Originally Posted By dshyates In April, I am taking my 2 girls to DC. We are taking AMTRAK from Hinton WV to Union Station. We are then hopping on the Metro to the Hotel in Crystal City. For the 3 of us it is $145. It is a 7 hour train ride. I can drive it in 4. We are taking he train and subway, because I want a different type experience for my girls and to give them the impression that Cars and Planes are not the only way to get around. I really hope we can get the train thing happening in a usable way across the country.
Originally Posted By hopemax That's the biggest problem with Amtrak...time. In 1996, we took it from Seattle to DL. It left like at 8 AM, we had to change trains in LA, and we got to Anaheim at midnight the next night. The price was the same as an airline ticket, but the flight would have only been 2 hours. We could have driven it in 19 hours, And there was a problem with the waste system on the train, so the bathrooms smelled HORRIBLE; you had to hold your breath while you used them. We enjoyed the scenery, but the constant stopping because freight trains had priority, was frustrating.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>That's the biggest problem with Amtrak...time.<< One could argue that that's the biggest problem with Amtrak's potential customers - that they're in such a gol-darned hurry. I've taken the Amtrak and/or the Metrolink from OC to San Diego. It's relaxing and totally hassle free - you buy the ticket at the kiosk and hop on the train. The legroom is vast and the seats are comfy. There are outlets by the seats. You can use your cellphone the whole time. Parking at the train station is free for 72 hours. You're permitted more than two carry-ons and you can bring a gallon jug of water onboard if you want. You can usually plow through the traffic on the 5 about 30 to 45 minutes faster, but you have to drive and stuff. Plus the view's not as nice. If they'd just run the dang trains more often, I'd take it all the time, to LA as well as San Diego. If you can swing the schedules, taking the Metrolink and Redline from OC to the El Capitan is a swell mellow day trip. And here is a story. Once upon a time, long long ago (about 7 months or so) there was a magical convention in San Diego called the Comic-Con. I was driving down the 5 to get thereto, when I heard on the radio that a Vons truck full of meat was fully engulfed in flames up ahead, traffic was at a dead stop, and it wasn't going anywhere for probably several hours. So I pulled off at the next exit (San Juan Capistrano) and caught the Amtrak. The perfect timing gods were smiling at me that day. I arrived at the Comic-Con about 30 minutes later than I'd planned. Five hours after that I had to return home due to prior commitments. Drivers who had left the same time I did (and even earlier) were still camped out on the 5. Since then, I've been a really big fan of passenger trains.
Originally Posted By mawnck (PS - the preceding post was not intended to negate your bad experience, hopemax. I don't think I'd be interested in taking the train from here to Seattle. Unless it was high-speed or something.)
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <"If a high-speed train were economically feasible – that is, if revenue from anticipated operations were projected to be higher than capital and operating costs – private investors would be lining up to put money into it. The fact that our legislators want taxpayers to pony up means that even the project's supporters know it is an economic dog." Note that the link posted before compared the cost to that of freeways and runways. And who pays for highway construction and repair? The oil companies? The auto makers? No, it's the taxpayers. The piece compared the price of the taxpayers funding one sort of transportation with the taxpayers funding another type. <Aren't you all getting sick of throwing tax money away? Sheesh.> I'm tired of seeing comparisons that aren't apple to apple.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <Assuming not, the more realistic journey time would probably be somewhere around 4 hours or more.> Mmmmm, maybe more like 3. You can't go at full speed through some urban areas, but for much of the distance you could, and they'd probably only have limited stops (Bakersfield and San Jose?) on a run that they would undoubtedly tout for its speed (like the Acela NY-DC stops fewer places than a typical NY-DC run). Even 3 hours downtown to downtown compares favorably to getting to LAX, getting there an hour early, making the flight, and then getting from SFO to downtown SF. The point is, on certain routes high speed rail would make sense, on others not so much.
Originally Posted By ecdc So what's the status of the high speed train between Anaheim and Las Vegas? I thought it was a great idea, mainly just because I hate that part of the drive from Salt Lake to L.A. I've sat for hours in traffic just to get from Victorville to I-10. The thought of parking the car at my friend's in Vegas and taking a train to L.A. instead of driving sounds very nice.
Originally Posted By Mr X Given the fact that the Republicans have weaponized that particular (good) idea, I'm guessing it's pretty much dead in the water for the foreseeable future. Too bad. Does sound like a great idea, and I for one would be much more likely to visit all the way from Asia for such a convenient SoCal/Vegas possibility.
Originally Posted By gadzuux Tourism is a major industry in california. And - not surprisingly - las vegas too. It makes perfect sense, especially when you consider that it's not "disneyland" that's the southern terminous, it's Anaheim's transit hub which is much larger and more pertinent. But WD's right - the plan may well end up being torpedoed all because some hack politicians turned it into a political football. That they did it by completely mischaracterizing it makes it all the more galling.
Originally Posted By oc_dean I think the plan though has stronger grounding than those obstructionists called Republicans can torpedo. The Anaheim transportation hub along with the high speed train to Las Vegas has been on paper since the 80s. I barely remember a personal conversation with a top executive for a company called Bectal .. or something like that .. which was going to be instrumental in the development of the rail project to Vegas. Orange County has to move into the 21st Century, in terms of mass transit systems, if it wants to survive in the long term future. So, the momentum has been building for 20+ years to get this off the ground. It's not something that was just put together recently. The project will continue to build momentum in the background. It's just a matter of time. And the obstructionists can just go fall off a cliff for all I care!
Originally Posted By oc_dean Oh, that conversation dates back to around 1988 or so. It's been so long. I remember an artist rendering of the transportation hub for Anaheim from the The Register. Swear to God ... it was so cavernous and modern ... it reminded of a scene from the first Star Trek movie from 1979, where a very large hangar was shown at the Starfleet Academy. Someday. Maybe not tomorrow .. but eventually.
Originally Posted By oc_dean This article interestingly brings World Events, Disneyland, this topic, and the Executive Lay-Offs across the board for the theme park division ... all full circle: <a href="http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/02/25/who-moved-my-cheese-mickey-mouse-gnaws-away-at-theme-park-jobs/" target="_blank">http://www.walletpop.com/blog/...rk-jobs/</a>
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Hit submit too soon <a href="http://www.bechtel.com/" target="_blank">http://www.bechtel.com/</a>
