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Domain: narprail.org

Stories and comments across the archive that link to narprail.org.

Comments · 8

  1. Re:Hold on to your seats by geekoid · · Score: 3, Informative · on Federal Judge Rules US No-fly List Violates Constitution

    Since they are supported by your tax dollars, why not?

    http://www.narprail.org/resour...

  2. Yet another reason to rebuild our rail system. by RustinHWright · · Score: 1 · on Terminal Chaos
    I agree that air travel is pretty screwed up. But afaic, for trips of a thousand miles or less we would be far better off focusing our attention on our equally fubared rail system. You want cheap, efficient transit, a system that goes straight from downtown to downtown? Join NARP, call your congress critter to not just increase funding but have their policy geeks pay more attention to rail, and damnit, if you're serious about being a geek, get into this stuff yourself. At this point we would gain more from having more folks get into designing better rail systems than yet one more programmer responding to yet another project call on Freshmeat. Get together with some friends and build your own monorail system. It's cheaper than most Burning Man projects and a far more effective way to freak the mundanes for years to come.

    Amtrak has their head up their butt. But there are a hell of a lot of other transit systems out there. And they're all dealing with swiftly increasing demand. It's past time that we shone the spotlight on them.

  3. Let's get this straight. by Dekortage · · Score: 3, Informative · on Charter Flight Websites / Services?

    So the article says they will make an exception for "prescription medicine with a name that matches the passenger's ticket". Because we know that no terrorist would be able to forge those labels, right?

    On the flip side, the U.S. Department of Transportation is completely ignoring the railway as an answer to our nation's transportation problems.

  4. Re:Amtrack should get NOTHING by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on High-Speed Trains in the US?
    So, the 600,000 people who rode AMTK from portland to seattle last year are the 'wilted industry' it is?


    And the 400,000 people who rode AMTK from portland to chicago are a 'wilted industry'?


    With constant whining about airport 'security' and congestion, that's 1,000,000 people who *did not* fly out of portland international airport last year. An airport that is getting more crowded...


    The source for my numbers?? the Portland Tribune
    http://www.portlandtribune.com/archview.cgi?id=282 75


    or check out the graphics at http://narprail.org/amtrakzerofy06.htm
    they relate funding levels between highways, air travel, and passenger rail.


    We need a coherent national transportation policy, that can be energy effecient. Killing rail to spend more money on bailing out airlines, and building more roads is not balance.



    James Jerome Hill

  5. Re:On another note by NotoriousQ · · Score: 1 · on High-Speed Trains in the US?

    Well, its better than their funding for next year: $0. Actually Amtrak is pretty much being eliminated at this point. Sad, as there are plenty of people working for Amtrak who really care. More details on the National Association of Railroad Passengers page.

  6. Re:Inflation (more data) by timeOday · · Score: 1 · on Out of Gas
    Here's another very interesting chart - historic gas prices adjusted for inflation.

    What this chart shows is that gas prices are very high, even taking inflation into account! Not the highest they've ever been, but higher than in the "gas crisis" late 70s, higher in fact than every other period except the early 80s.

    What's really stupid is saying, "don't worry, inflation-adjusted gas prices have been higher - just look at the early 80s" when you consider the miserable unemployment and staggering inflation of the US economy in the early 80s! Is that what we have to look forward to?

  7. Gee! by Pig+Hogger · · Score: 1 · on Wireless Computing and Airplanes?
    Just take the train.

    What? No trains? Just ask for more!!!

  8. A correction... by joggle · · Score: 1 · on Seattle Monorail & California High Speed Rail Move Forward
    1. Freight trains get priority over passenger lines. So if both a trainload of shipping containers and an Amtrak train need the same section of rail, guess who gets to set in a siding.

    Actually, Amtrak gets top priority over freight trains:

    Amtrak was created as a for-profit government corporation that was granted the right of access to the tracks owned by the freight railroads at incremental cost and with operating priority over freight trains.(Amtrak Reform Council)

    Despite this, it looks like Amtrak trains are sometimes late due to freight traffic. The primary reason they're always so late, though, is apparently due to an undersized and/or an incompetent labor force. If you are interested in a detailed account of Amtrak's woes written by someone who is truly fond of trains, check this article out. Unfortunately, since it was written back in June, you'll have to pay 3USD to read it.