ryanov wrote:I'll say one thing for Trump: he's done an incredible job at making people with truly asinine ideas stand out in bright daylight. I honestly never thought I'd see the day where people on this forum or RPA (ex-NARP) sites would be arguing that funding a tunnel that would bifurcate the only high speed railway in the entire country would become a "these coastal elites" issue.
You are 100% incorrect and factually wrong here. The fact that we've shown with numbers that 99% of the tunnel passengers are locals does anywhere say that this is a "coastal elite" issue. This is a false equivalency, a logical fallacy that people often use when they don't have a real argument.
ryanov wrote: I suppose it was never stated that this is a forum for railfans; I frequently have to remind myself. (if you do consider yourself a railfan and yet hold these sorts of opinions, please delete your account)
Again another false equivalency. I can be a railfan and hold these opinions. I can enjoy riding long distance trains while they last and still believe they are a waste of money. I can still get excited about an Acela ride and believe that the critical tunnels are a local issue. You don't make the rules and you don't get to define who a railfan is.
ryanov wrote:Yeah, a trade of a who knows how many billion dollar stupid wall, solving a non-existent problem (see recent illegal immigration stats) and creating all sorts of other real problems (environmental harm, taking people's land on the border, etc.) for a tunnel that is needed to keep the largest economy in the country running. Makes total sense; why not flush billions down the toilet so that we can extract a more reliable commute from the president (who's supposed to be in office serving the entire country, BTW).
Now you're just saying things to say them. Do you have any numbers that show illegal immigration is a non-existent problem? Has there been a problem with illegal takings? Those are both big cans of worms. The environment? Tell me you have numbers that show there aren't far more enviromental problems in New York than the Texas border. As for a reliable commute, we could shut down those tunnels tomorrow and just forget about them and it wouldn't be a big deal in a few years. At one time, Jersey commuter trains only went to Hoboken, and 80% of Amtrak passengers turn over at NYP.
ryanov wrote:Anyway, are you folks under the impression that because people who live here are the primary users of the tunnel that it doesn't matter to the rest of the country? Every dollar I have ever spent in either Boston or Washington, DC -- or Baltimore or Wilmington for that matter, and nearby areas -- has been courtesy of Amtrak. The NEC is not viable without that tunnel, flat out.
Okay, tell you what, let's have the feds pay for a new $40b Union Station in Chicago and LA, see how that goes over. It would fall flat, as does this. Any city over 1m people has a national impact, that doesn't mean they automatically get federal money. You want the tunnel, you pay for it.
The new Acela: It's not Aveliable.