour for the next bus to come by, riding the meandering milk-run of a route to the mall, getting the few items I could carry in my backpack, waiting for the bus to take me back towards campus, and walking home took an entire weekend afternoon. Borrowing a car taught me that I could run my errands, get more items, and be back and parked in less than two hours without wondering if I could stay on-schedule and not miss the last bus back to campus.
Those of you who are so enamored with public transportation, be my guest. Just don’t demand that I pay for something I have no desire or need to use – be it public transportation, or public healthcare.
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Spoken as if the rest of the world gives a rip about what we want (hint: They DON’T). Just look at the Kyoto Treaty debacle down in Cancun (like Al Gore, it’s all about wining & dining and controlling the great unwashed masses.
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Spoken as if the rest of the world gives a rip about what we want (hint: They DON’T). Just look at the Kyoto Treaty debacle down in Cancun (like Al Gore, it’s all about wining & dining and controlling the great unwashed masses.
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People have come to the realization the the “high speed train” to nowhere is a boondoggle. With 6 stops or more between Duluth and Mpls. the train will be nothing more than a milk run, stopping in every little burg along the way. The boondoggle will be high speed in name only. In fact with a car you would be able to drive from Duluth to Mpls and halfway back before the milk run finally pulls into the station in Mpls, and then you have to contend with getting from the station to where you want to go (taking even more time).
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