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I'm so proud of Amtrak - looking good! I hope it gets a lot of funding

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Peregrine Took Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 03:06 PM
Original message
I'm so proud of Amtrak - looking good! I hope it gets a lot of funding
from the Obama administration to make up for its getting short shrift over the years.

I know Dick Durban is quite a fan.
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mrreowwr_kittty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 03:08 PM
Response to Original message
1. We need it out in the West!
There is no commuter rail here in AZ.
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glowing Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 03:10 PM
Response to Original message
2. I hope its brought into the 21st century.. and becomes something on par
with Europe and China. We need some highspeed rail. It would help restore America and help with travel expenses.. Its a shame that in this country one cannot get on a train and end up somewhere else in a timely manner. I love travelling in Europe, and the easy, breezy access to travel.
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monmouth Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 03:10 PM
Response to Original message
3. I am too. It's the most comfortable and carefree way to travel. One
must not be in a rush - you need to enjoy the casualness, the scenery, etc. but when you arrive at your destination you are rested and have a sense of "I really enjoyed this trip."
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vadawg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 11:53 PM
Response to Reply #3
20. dude i have never enjoyed a long journey
unless im in a sleeper. nothing worse than enduring 8 hours from kings cross to central station in a packed train, i swear i think i got pressure sores from the seats, deafness from the constant mobile phones. I would rather drive it anyday, at least then i can set my own pace, have my own company and stop were i like. gawd i hate the train.
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Dennis Donovan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 03:14 PM
Response to Original message
4. Recommended. Rail is the past and the future of mass travel...
:thumbsup:
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Happyhippychick Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 03:15 PM
Response to Original message
5. I'm right in that Northeast corridor and I use Amtrak a lot, I would LOVE to see it get some funding
It is energy friendly, non-polluting, impervious to weather delays (99% of the time), doesn't get delayed by traffic...it's my favorite way to travel in the northeast.
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AndyTiedye Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 03:18 PM
Response to Original message
6. Kick for Amtrak!
:kick:
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tilsammans Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 03:27 PM
Response to Original message
7. Another kick for Amtrak!
"There's something about a train that's magic."

:kick:
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stuntcat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 03:52 PM
Response to Original message
8. I love Amtrak!
:kick: kick for Amtrak!
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naaman fletcher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 04:11 PM
Response to Original message
9. I used to take..
The metroliner from NYC to DC every other week when my then fiance was at Law School in DC. It was a great way to travel. Then again, she left me for another man, so now I hate the bitch. (But I guess I shouldn't blame Amtrak).
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BrklynLiberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 04:19 PM
Response to Original message
10. I agree. I have thoroughly enjoyed the times I have taken Amtrak.to Boston and to DC..as well
as to visit a friend in PA. I would love to be able to go visit my son in Chicago via train. When I tried a couple of years back, the cost was unbelievable. It was soooo much cheaper by plane that it just did not make any sense at all.
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StreetKnowledge Donating Member (921 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 04:24 PM
Response to Original message
11. Amtrak has one major problem
The government that owns it. There have been demands for it to be self-supporting for decades, forgetting that airlines and trucks get subsidies too.

High-speed rail will come to exist on the West Coast and the Northeast Corridor, but the rest of the country won't get it. I'd like to be wrong, but I think Amtrak's best chance at profitability is to make their trains rolling liners and make it a better way of traveling than flying.
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alarimer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-18-09 12:45 AM
Response to Reply #11
22. And it has lower priority than freight.
So sometimes you wait a lot. Plus it can be slower than driving somewhere.
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originalpckelly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 04:27 PM
Response to Original message
12. Agreed, but it's really Biden who uses it the most out of the three.
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demosincebirth Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 05:29 PM
Response to Original message
13. Took Amtak from LA to Seatle, last year and was 14 hrs late.. Worst train trip ever.
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FatDave Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 05:30 PM
Response to Original message
14. I looked into Amtrak back when I used to travel for business.
Needed to go from Chicago to Baltimore, round trip. The train was more expensive than flying and slower than driving. So I never tried it.
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Raine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 08:56 PM
Response to Original message
15. I LOVE trains
I hope this gives them a real boost. :thumbsup:
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Coexist Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 09:26 PM
Response to Original message
16. trains are awesome.
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LaPera Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 10:55 PM
Response to Original message
17. Privatize Amtrak.....
Edited on Sat Jan-17-09 11:55 PM by LaPera
Republican corporations need to own it - they need to charge us more and offer us less, cut corners as ALL corporations do...next privatize the mail, (which the republicans have been itching to exploit both for years)...then we'll really be corporatized...corporations inefficiency, saying to customers, fuck you and take what you get, we are now a monopoly, "your mail can't be found, nowhere else you can go"....

Republicans greedy corporations, maybe then Amtrak & the mail will also get more corporate deregulation then they too will be "too big to fail" and we can use our (workers) tax dollars to bail them out.
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strategery blunder Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 11:34 PM
Response to Original message
18. Amtrak needs to own its own track.
I used it to commute from Kirksville, MO (train station was actually in La Plata), to Chicago, when I went to college at the former location, and had my permanent residence at the latter.

Rarely were there hassles on the scale of those associated with air travel---but the train was ALWAYS late coming from LA because of having to yield to freight trains, and there was no way that I knew of to tell just how late before leaving for the train station, which consisted of a few benches inside of a shack. :(
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originalpckelly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-18-09 12:36 AM
Response to Reply #18
21. That's precisely the way I feel, and just about any rail enthusiast.
It's a bunch of bullshit that Amtrak gets pushed aside, and the only real solution is it's own right of way.
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GreenTea Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-17-09 11:46 PM
Response to Original message
19. A feisty kick!
Edited on Sat Jan-17-09 11:59 PM by GreenTea
:kick:

Love Amtrak!
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