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"Editorial: Put regional railroad study on fast track; Skyrocketing gasoline prices fueling renewed interest in re-establishing passenger rail service"
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Om the flip side, Florida passenger rail initiatives "took a hit" a few days ago with respect to the proposed regional service through Orange and Osceola Counties (includes Orlando, Disneyland, and many other jesters in the Rodent's court).
It appears that even though CSX was to sell the applicable portions of the A-Line (again as I learned from Mr. Palmland; official CSXese for the lines once part of the ACL) but would continue limited freight operations over such, they expect to be completely held harmless for ANYTHING happening on the line - including anything happening as a result of their trains.
In all likelihood, the above is simply the first punch thrown in Round 1, but apparently there is also substantive opposition in Lakeland where there would be more freight traffic owing to the reroute of such off the A-Line. Lakeland (an attractive mid sized city that still has semblance to the "Old Florida" I first saw during 1956 on my first visit to the Sunshine State), incidentally, would not be served by the proposed service.
Finally, with specific regards to the material submitted by Mr. Maniac, we must be prepared to accept that as soon as there are clamors to "cut Amtrak" during either an Obama or McCain administration, the Meteor 97-98 will likely be first to go as it could be cut without any "180 Day Notice'. Suffice to say, it would be unwise to reroute the surviving "one a day" away from the Rodent. Further, lest we forget that the 2002 moratorium on any additional Federally funded routes remains in place.
amtraxmaniac Member # 2251
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Likelihood or not, advocacy groups must continue to fight the good fight against such corporate greed by the freight companies and political hypocricy. We amend our laws all the time. We even amend our COnstitution. If enough people find value in something, we as voters can make it happen. If enough people get together and decide that the 2002 moratorium needs to be flushed down the toilet...it will happen. And it should happen. It doesn't matter who the president is. Mass media drives the agenda anyways. LOL. I believe if Amtrak legislation is wrapped up as part of the larger issue of ENERGY/GAS PRICES, it can gather some attention and support. The problem is, that there are too many GBN's and likeminded individuals who would rather convince us of what a burden a national rail network is to Class I's and the taxpayers, and NOT enough people with political capital talking about the practicality of it: both economically and ecologically. I just can't get my head around why people are so cynical about something so practical....more politicians cheer about spending money to go back to the moon than investing in transportation...and that frankly does not make sense...unless your speaking the language of special interests.
George Harris Member # 2077
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The general consensus in the area is that the agreement was fairly well thought out and they were dealing with the opposition from Lakeland (funny, these were the same people that were madly promoting the "high speed" scheme), but they got blindsided by the trial lawyers who saw the railroad cash cow getting a suit of armor against the usual set of I did not expect to be hit by a train while I was lying on the railroad track lawsuits.
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