Politicians make me ill

Maybe everybody has seen this already .but it was new to me. Click the link below. No wonder this country is having problems. Hope I havn't made anybody else sick!

scandalous outrage

I dont see the problem..

governments fund passenger trains..
(which means taxpayers fund passenger trains)

so what?
this isnt news..
its been happening continuously since 1971. (amtrak)

If a railroad doesnt want to provide passenger service,
because it knows it cant make money at it.
but the government does want passenger service,
so the railroad says "ok..but you will have to fund it"
("give us money for it")
and the government says "ok..here is some money"
so the railroad goes and provides some passenger service..
and no one uses it because "the people" dont actually want it,
or need it...just the clueless politicians..
Its not the railroads fault passenger trains dont make money..
thats why the railroads got out of passenger service in the 1950's..
If the government wants passenger trains, they have to fund a money-losing proposition..

so where is the problem?
sure, its another waste of government money..bad government spending..
but that is also hardly news..thats business as usual.

so what am I missing??
I see nothing shocking here..

Scot

ah..I see this is referring to more than just Ontrack..

(the newspaper story linked above is from 2004 by the way)

So Susquehanna was given money by the state, supposidely to create some passenger service between Binghamton and Syracuse or Utica,
and instead they spent the money on track improvements for "freight only" and never had any intent to use the money for passenger service..

is that the suppposed "big scandal"?

*yawn*..

first of all..the money could have been intended for track improvements..
NY state gives money to railroads all the time, and it could be argued that is a GOOD thing..

No matter how taxpayer money is spent, someone will complain..
if you give money to the railroads, someone will complain its a waste of money..

if you dont give money to the railroads, someone will complain we should support the railroads because its better for the economy rather than dumping all the money into highways..

this is a non-story..

the ax-grinding over Rich's supposed political dealings are very old news..
and now that he is dead, maybe we should all just give it up as "ancient history" and stop obsessing about it..

personally, any taxpayer money that supports the railroads is, in my opinion, money well spent..

Scot

First off Syracuse - Binghamton is not much of a passenger market and
the railroad is parralleled by I-81. A bus can make the trip a lot quicker
than any train could. I even question how much use a train between
Binghamton and New York would get either.
It is regretable that "On Track" hasn't really made the grade either,
maybe I am missing something but I don't think Syracuse has the
population to support any sort of passenger rail operation except what
they already have between Buffalo and New York.
Noel Weaver

The story's from 2004?

I was going to say, there's always been allegations of ... shall we say mishandling of funds, wherein state or other money given to fix tracks A ends up used for repairs needed on tracks B.

But I don't see what the problem is now. Walter is gone, Bragman is gone, Nick Pirro is gone, the RR is doing away with virtually all of the passenger service, and that should be the end of it.


The only way a passenger train could succeed on these routes is if it can provide a better service, for less money, than exists now with busses and people taking their own cars. Which means faster and cheaper - and it would be nice if it went someplace besides Binghamton. Like it or not, the days of people taking trains long distances to obscure places, are over.

Way to go! Digging up old news from 2004 that didn't matter then, and doesn't matter now!

- A politician sponsored a bill to help upgrade the NYSW tracks between Syracuse and Binghamton.

- NYSW agreed or discussed running additional passenger excursions once the upgrades were complete- better track means smoother ride and better timekeeping if such trips are run.

- Politician misunderstands and starts putting out press releases about expanded passenger service between Syracuse and Binghamton.

- Railroad management expresses disbelief.

- Instead of backing down and admitting a misunderstanding, politician blames railroad for "wasting" money.

Did I miss something?

-otto-

All aboard: Rail to link Binghamton to Syracuse

Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, June 27, 2002

http://www.railfan.net/lists/rshsdepot- ... 00148.html

The real question is not weather the taxpayer should pay for railroads
or not but what the money is used for. Was/is Ontrak a good public
investment? This is open to debate. The NYS&W put substantial public
funds into the Utica side not all that long ago but to what benefit?
This debate is no differant than the one we should be having about
economic developent in general, so called Empire Zones. Ill advised
wasting of public funds is certainly not confined to rail "investments".