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Ben Carson Said God Helped Him Ace His Chemistry Exam at Yale

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lawhawk5/13/2015 9:55:34 am PDT

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That, in a nutshell is why. The GOP is dedicated to starving Amtrak of funding, and then taking what revenue is generated on the NEC, its most profitable route, and spreading it to the rest of the nation, where most routes are revenue-losers. At the same time, Congress refuses to provide sufficient funds to cover infrastructure needs.

The NEC alone has a ton of infrastructure that is more than 100 years old and in dire need of replacement.

That includes in the NYC metro area alone: The Portal Bridge (which regulars at LGF would know I rail about on a regular basis because that bridge is a constant source of frustration for commuters into NYC from New Jersey); Hudson River tunnels (ARC was cancelled by Christie, but no action taken on its superior replacement, Gateway, which needs massive funding to make happen before the existing tunnels fail from Sandy-related damage); a half dozen rail bridges in Connecticut that are a source of problems along the line of the Portal Bridge; or the Sunnyside Yard Harold Interlocking that is a major backup for trains heading North to Boston because trains have to cross traffic heading in the opposite direction and the Amtrak bypass is still in development (a separate project, ESA is supposed to allow LIRR trains access to Grand Central Terminal, but that wont fix the counter-flow issues).

It doesn’t include the Baltimore tunnel, which is where the NEC mainline goes from 4 to 2 tracks on a tight radius curve, reducing speed and constant source of congestion; and power systems up and down the NEC that can’t take harsh weather conditions, increased traffic, and/or higher speeds that a true HSR would need.

The cost to bring Amtrak up to a state of good repair and modern infrastructure comparable to European rail networks? Tens of billions.

Or the cost of a handful of F-35 fighters.